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New Preamp arrived....

So a few short hours ago my Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp arrived. It will be replacing a Schiit SYS passive that was bought to be able to implement the first piece of the puzzle, the power amp, and be able to sell my cheapo integrated.

its been 20 months since the power amp arrived so today was super exciting.
I hook it all up (and reverse the speaker connections as it says it inverts phase) and...

Well its every bit as clean and clear as the Schiit. Bass is a little better. The volume knob can actually be turned further to get as loud as the Schiit which was surprising. The treble has some sizzle on the very top end which I’m assuming will work itself out over time. Not much different in the bass department.

My fear going in was it’d sound the same which would add a heavy dose of buyer’s remorse ($1300 vs $50). It’s got the stock JJ 12AT7 tubes and I have a pair of NOS RCA black plates coming next week.

So what kinds of things can I expect for the first few days/weeks?
gochurchgo

Showing 4 responses by georgehifi

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
The NS 1000, 1000x, 5000’s as do the Soavo1 and 2 (NS-B951), need a 2db boost in the lower mids/upper bass in my room with the Loki (2nd knob from the left to 3o’clock position all others flat), to make them just right to my ear, typical of Japanese (Yamaha) balance.
This can be done with the Schiit Loki, try doing that with different preamps and you’ll go broke or mad trying.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
"Thousands of dollars to turn up and down the volume is pretty crazy".
Yep, and going direct is even better again. If you don’t like it, you don’t like your source.

Yea that would be if that’s all it did.
Unless you want to add coloration/distortions with an active pre.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
gochurchgo
The volume knob can actually be turned further to get as loud as the Schiit which was surprising.
Wouldn’t worry about this, because the Sys has no gain, Schiit probably use a linear volume pot, (which will have better L to R tracking matching) than a logarithmic volume pot.
Where the Quicksilver is almost certain the be a logarithmic volume pot because of the added active gain stage, which if it had a linear volume pot you wouldn't have been able to get passed 8-9am for loud listening.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
also to confirm, the sheet included with it noted that it does invert phase so I swapped the - and + of both speakers. I don’t hear a difference but from what I read that’s what one should do.
Bit of a funny one that to whether you hear anything.
The initial speaker cone movement in phase is outward, out of phase is inwards, your eardrum is inwards, or then outwards.????
They say the initial outwards (in phase) is better to hear the "leading edge" to the transient note. Comme ci, comme ça

Cheers George

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