Tobian Soundsystems SC8 preamplifier

LampiNA

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2015
347
858
335
While the Swiss made, Tobian products are still very new to the North American audio world, they have been picking up considerable notice and attention since the Tobian 12FH horn speakers made their NA debut alongside LampizatOr at the recent Florida Audio Expo 2022 show where they picked up top honors from several publications. I'm creating this thread to bring some attention to another very special product from this brand that we are excited to bring to this continent, the Tobian SC-8 preamplifier.

While the SC8 preampp has been one of the longest standing products in the Tobian line, remaining a stable product in the Tobian line up since the early 2000s, after almost three years of r&d it has been completely redesigned and the new iteration of it is deserving of serious attention. Receiving progress pictures of the demo unit headed to my parlor (available for audition shortly) I was inspired to write about it here now.

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The original SC8, which was built as a very high quality, pure single ended preamp, is now balanced with a 6SN7/12SN7 driver stage and the abulity to drive heaver loads/power amps making it a great option to bring the Tobian sound to more systems then ever. Moreover, the SC8 is no longer as reliant on a relatively higher output voltage source making it ideal for 2V output sources, which are the vast majority of what is out there. The units employ handcrafted balanced output transformers, high power capacitors and are built and designed entirely in house with meticulous Swiss precision.

The dual chassis preamplifier features new aluminium enclosures are resonance resistant and a whopping 15mm thickness. They also use a special permalloy autoformer volumume with 34 steps and are completely silver wired. The psu of the two box unit is connected by an very high quality power cord made in house with gold plated connectors and is tested to the 2500V military standard.



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As special as the speakers are, we are beyond excited to bring in this preamp and are in the process of planning an event around debuting it to the public along side other statement products from our brands, such as the LampizatOr Horizon which will shine in conjunction with Tobian.

Our unit should be shipping to us in the next couple of weeks and we encourage you to reach out to us to schedule an audition at our Long Island parlor!

Fred A.
 

Golum

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2018
1,805
2,552
405
Lausanne, CH
Maybe this pictures portray better the look of the pre then the ones from production floor :)
As I live with his pre for more than two years (SC12s and now SC12) I'm looking FW to hear this one honestly as its a different beast vs mine and talking with Gunter he loves SC8 a lot. Don't know if you mentioned its using NOS 171A (71A) DHT output tube and based on the following link http://glowinthedarkaudio.com/triodes.html they are exceptional performers and in line what Gunter was saying about them. Mine is using 10Y family and at the moment most sought after globe variant engraved base with black plates :) .

Anyhow I'm very much looking fw to read what you have to say about it...
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