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Fred Volz and Emotive Sira Pre Amp

After many years enjoying my aging Audible Illusions Modulus preamp, I finally began searching for a replacement. About a year ago I ran across Emotive and their Sira line of tubed preamps. I had considered an AES, Cary, newer Audible Illusions, Prima Luna, and even Supratek. But, I kept going back to the Sira, I just had a difficult time justifying the cost vs. all of the others.

From the pictures it is a beautiful piece of audio gear. However, finding reviews on it are a little difficult. I would see occasional used ones on the market, but never quite pulled the trigger. I decided to contact Fred at Emotive to determine what upgrades could be done to a used one. After much correspondence, I decided to have Fred build one for me rather than buying used.

I am a bit of a guinea pig on this build as Fred is making some slight changes from the existing Sira. I do not pretend to understand audio circuitry so I can only say that the biggest difference is the chassis will be aluminum rather than the existing stainless steel. Perhaps Fred will see this thread and chime in.

I am hoping this new model Sira will sound as good as the limited reviews I have read of the existing Sira. The build is in process so delivery is still TBD.

I will use this thread to chronicle the process and the result. I realize that it's a little unfair comparing a new boutique built preamp to a 25y/o circuit board based tube preamp, but it will have to do.

I would like to have found more reviews on the Sira, but there is little out there to read. My experience so far is that Fred is an easy gentleman to work with and the gear that he makes is beautiful in my opinion. I will be honest in my assessment of it's audio and aesthetic qualities, so stay tuned to this thread for updates. My hope through this thread is to provide more information for anyone considering one of Fred's creations.

Fwiw my current set-up includes;
Cary cd308 cdp
laptop based music server w/ onkyo interface
Parasound dac1000
Audible Illusions Modulus 2D
AES Six Pacs
Gallo Sub Amp
Gallo Ref 3.5
all gear isolated w/ black diamond cones on 2" maple shelves w/ cork and rubber isopods.
Gracenote Speaker Wire and power cables
Homegrown Audio Super Silver I/c
Mapleshade digital connects

Brad
2out2sea
2out2sea OP
74 posts
 
Fred is using his base caps. My budget didn't allow for upgraded caps. However, Fred did install Teflon tube sockets for which I was grateful. There should be plenty of room to upgrade later with caps etc.

Fred has said that one significant difference on my unit is engraving rather than silk screened lettering. Still not sure on an eta, but I will post more as the build progresses.

I would love to here anyone's comparisons between emotive gear and other pre amps. I am hoping to hear a improvement over my current audible illusions, but would love to hear what others think will be noticeable.
bigkidz
3,314 posts
 
Where are you located? If in the NYC area you can bring it over and compare it to the one I build, but be ready for a new sound experience.

Happy Listening.
2out2sea OP
74 posts
 
Sorry, I am boiling down here in 90*+ Alabama. Geez it got hot fast this year.
2out2sea OP
74 posts
 
Things are moving ahead slowly, but surely. I am still hoping to hear comparisons between various preamps and the sira. Does anyone have anything they can add.
salectric
747 posts
 
I would like to help you but my listening time to the Sira was almost 7 years ago so recollections are rather vague. I compared it to two other Emotive models---the Erato (which I owned) and the Poeta---as well as an Audio Research LS-2. I liked both the Sira and Erato very much but eventually decided to go with a custom version of the Epifania with a solid-state regulator. One aspect of the Sira that I recall vividly was the see-through transparency on live recordings. It also had very wide dynamic swings on orchestral recordings.

If you google the Sira, you can find a number of reviews and user comments from back when it was first introduced.

The sound of the Sira will be affected quite a bit by the output coupling capacitors. You mentioned that Fred was using his basic cap, but do you recall what cap that is?
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