What preamp have I not tried?
- Thread starter MadFloyd
- Start date
Purity Audio Design 1
Well-Known Member
Massachusetts
Not exactly close but you are welcome to come down to Upstate NY to listen to the Purity Audio Design preamps
Not exactly close but you are welcome to come down to Upstate NY to listen to the Purity Audio Design preamps
Thanks for the offer. However, I find I really need to listen to gear in my own system to really get a feel for its character.
Actually I'm using Nick's phono stage with the GAT line stage. Pretty magical combo.
Hi I just scanned this whole thread. As a Wilson Maxx 3 owner, I do know you have to be a little careful on the top end, I can understand your comments on the Ayre (I had it in for a try out also). I went with a Nagra PLL as it seemed to add a drop of warmth....but lost a little resolution/clarity...but a fair trade off. I saw some posts mention room acoustics, I'm about 2/3's done with a Rives project for my room, I can honestly say it's a been a big help..especially in the top end....that Wilson tweeter has never sounded better-warm and so nautural. I might want to try the Ayre KX R again soon...
Another preamp I didn't see mentioned so far is the Aesthetix Callisto...(several versions..signature/eclipse)
I don't think you really want to rehash everything that happened with this preamp on this forum. Maybe you forgot who I am and all of the hoops you had me go through to hook up your preamp to my system all to no avail including the Jensen transformer box you sent me. It was always hooked up exactly as you told me while you were talking to me over the phone. This had nothing to do with hooking up your preamp "correctly."
On deck:
Doshi Alaap (hopefully in concert with Doshi JHor's, a combination that I've heard 3 times now and enjoyed)
CJ GAT
Ian, is the CJ GAT sounding so good you can't post
your thoughts? - just curious...and ps...I hope it is that good!Ian, is the CJ GAT sounding so good you can't post
Is is VERY good. My initial thoughts (after an hour of warm up) was that it was very warm sounding. Nice meat on the bones, but not very open sounding. Now, after several hours, it's still meaty and packs a punch, but bass is leaner and it sounds more open. Unfortunately, the highs are somewhat grainy. On classical, strings and brass aren't sounding 'beautiful' but rather brash. Not sure why, but I am using adapters (made by Purist Audio Design) to convert my PAD XLR cables on the GAT end to RCA and Jack Tozzi said the extra connection *may* introduce some grain.
Tomorrow I will experiment with changing the tubes (6922's - same as my Lamm M1.2 Ref monos) and see if that helps.
Lots of potential here. Makes me want to beg Jack to lend me the ART monos and see what synergy they would have (and if they would drive the Sashas).
Hey MadFloyd - the adaptors can add grain...i run the CJ GAT with a balanced SS Class A amp...and i eventually got the cable manufacturer to reterminate my cable...make a notable difference in that area. I also will say that the Electroharmonix tube, while very good, can be grainy early, early on and then again around 800+hours...i have spoken to a few owners, and they said it happened to them as well...strange. A number of us have changed tubes. I use Amperex US PQ White Labels and EAT Tube dampers...very nice change in refinement, and the EAT Tube dampers 'solidify' the signal even a bit more. Good luck! and enjoy as you evaluate!
Its hard to even forget when one does not know who you are to begin with
But I am not one for covering things up and prefer instead to get to the bottom of them. Our preamps are not known for hum, not could we stay in business for as long as we have (36 years) if something as profound as what you say were an accurate description. It isn't- ergo something else was up. We can discuss it in a seperate thread if you like, so as not to de-rail this one. Until then I maintain despite protestation that there was a bug in the setup that was not the preamp.
I bet! There are 3 amps i would ever consider going to from my current, and the CJ ART is one of those. I have never heard big CJ monos before...would love to someday in my system, particularly since i run CJ pre and Transparent cabling.
I picked up the ART monos this morning but unfortunately I don't have a very good SE cable (all my cables are XLR; I was using an adapter to go out of the GAT up until now).
I just turned the system on 10 minutes ago and won't really listen for another half hour but what the first thing I noticed is that there is a lot less gain in these amps compared to my Lamms. I had to crank the volume on the GAT to mid 50's just to get to 85db.
I just turned the system on 10 minutes ago and won't really listen for another half hour but what the first thing I noticed is that there is a lot less gain in these amps compared to my Lamms. I had to crank the volume on the GAT to mid 50's just to get to 85db.
The ART amps are a return to the older cj amps that were relatively insensitive (cj did this in part to lower the amp's noise floor). My old LP140Ms were 0.5 V for full range; the ART is 1.8 V. But I wouldn't worry about the GAT at 50 as there is always a sweet spot on the volume control (that's as long as you don't have noise issues).
Another thing is that the amps take 30-60 mins to warm up and until then, will sound somewhat dynamically compressed -- and most of all, missing that sense of space around instruments and in the hall. As the amps warm up, all of a sudden, these things start to appear.
But the amps insensitivity resulted in my going to a phono stage with higher gain so that dynamics weren't compromised (right now that's the Doshi with 72 dB of gain). Then of course, the speaker's sensitivity will enter into the equation.
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