Looking For The Best Pre-Amp Match For A Pair of Classe Omega Amplifiers


Going to pick up a pair of Classe Omega monoblock amplifiers this week. Need to select a pre-amp for it. 

 

Was wondering which Classe pre-amps  were considered their best offerings?

 

Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated.

neonknight

If you want to get the most out of balanced operation, with whatever preamp you look at, ask if it supports AES48, the balanced line standard. Most high end audio preamps don't.

What if the OP's power amp doesn't support AES48? Would it make a difference for the preamp to be AES48 compliant?

@mspot Yes. FWIW supporting AES48 at the input of an amplifier is fairly easy. The concern is not having to listen to interconnect cables to get the 'sound' right. If AES48 is supported its plug and play; one of its goals is to eliminate interconnect cable interaction.

The Omegas have started to settle in, been running now since Tuesday afternoon 24/7 and have finally gotten moderately warm and the sound has opened up. Beautiful midrange, actually excellent tonal balance across the board, spacious soundstage in all dimensions, excellent dynamic expression, and the bass is never overblown but reaches a level of depth that my other amps never would. This is the best sound I have achieved from my JBL 4365, and I am thoroughly content. This was a good purchase for me, and I have met if not exceeded my goals. 

 

Now its find a pre-amp. I did put a want to buy out for the Omega pre-amp but I bet that will take a long time to find. Need to find a stand in for the time being. 

Recently put together another system using Classe components for my IRS Betas that have been for sale for a while. Running the Classe 6 Preamp with two CA100's mono on the highs and a CA400 for the bass, and am very impressed with the quality and sound of this older Classe gear. I'm very fond of the Six Preamp and agree with the suggestion made earlier. There is one currently for sale in silver.