First Sound Preamplifiers Impressions

I used to own a First Sound passive preamp years ago. IMO all of the First Sound preamps are very good!

Each step up in price sounds better than the previous.

It looks high quality.....about as true dual mono as you can get.    Unfortunately dual volume is a deal breaker for me 

Thanks @lak 

@oddiofyl why is dual volume a deal breaker for you?

It just is.  Rather have a single knob

Thats not to say it isn’t a great preamp , I bet it is   It is definitely the most dual mono pre I’ve seen in a single chassis. It’s literally got two mirrored left and right mono preamps in one chassis

its very cool but not for me 

Thanks for the additional color @oddiofyl !

I was lucky enough to purchase a First Sound Presence MKIII on the used market about 10 years ago, I was putting together my retirement system and had a list of preamps (12 long) that I wanted to live with before selling off and purchasing my selected preamp new. My choice came down to the First Sound Presence MKIV and a Lamm LL2.1 Deluxe, I started reaching out to dealers to get the best deal while making my choice as both preamps were the cream of the crop in the price range I was in and I honestly could not make up my mind, I had both the Lamm and the First Sound in home at the same time (both purchased used and sold to buy the selected choice new) to A/B and it came down to price. I bought the Lamm direct from a dealer referred to me by Lamm as there was no dealer in Houston for $2,500.00 less than the price Emmanuel Go quoted me on the Presence MKIV so my choice was an easy one.  Enjoy the music

MY friend had one it sounded wonderful and owner was great as well.Buy on ASAP!!

had a FS top of the line Pre and it was just great.

@calloway thank you for sharing - which model year was the FS pre that you had? And, which pre did you move to from the FS and what prompted the change?

@tooblue was the FS and Lamm similar in performance and character?

@ebm do you remember which model (and year) was your friend's FS?