2. amps-preamps
  3. 127815-90127

To Pre or not to Pre? Here is my take

I remember reading in many places that the best preamp was no preamp.
Finally in a position to test that theory
Equipment is Esoteric sa-50 player, audio research ls preamp, bat vk600 power amp.
So I let everything warm up for an hour or so and then played some Halestorm through the system, for anybody who is not familiar with Mz. Hale, she is similar to a smoother Bonnie Tyler with more range! Her band has some great bass guitar and drum work as well so a nice little workout.
After 5 or 6 tracks I changed over to powering the bat direct from the esoteric using the same cardas xlr interconnects.
It only took a couple of tracks to confirm
I just did not like this sound, bass was much thinner, soundstage not as wide, vocals not as smokey for want of a better description of Mz. Hales style.
Hooked the ls2 back and joy was restored!

What does this tell me?
That absolutely the ls preamp is adding its own sonic signature to the mix, in theory that equates to probably a more "dirty" sound but to me this was the sound I preferred.
Now obviously no 2 people listening to the same gear are going to hear the same thing, its impossible!
However playing MY music on MY gear the sound going through the ls2 preamp was the sound that I wanted to hear, end of story.
Oh trust me its not just value perception, I sort of WANTED the sound to be better without the ls2 preamp as I could have then sold it and spent the money elsewhere! 
I know there will be lots of people who can spout theories to prove I am full of it but the only judge of the sound of your own system worth worrying about is yourself!
128x128uberwaltz

Showing 1 response by electroslacker

electroslacker
375 posts
 
IMHO, linestage and wire designers are more chefs serving up tastes  than engineers solving problems. It can be argued that there is really no problem to be solved with braided quality copper wire or a good signal attenuator (ignoring the digital resolution issue.) Even if there were engineering issues, forty years is more than enough time to solve them.  Not to be a curmudgeon, but I suspect most of what is being engineered in wire and linestages are differences marketed to different tastes.  Sometimes they're just bright shiny objects we desire.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that, and I have an aftermarket power cord, silver interconnect, SR Black fuses, and still undecided on whether I want my Benchmark HGC to be my linestage or spend extra on a tube pre.  In the end it's the joy we get from it all.
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