Joule Electra LA-150 MK3 vs MK2?

Hello Rafael,

"Are you suggesting that the sonic improvment you observed and described are due more from Jouole-Electra LA-300ME preamp or your Spectron Musician III Mk2 amplifiers?"

That is correct. This kind of bass depth, weight, pitch, definition etc., was not there until the Joule Electra preamp was inserted in my system.

A friend out ours, who plays in a quartet, heard his own recording in my system and his jaw literally dropped. He said he's never heard such a clean, articulate and pitch-correct sound from an audio system. This is from a musician who has a few recordings already and who travels to many countries performing. Most of what he said is also because of the Joule Electra preamp.

Best,

iSanchez

Hello iSanchez,

This is exactly what I hear with LA-300ME. Equally as you, I own two Spectron monoblocks with Bybees. Addition of 2nd amplifier was improvement and I thought "can't be better" - but yes it can.

You are more brave then I am - I was afraid to state that for my ears addition of (rather expensive) preamplifier improved bass and slam much more noticeable then 7000 watts (seven thousand watts!) of Spectron peak power.

Its good amplifier, I own them - monos and not planning to sell yet. However, MUSIC , real MUSIC, nothing between you and MUSIC (and bass and shmass and whatever) - only this preamp did it for me - personally speaking.

Never before I have had such experience (besides live concerts, of course).

Very interesting that my speakers are very different from your - B&W802N , and yours are planar Maggies 3.6 - still MUSIC is MUSIC is MUSIC....is MUSIC !!!!!!!!!!

All The Best
Rafael

"This implies that the Joule Electra Marianne Memorial Edition preamp might be performing something like equalization. Perhaps you simply prefer this equalization to a more truthful presentation."

There is no question that adding any component to a particular system will change the sound, so that will be the case for any audio system. One can also ask these questions: Are the new speakers equalizing or simply passing through the signal? Does the signal need to be corrected, re-timed perhaps? I don't know.

Also, there have been many others who connect a DAC or phono preamp directly to amplifiers and they report that the straight connection to the amps lacks life, etc.

I'm very familiar with equalizers. I'm also very familiar with recording studios. I also know very well what live music sounds like. This preamp simply sounds like live music, which in my opinion is the truthful presentation. BTW, I'm not the only one hearing live music with this preamp. So maybe this preamp is de-equalizing?

I've heard systems costing 100K - 150K that don't sound like live music, but they sound great in the hi-fi sense. Some may just prefer this to live music and they are very happy with it.

Best,

iSanchez

Hello Rafael,

So far, everybody (mostly classical professional musicians) who has listen to my system says the same thing: it's like the musicians are here!!!

Best,

iSanchez

Yes, particularly with MapleShade or other high-end recordings, I hear the same thing - that it sounds live. I even had someone say once that 'it sounded better than live' and at first I was offended in an odd way - it made me think that person didn't understand anything about audio, because 'live' is the ultimate. Eventually, I think I figured out what he meant - had to do with the room. If those 5 musicians were in my living room it would have sounded much worse as we would have been sitting 2 inches from their noses, I was replicating to some extent the space they recorded in, much larger than my puny room, so the room sounded larger and more natural than my actual room.

Its actually funny - the reviews mentioned above sound exactly like what I hear... Perhaps it is similar, but 'more so' for the extra 12 - 15k. Any of you with this pre-amp in California, or northern California? It would be interesting to listen, and I would invite anyone over as well. Send me a message through Audiogon if interested...

Oh - and agreed with the pre vs non-pre. I ran without a pre for years before the Supratek. Its more than acting like an equalizer, they handle voltage increases better than the small pre that comes in CD players. Remember, everthing has some sort of pre, as what 'pre' really means is increasing voltage to some level, even if that level is 2 or 2.14 or 2.4 volts. Except of course passive pre's, which only reduce voltage. So, with an active pre, during loud passages they are better at getting increases in voltage quickly than their small equivalents in source equipment. There are other things that improve with a pre and I don't know why all of them work, but dynamics are improved along the above comments.

iSanches - same speakers, we could have a great comparo but probably you live on East Coast or something :)...

Oh - and my sub gets less and less use as well. Those 3.6s go really really deep after a long break-in period...