TRL Marantz Sa-14

Hey Guys,

An exciting update. Although the TRL Sony 2000es has only 35 hours of playing time I am reporting what I heard. A tube preamp was introduced to me today. I have never heard a preamp fill the soundstage like this unit has. It has just been released and I consider myself one of the lucky few to have one. It was a no brainer since it only cost me $2,000.
The combination of this preamp and the TRL for the asking price ($2,850) will seriously challenge more expensive digital front ends and IMHO convert analog lovers to digital. Its a magical combination that I had to have.

The preamps name is "Full Image". Magical in of itself but unheard of at this price.

So, tell us more about this new pre-amp ...

And, congratulations on the TRL C2000ES. I have one with around 550 hours on it. Just wait until it fully breaks in ...

I only heard of it from a fellow who is using a very expensive Japanese preamp in his very expensive system and he bought one! I had to listen to one so I took a long ride.
Well after hearing it I decided to order one. It does something special in the middle of the soundstage that I have never heard a preamp do.

I will try to explain. Take a balloon that haphazardly floats around and now add strings to it and a platform and now it floats consistantly, smoothly and can even carry people, this is what this preamp does. Pulls everything together and fills the 'spatial' information so well that when you return to your regular preamp, its like a hole. I am still trying to digest all of this and I am sure the TRL is part of this.

I can't wait till the TRL breaks in. I have barely 40 hours and what I am experiencing at this stage with my Single Ended stuff and this new preamp is very exciting!

Why the secracy regarding your new preamp? Could you fill us in on this? Thanks.

Are you guys using the balanced or single-ended (RCA) outputs of your TRL SA14? I have been told that the balanced outputs of the *stock* SA14 sound clearly better than the single-ended/RCA ouputs (even when you level match). I can't confirm this in my system since a) my SA14 is going to be shipped straight to TRL, and b) my Joule preamp only has single-ended/RCA inputs.