I bought my Aesthetix Pallene from John R at Audio Connection a couple of months ago. i think I had the first or second that he sold. I had ordered it late last summer on John’s recommendation. More on that later.
The Pallene is a really impressive piece of equipment. It is essentially the preamplifier section of the also-excellent Mimas integrated amplifier. It looks and operates exactly the same way. In fact, I had John’s demo Mimas for a week operating in preamp out mode, and the Pallene sounds exactly the same. It uses a pair of the 6922 tubes, the same ones my Modwright phono preamp uses. As in that unit, I find that this tube walks that fine line between neutrality and musicality.
So how does it sound? It is neutral, and the tubes lend more smoothness than outright warmth. It’s accurate without being clinical. It’s greatest attribute is scale, though. The source material just seems to have no constraints- the music never sounds shuttered in or limited in any way. Even on more compressed recordings, it just knocks out the walls and opens it up. It matches beautifully with my Quicksilver V4s, and my Vandersteen 5As.
The interface of this preamp is similar to the Rogue RP series, or a more modern AR. There are no knobs, just buttons and an LED screen. Or maybe it’s LCD? The screen is simple, but the interface has a lot of functionality, including the very useful feature of being able to set different gain levels to different inputs. No longer will your CD seem louder than your vinyl. It took some getting used to, but I like it. The optional remote is a must, too.
It might also be helpful to know where I came from and how I ended up with the Pallene. I had been on the preamplifier musical chair game, quite unintentionally, for a while. I originally had a Rogue Perseus Magnum, also bought from John, matched with a Stereo 90 Super Magnum. The Perseus is not neutral, but has a big, fun, full, juicy sound that just makes music enjoyable. I switched from my Vandersteen 2 CE Sigs to a pair of Treos, and afterward started looking for something a bit faster and more accurate. On the recommendation of a friend, I tried a Modwright LS100 tubed preamp. It uses 6SN7, and I probably should have known better. It’s not the quietest circuit, and it’s not fast, or accurate. The looks of the aluminum chassis are gorgeous, but beauty is only skin deep. I changed power amps to solid state on a lark, and went with a Modwright KWA 100 SE, and then a KWA 150SE. The 150 is a beast, it’s fast and accurate. Not at all like tubes, but not etched or harsh - it just gives effortless scale to whatever you feed it. Anyway, those NW amps led me to try a pair of gorgeous, handmade Daedalus speakers. They are true works of art, handcrafted in custom finish for their prior owner. I enjoyed their musicality over the relentless precision and fussiness of the Treos. But, they are 96 dB efficient, and that LS100 was now LOUD at idle. It always sounded like it was raining outside. On Dan Wright’s suggestion, I tried to trade down (but really a trade up) to his newest design, the entry level SWL 9.0 Anniversary preamp. I loved it’s pace and it’s relative quiet (note my original Rogue was still more silent), but it had this weird EFI noise in one channel. After two attempts to fix it, Dan traded it back on a brand new LS100. I thought maybe the latest version would be better than my first, but alas, same result. Lots of noise.
Finally I got off the Internet and called up John. After hearing about my trials and tribulations, he recommended the Pallene, even though he couldn’t sell me one right away. He just thought the match with the Quickies and my Daedalus would be great. He wasn’t wrong! Everything snapped into focus.
So after getting everything just right, In moved to a new house and the Daedalus with subs no longer looked good in my living room. On Join’s suggestion, I picked up a pair of Vandersteen 5As. This system now is really, really enjoyable, and I haven’t even had the 5As professionally set up yet (they are hugely complicated with the run eq and all).
Highly recommended.
