I am (and I am sure many others)glad that finally many more audiophile will have auditioned Raul's Preamp and many more view on its performance. As I am in mmarket for a reference preamp. In the past Raul has been updating me with the info and when it would be availble. From the reviews so far, it sure sounds like it has performance qualities like ' live music'- transperancy, images with body and transperancy in low to mid bass freq performance(very rare traits indeed). The phono plus preamp function all -in one is another big plus. It is curious though that Raul and Jose designed their ref preamp solid state (I, in general, share alleged Raul's disdain for tube based design).
Experience with Raul's Essential 3150
Here are my comments on the listening session I had with Raul and his Essential 3150 Full Function Preamplifier.
Firstly, I would like to thank Raul. He is a very knowledgeable and kind gentleman. He has years and years of experience in music and analog systems. My respect for him is in another league after his visit. Some times his post opinions may seem controversial, but I think he knows what he’s talking about. Remember. Respect your elders…they have more experience.
Raul and Jose’s preamp is a seriously built unit!!! It has a separate power supply and the total weight of the two units is close to 50lbs. Very heavy, well shielded frame. Raul opened up the preamp and pointed out the level and quality of the parts. Vishay resistors, V-Caps, etc. This preamp is completely solid state and made with the finest parts and the inside does not look garage shop at all. It is impressive looking. His design is fully balanced from input to output. It included 2 SE line inputs, 2 balanced line inputs and 2 sets of phono inputs, both SE and balanced. It has a separate left and right volume control as well. The preamp is 12 years in the making and uses some interesting proprietary techniques. According to Raul, the distortion and frequency linearity is orders of magnitude better than just about all the other equipment out there.
We compared the music we were hearing using either his preamp or my CAT Ultimate MkII preamp. Since I had to create space in my rack, I removed my CD player. Therefore, we only listened to my analog system. I wish this were not the case because it would also have been good to compare line stages.
We listened to a few records: Miles Davis-Kind of Blue, Sade-Stronger than Pride, Steve Miller-Fly Like an Eagle, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon, and various classical selections. The most clear and obvious differences were bass response, transparency/detail and sound staging.
Music with the Essential had INCREDIBLE bass and midbass. Much, much better than listening through the CAT. It is extended, articulate and not attenuated the least bit. This improved the fullness and impact of the presentation greatly. It is quite amazing that my Analog system has bass potential that I was not even getting close to with the CAT. This alone has me seriously considering buying his unit.
As you would expect from fine solid state, the music had fine detail and transparency was at a higher level than you would expect with tubes. In this regard it was better than the CAT. Due to the transparency, the soundstage depth and width was very apparent. Dynamics were also very good.
In the mids to highs, music through the CAT had a richer and more immediate quality. Brass sounded brassier with the CAT than through the Essential. In comparison, music through the Essential had a detailed but lean, soft and relaxed presentation compared to the CAT. It comes down to which is more correct, which has a coloration and what does one prefer. Also, the Essential has some trim pots that allow extension or attenuation of frequencies above 20KHz. Raul believes that this observation would have been ameliorated by extending the frequencies.
Through both preamps, we heard slightly tipped up high frequencies in my system that Raul believes is not a function of either preamp. The most likely culprit is the frequency balance of the speakers or room acoustics. Therefore, I may need to address this problem first. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong with the Essential 3150. It really is like a tool.
The other thing I will try is replacing the tubes in the preamp. They are about two years old and have been used extensively. Ken Stevens from CAT believes that this will improve the level of the bass, articulation and transparency across the entire frequency range. It will be interesting to rehear some of the tracks we played after this. I also would like the chance to try the Essential for a week instead of the 5-6 hours we took as well as compare the line stage performance.
Overall, the Essential 3150 is a seriously good preamp and is probably better than most commercial solid state and tube units. If you have a chance, give it a try. In my case, I’ll first try addressing the speakers, seeing if the new tubes make a difference and hopefully spending more time with the unit.
Andrew
Firstly, I would like to thank Raul. He is a very knowledgeable and kind gentleman. He has years and years of experience in music and analog systems. My respect for him is in another league after his visit. Some times his post opinions may seem controversial, but I think he knows what he’s talking about. Remember. Respect your elders…they have more experience.
Raul and Jose’s preamp is a seriously built unit!!! It has a separate power supply and the total weight of the two units is close to 50lbs. Very heavy, well shielded frame. Raul opened up the preamp and pointed out the level and quality of the parts. Vishay resistors, V-Caps, etc. This preamp is completely solid state and made with the finest parts and the inside does not look garage shop at all. It is impressive looking. His design is fully balanced from input to output. It included 2 SE line inputs, 2 balanced line inputs and 2 sets of phono inputs, both SE and balanced. It has a separate left and right volume control as well. The preamp is 12 years in the making and uses some interesting proprietary techniques. According to Raul, the distortion and frequency linearity is orders of magnitude better than just about all the other equipment out there.
We compared the music we were hearing using either his preamp or my CAT Ultimate MkII preamp. Since I had to create space in my rack, I removed my CD player. Therefore, we only listened to my analog system. I wish this were not the case because it would also have been good to compare line stages.
We listened to a few records: Miles Davis-Kind of Blue, Sade-Stronger than Pride, Steve Miller-Fly Like an Eagle, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon, and various classical selections. The most clear and obvious differences were bass response, transparency/detail and sound staging.
Music with the Essential had INCREDIBLE bass and midbass. Much, much better than listening through the CAT. It is extended, articulate and not attenuated the least bit. This improved the fullness and impact of the presentation greatly. It is quite amazing that my Analog system has bass potential that I was not even getting close to with the CAT. This alone has me seriously considering buying his unit.
As you would expect from fine solid state, the music had fine detail and transparency was at a higher level than you would expect with tubes. In this regard it was better than the CAT. Due to the transparency, the soundstage depth and width was very apparent. Dynamics were also very good.
In the mids to highs, music through the CAT had a richer and more immediate quality. Brass sounded brassier with the CAT than through the Essential. In comparison, music through the Essential had a detailed but lean, soft and relaxed presentation compared to the CAT. It comes down to which is more correct, which has a coloration and what does one prefer. Also, the Essential has some trim pots that allow extension or attenuation of frequencies above 20KHz. Raul believes that this observation would have been ameliorated by extending the frequencies.
Through both preamps, we heard slightly tipped up high frequencies in my system that Raul believes is not a function of either preamp. The most likely culprit is the frequency balance of the speakers or room acoustics. Therefore, I may need to address this problem first. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong with the Essential 3150. It really is like a tool.
The other thing I will try is replacing the tubes in the preamp. They are about two years old and have been used extensively. Ken Stevens from CAT believes that this will improve the level of the bass, articulation and transparency across the entire frequency range. It will be interesting to rehear some of the tracks we played after this. I also would like the chance to try the Essential for a week instead of the 5-6 hours we took as well as compare the line stage performance.
Overall, the Essential 3150 is a seriously good preamp and is probably better than most commercial solid state and tube units. If you have a chance, give it a try. In my case, I’ll first try addressing the speakers, seeing if the new tubes make a difference and hopefully spending more time with the unit.
Andrew
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- 123 posts total
Here are some pics. I've never used an image hosting site before so I'm not sure this will work, or how many people will get to view them in a day before it stops access, but thought I'd give it a shot. FRONT REAR POWER SUPPLY INSIDE MAIN INSIDE POWER SUPPLY |
Since that didn't work out so well - I posted the pics on my system page so you can just click the link below. The pics hosted on the other site are higher resolution, but I'm afraid it will limit the number of folks who can view them in a day. I'll leave them posted there so some people will get the chance if they want. |
Paul and I want to thank Raul for taking the time (and expense) to travel all the way from Laredo TX to CT, on very short notice. His visit was a great joy and he is a wonderful person to know and have as a guest. He loved Paul's cooking, which is easy to do, and he laughed at my jokes, which isn't. We are still collating our impressions but one thing should be stressed. We did not perform any extensive A/B between our Nick Doshi Alaap and Raul/Jose's Essential. There was no playing of the same track through one preamp and then the other. For Raul, the only reference that matters is the memory of live music. We listened to the Alaap for an hour or so to let him get a handle on our sytem, then switched to the Essential until it was time for him to pack up. Sonically we'll not be contradicting anything written above. We'll put some flesh on the bones but the short version is easy: when properly installed the Essential and the Alaap come closer to reproducing the experience of live music than any other preamps we've heard. The Essential does it with transistors. The Alaap does it with transistors in the MC stage and tubes thereafter. This gives them different strengths and weaknesses, but their strengths are manifold while their weaknesses are few. Many other preamps seem unlistenable after hearing these two. Either of these two provide enough of the illusion of live music to satisfy our ears and priorities. Most of you know I'm not shy about saying what I dislike about a component. There won't be much of that. When Paul says of a component, "I could live with this", we've reached pretty rarified levels of performance. There are only two cartridges and two tonearms about which he has ever said that, and until this weekend there was only one preamp. Now there are two. Thanks again to Raul for joining us and expanding our horizons, Doug |
- 123 posts total