Well since I started this thread, I've been through alot of preamps, and my favourite so far is the Lightspeed Attenuator which replaced the Joule LA-150 Signature Edition, and I prefer it to several other passives I have tried including TVCs and AVCs. |
I know there are a few thousand of you out there that own the RM9s or RM200s.... |
Will do, thank you Dusty. |
I will certainly look into the Wright; giant killers I like. Seems like they are designed with no nonsense engineering with little hyperbole. |
I wonder about a pre since Roger is fairly adamant that no active pre will work better than a passive, like his Pot-in-a-Box - which I admit does work pretty well, especially for #135!! I've used some pretty good preamps (CAT, Lamm, ARC, Joule, Placette Active) but only had the Joule at the same time I had the RM9. I'm willing to pay up to $4,000 -$6,000 for something that matches really well with this amp, though Roger is going to be making a passive with tube buffer stage - and that may be the ticket, as the principle of passive appeals to me, as does the need for buffering the input and output of the volume control. |
It too have been on the passive-active-passive joy ride, so I know what you mean about the audio nirvana path. That is why I was especially careful and attentive going back and forth with the Lightspeed and Joule LA150 Signature. Both are great preamps (at $450 versus $6,500 that should be enough to choose the LS) but regardless of cost, I preferred the Lightspeed - a matter of taste and system context no doubt. I use it with my RM10 and RM9 Special Edition. Is it the best? Heck I don't know. I only know that it is very, very good and at $450 stupidgood (my favourite word from Bobby P at Merlin).
I do also hear - no pun intended - the listening and engineeering dichotomy. I can only say that having heard several Music Reference amps (RM10,9,9SE, 200, and 200 wired in Class A and triode)that while Roger certainly knows his way around a test bench, the quality sound of his amps suggests that he either does listen, or if he doesn't listen, it may in fact not be relevant to do so (I think he listens)and that he does not lose that skill of producing good sound with the challenges presented in designing a preamp.
None of this means that I could tell anyone whether they would prefer a high-quality tube line stage or a passive - I know I can't - but the Lightspeed produces some of the very best sound I have had over the past 30 years where I've tried scores of some of the very best preamps and amps on the market. If money is any issue at all, the LS, with proper impedance matches between source-pre-amp (gain should be no issue with most sources) is a low-cost option for SOTA sound that for some might be as good or better than anything else you might buy. |
Roger sounds alot like John Dunlavy - makers of fine products that measure well, both degreed electrical engineers, and both myth busters regarding audio vodoo and pixie dust - I don't think either view wire, capacitors, transformers, resistors as totems imbuing equipment with "magic" (and we all do look for that magic). |
Never thought I would do it, but today I put my RM9 SE up for sale, with my speakers the RM10s have plenty of power and I will continue to use it and my Atma MP3/Atma-sphere M60s with my Merlin VSMs (which I never plan on selling). In a way, I wish I only had the RM9, but I feel too vested in the Atma combo and stash of NOS tubes for them. Maybe I'll be lucky and it won't sell:) The Lightspeed Attenuator works beautifully with both. |
I regained my senses and decided to keep my RM9 Special Edition, I could just tell I would regret selling it; it is clearly Roger's masterpiece in a high powered tube amp - not sure another will come up for sale, they really are keepers. |
No, and I was using the Joule LA150 SE with the 6db gain setting, and to have owned the V4s. Usually, loud was 11-12 o'clock. In fact I now use a zero-gain preamp with the RM9s. Something sounds wrong with your experience, but no idea what. Now with zero gain, I do need to turn it up to 2 o'clock, but that is no problem. Is this with a CD source? My EMM can switch between 2v and 3.8v outputs and gain is never problem with any preamp I have used. Something must be wrong with the RM9, in fact it is much more sensitive than the V4s (as it is designed to work with passives) - I owuld give Roger a call, something is not right. |
Sorry you had a bad experience with the RM9, it is a great amp, good enough that I sold my CAT JL2 - at least with the Merlins, I thought it was a better amp. |
