Hi Philip,
In addition to preamps...i have found extreme separation, detail, and the ability to handle the enormous complexity and scale of an orchestra playing full tilt...comes as much from the amp and the source.
The source is kinda obvious, but i will say a lot of amps get muddled/confused/tired trying to push the power thru of an orchestra, maintain the sometime immense dynamic range...keeping the super pianissimos while also having kettle drum in the background...and then not getting brittle with the strings...and then keeping each area separate. It takes a lot of power, capacity, speed, etc from the amp. I tend to find great preamps really get outta the way of the source...transfer the signal clean thru...and the amp needs to be able to push the speaker effortlessly. My own two cents.
In addition to preamps...i have found extreme separation, detail, and the ability to handle the enormous complexity and scale of an orchestra playing full tilt...comes as much from the amp and the source.
The source is kinda obvious, but i will say a lot of amps get muddled/confused/tired trying to push the power thru of an orchestra, maintain the sometime immense dynamic range...keeping the super pianissimos while also having kettle drum in the background...and then not getting brittle with the strings...and then keeping each area separate. It takes a lot of power, capacity, speed, etc from the amp. I tend to find great preamps really get outta the way of the source...transfer the signal clean thru...and the amp needs to be able to push the speaker effortlessly. My own two cents.