Dodd preamp vs. McCormack RLD-1 preamp

One of the reasons that swayed me against the Dodd was the high gain. However that was when I had an extremely high gain solid state amp in my system. With that amp most preamps, with the exception of a passive, gave me little wiggle room on the volume control, nine or ten o'clock was normal listening volume. I'm curious now as to how it may sound with my tube monoblocks.

Pubul57 - it may be possible to strap resistors across the outputs to lower the gain (Vishay's or Audio Note Tantalums could be a nice touch). It's a typical tweak and better than using external attenuators like Rothwell. Another solution is to integrate the resistors in your cable. I think Luminous Audio, IIRC, actually sells cables with resistors that will lower the gain by 10 - 14 db.

I'll have to live with 10:00, at least with the RM9s (1.1v sensitivity), good thing is that unlike the CAT SL1 which had large steps, the Dodd volume control is pretty granular in steps so it easy to find the right volume level. Whether not going further along the attenuator makes any significant different in impedances I don't know, but it sure sounds good as is.

Back to the original thread...I have had the RLD-1 in my system for several days now and have found that it sounds much better when its been on for a long time. I am "warming up" to its sound...it definitely has a warmer sound than my ARC and it throws a much wider soundstage. Maybe not quite as dead-on accurate but very pleasing to the ear. If it sounds that good with its cheaper internals, I am really intrigued what it could be with Steve McCormack's mods. That $1400 is starting to burn a large hole in my pocket.

Well, go with your gut feeling but keep your ears open.......you never know what can awaits you just around the corner.

I am glad that some of you found the info on Dodd or Isabella useful since both preamps are very highly recommended and will connect with music like few others in their price range and above......way above.
Just like you, I took a chance with Dodd and was sceptic at first. But I had to find out what the buzz was all about. I am glad I did and I hope that my comments weren't misleading........which would really be a bummer.

Es347
I hope you will enjoy your new preamp, whatever it is that you will end up with. If it puts the smile on your face......that is all that matters.

Cheers
Mariusz

Mrjstark..
Just about anything audio puts a smile on my face. I'm after that ear-to-ear grin. Will let you know where all this ends up.