Best budget preamp for my entry level system?

Update to this thread: I ended up buying a used NAD C162 preamp for a good price, so that I could give the Emotiva UPA-200 amp a run with the new Zu's, my Zu's finally arrived yesterday, so here's an update...

I have to say, right from the start, I'm very impressed with the level of detail in their packaging (Zu Audio). The speakers were shrink wrapped, then placed in molded foam, and then boxed. They arrived unscathed. Nice little recess in the top of one of the foams that was holding a small box of accessories and paperwork. The full range drivers are shipped with a protective plastic cap on them to prevent damage. Also received separately this week where the available / alternative rubber feet (instead of carpet spikes that come with the speakers) and 25 ohm load resistors to drop the ohm rating of the speakers down to 8/9 ohms if needed. Gotta say, the box was prepared like it was a valentines day gift. Each item wrapped nicely in some paper with the zu audio logo on it, and held in place with Zu stickers. Bottom line, impressed with the level of detail of the packaging.

So i removed the speakers from their boxes, added the feet and load resistors to them, and put them in place. They are beautifully finished, I went with the rustic hickory finish (These are the Omen Dirty Weekends with the available $100 tweeter filter cap upgrade). They are extremely solid, about 60 lbs each, and the craftsmanship is quite impressive. Initial placement is about 7' apart, slightly toed in towards my listening area, and to start were pulled about 2 feet from the wall. I had already installed the new Zu Mission speaker cables, connected to the NAD preamp with the Emotiva Amp, so I plugged them in and went for it.

It was now now 7:15pm, and I had about and hour of listening time available, and earlier this week had written down some songs that I intended to demo the speakers with. All were sourced from my iPhone via a bluetooth adapter (not the cleanest choice, I know, but convenient)

I listened to the following:

Dave Brubeck, Take 5
Stevie Ray Vaughn, Tin Pan Alley
Dire Straights, Money for Nothing
The Eagles, Hotel California (off of the Hell Freezes over Album)
Tool, Right in Two
Boston, Foreplay / Long Time (Used my turntable for this track)

Immediately when the first notes of take 5 started playing I was in awe, such a significant difference / improvement over my previous speakers. Crystal clear highs, strong mid range, and lots of low end. Prior to starting the demo, I had disabled my sub, and quickly came to the conclusion that I wont be needing it, ever. There seems to be much better stereo imaging with the ZU's (left / right channel transition), very apparent when listening to "money for nothing".

The build up of "right in two" was very enjoyable, the Zu's handled this track with ease. Very impressed with the accuracy / responsiveness of this speaker, the intense drumming in this track sounded very sharp and detailed. One of my favorite tool songs, I listen to it often. I've never heard it sound so good. My old speakers had difficulty handing this song at half volume, some muddiness in the bass, just sounded sloppy.

This weekend I intend on doing some wire management, and also try the Marantz receiver, will also experiment with removing the load resistors to see what kind of difference that makes with both the Marantz and Emotiva / NAD setup. Also continue to play with the speaker placement.

So my initial thoughts on the Zu's are that they sound amazing, are extremely well built, and definitely worth the $1,100 bucks! They blow away anything and everything that I had demo'd in the Magnolia room at Best Buy, so glad I did not give into temptation and buy the Def Tech's that I was impressed with.....

Might consider the Schiit Freya + (the one with the tubes). I have one and love the sound.

Tom

Congrats on your purchase! 

For anyone reading this thread after the fact, some thoughts come to mind. Starting a thread here(or most audio forums) and asking an open ended question like what budget preamp should I buy, is not going to be very helpful as you can see above. Dozens of different suggestions with little consensus.

If you’re putting together a system, you should start by selecting the speakers, everything flows from that decision. Buying an amp or pre unheard because the price is right is rolling the dice and losing. I know this because I have lost more than a few times.

After deciding on the speakers, you need to find an amp and pre that will compliment the speakers. That’s because it’s very possible to get components that clash with the speakers. That is, they do not sound good with a particular speaker for many possible reasons.

So if you’re going to next start a search for amp or pre amp or integrated to go with your brand of speakers, that would be a good specific question to start a thread with(in fact, put the brand and model of the speaker in the title). You will still get plenty of suggestions from people who do not own the speakers, but they are easier to weed out so you can get feedback from actual speaker owners.

I would not recommend the above NAD C162(or any other NAD components from that era). It is about 15 years old, was designed when Nad had recently come out of a near bankruptcy and was making really cheaply designed gear. I had the C372 and the 12 years later built C326BEE was easily better sounding.

213runnin; thanks for the feedback. In general I agree with your comments. However, in this case I did purchase the speakers first, and then pursued the purchase of a modest preamp so that I could try the emotiva amp with the Zu’s. The NAD preamp was short money, and to be honest it sounds pretty damn good.

i do like the Schiit audio stuff, as well as peachtree stuff. Will most likely go in the direction of buying something different after the holidays. Bottom line, the Zu’s sound great, that was a great purchase.

Thanks for everyone’s feedback and guidance!