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Being an diehard DIY who also listens to a lot of commerically built gear, as both a benchmark and a backstop to my aural judgements, I think I've finally found the preamp solution that I can live with for two channel audio.
It came about partly because of my lust for preamps built by a friend's company (Charlie Hansen's Ayre Acoustics), and my realization that I would not any time in the near future be able to justify a $6K preamp to myself. And having been led through some of the intricacies of construction involved, and being very familiar with Charlie's folded cascode complemenary zero feedback amplifiers, and the pains involved in selecting and matching the components for optimum operation, that didn't appear to be a path I wanted to go down. (Heavens, shirking from a challenge; I must be getting old).
But, one point which was clear about these new preamps was the excellent performance of the Shallco rotary switches with coin silver contacts in audio attenuator applications. These are available direct from Shallco, configured as complete attenuators, but at a signficant price.
Well, my favorite purveyor of budget high performance electronic crossovers came to the rescue, and Marchand Electronics has introduced a passive preamp, the PR41, with several variants, based on the Shallco rotary switches that I lusted for. What's more, both single ended and balanced versions are available, and the cost for the complete preamp kit is hardly more than what Shallco charges for the attenuator assembly alone in small quantities.
For the music lover who works primarily with line level sources, or who already has a good separate phono preamp, this is a highly recommended option for about half of a C note.
Needless to say, transparency and clarity, at all volume level settings, are pretty much above reproach. The PR41 replaced a several year old $2K FET preamp which had a volume control that was starting to act up a bit in the lower settings; the difference in consistency of sound over the whole control range, and in midrange and HF clarity, was not small.
With processors featuring analog bypass, such as the Sony EDP9ES, the PR41 can co-exist handily in a surround sound system.
Later I'll write up a little more about the details of it's construction and the assembly process, and post a short review and write up in the Review dejure area.
Regards,
Jon
Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....
It came about partly because of my lust for preamps built by a friend's company (Charlie Hansen's Ayre Acoustics), and my realization that I would not any time in the near future be able to justify a $6K preamp to myself. And having been led through some of the intricacies of construction involved, and being very familiar with Charlie's folded cascode complemenary zero feedback amplifiers, and the pains involved in selecting and matching the components for optimum operation, that didn't appear to be a path I wanted to go down. (Heavens, shirking from a challenge; I must be getting old).
But, one point which was clear about these new preamps was the excellent performance of the Shallco rotary switches with coin silver contacts in audio attenuator applications. These are available direct from Shallco, configured as complete attenuators, but at a signficant price.
Well, my favorite purveyor of budget high performance electronic crossovers came to the rescue, and Marchand Electronics has introduced a passive preamp, the PR41, with several variants, based on the Shallco rotary switches that I lusted for. What's more, both single ended and balanced versions are available, and the cost for the complete preamp kit is hardly more than what Shallco charges for the attenuator assembly alone in small quantities.
For the music lover who works primarily with line level sources, or who already has a good separate phono preamp, this is a highly recommended option for about half of a C note.
Needless to say, transparency and clarity, at all volume level settings, are pretty much above reproach. The PR41 replaced a several year old $2K FET preamp which had a volume control that was starting to act up a bit in the lower settings; the difference in consistency of sound over the whole control range, and in midrange and HF clarity, was not small.
With processors featuring analog bypass, such as the Sony EDP9ES, the PR41 can co-exist handily in a surround sound system.
Later I'll write up a little more about the details of it's construction and the assembly process, and post a short review and write up in the Review dejure area.
Regards,
Jon
Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....
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