The Creek sounds awful relative to good actives that you can buy for under a grand used, it's flat, lifeless, constrained, grainy, boring. Sure, for $200 you can't be it, but truth be told it deserves its Stereopile class C rating....well, maybe a C- or D+, given what's available today on the used market pretty cheap. It will be the weakest link in your system. If you are intrigued by the passive preamp, try the Adcom 750, the one with a switch to choose active/passive modes, designed by Nelson Pass, highly praised in the print, found used for maybe $650(?).
Cheap Bryston active or Creek OBH12 passive?
My first audiophile-grade system is in need only of a preamp:
Joseph Audio RM22si signature speakers
Music Hall CD 25 CD player
McIntosh MC2105 amp
Kimber 4TC biwire speaker cables and Signal Cable 2 interconnects
So far for preamps, I've tried using my Denon home theater receiver as well as no preamp (going straight into the McIntosh amp and dialing down the gain controls). Using no preamp wins for clarity and musicality over the Denon for sure (the Denon adds a murky layer over the music), and it seems to be a good match going CD straight to amp (Mac has a very high 220k input impedance). But it's not practical to keep switching cables, so I need a pre. I want to get something cheap for now, around $200 used. I listen to all types of music, from rock to vocals to classical, but more rock than anything else.
And now the simple question: In this system, what do you think would sound better, a Creek OBH12 passive, or a Bryston .4B, .5B, etc? If the Creek wins in your opinion, I'm curious to know roughly how much you think I would need to spend on an active pre before it would start sounding better than the passive. I'm only considering solid state right now, don't want to worry about replacing tubes just yet.
Thanks,
Matt.
Joseph Audio RM22si signature speakers
Music Hall CD 25 CD player
McIntosh MC2105 amp
Kimber 4TC biwire speaker cables and Signal Cable 2 interconnects
So far for preamps, I've tried using my Denon home theater receiver as well as no preamp (going straight into the McIntosh amp and dialing down the gain controls). Using no preamp wins for clarity and musicality over the Denon for sure (the Denon adds a murky layer over the music), and it seems to be a good match going CD straight to amp (Mac has a very high 220k input impedance). But it's not practical to keep switching cables, so I need a pre. I want to get something cheap for now, around $200 used. I listen to all types of music, from rock to vocals to classical, but more rock than anything else.
And now the simple question: In this system, what do you think would sound better, a Creek OBH12 passive, or a Bryston .4B, .5B, etc? If the Creek wins in your opinion, I'm curious to know roughly how much you think I would need to spend on an active pre before it would start sounding better than the passive. I'm only considering solid state right now, don't want to worry about replacing tubes just yet.
Thanks,
Matt.