Marchand PR41 Passive Pre-amp

[ThomasW]

First off let me say that this product is too weird.

1)NO power cord
2)NO off/on switch.

How's it supposed to work :?

And what do they mean by "passive"? My old Sony TA-E90ES pre-amp is "passive" too, unless you touch it, it just sits there and does nothing :B

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for mimimalist products, but this is strange. Let's see......

6 inputs, 2 outputs, input selector, balance control and a "volume" control. That's ALL????

Hummm.... let's see what's inside. God, it's practically empty! Where's the power supply? Where's the BIG torroidal transformer? Where's the monster supply caps. What's going on here???

Hey, whats that weird square thing with all those precision tolerance metal film resisters? Gees there must be a hundred of those little things. Why what's that, there's a wheel with a zillion little "teeth". When you turn the knob, it clicks into position. Look there's a bunch of little silver connectors, one for each "tooth". You turn the knob and it "clicks".. interesting.

Oh what's that, there's something stamped on the metal plate. Hey that plate's made of stainless steel. It's a name S H A L L C O .. Shallco. Isn't that the company that makes those stepped attenuator things? Why yes it is. Oh my, those things are expensive just by themselves. Something like $300ea.

Hey look, the balance control is built the same way. It's a Shallco part too. And there are even more of those precision metal film resistors.

Ok let's hook it up and see what happens. But where's the power cord? Well when in Rome....

This is interesting. Click, click click and the sound gets louder. Click, click, click, and the sound gets quieter. How does this thing work without any electrical circuits??? Most be magic.

Well it hasn't blown anything up. let's turn it up and see what happens.

Click, click, click,....

Mmmmmm, that sounds pretty darn good. "Clearer", more "real", "natural"

Click, click, click,...

Hey wait a minute, this sounds better than my $2000 "real" pre-amp!

Click, click, click,.....

Holy S**t! this is amazing.

Hey you! What are you looking at? Can't you see I'm busy here.

Click, click, click, click,...........

Marchand PR41 Passive Pre-amp kit $495 BUY IT!




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Ken McDaniel]

Passive??! Huh? I take it uses manual switches to simply switch inputs and vary volume? Interesting. Tell me more. $495 you say?




Ken

[ThomasW]

Hi Ken

Yep passive. Six inputs via a manual switch, 46 position Shallco stepped attenuator for the volume, 23 position Shallco for the balance.

Just say no if you need tape monitor loops or "phono", but if not say.......yes, yes, yes!

Here the URL for the big description

http://www.marchandelec.com/pr41.htm

How's it sound? Well as far as I can tell it has NO sonic characteristics

It sure ain't pretty, but that's OK by me.

Price for Marchand PR41-KK $495+ shipping(10% less if you're a member of the Bass-list). As far as I know the Shallco parts themselves can't be purchase for this amount.

Oh! I need to add, like ALL Marchand products it's built like a TANK




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[JonMarsh]

What ThomasW didn't tell you is that he has a hot-rodded Marchand PR-41) (makes all the difference in the world)(toungue firmly in side of cheek).
The kit is very straightforward to put together. For an experienced assembler, about 4-5 hours. For an average person, probably 8 should be allowed. The biggest amount of work is installing all those itty bitty precision metal film resistors in the attenuator and balance boards.
The only component quality that is uninspiring is the supplied internal hook up wire. On the two PR41's I've built, that's been replaced with upgraded wire. I'd suggest Cardas hookup, or at least a good grade of 20 AWG silver plated copper with TFE insulation.
The only other upgrade I can imagine would be a new anodized black front panel; there's is a bit plain, but for the money, how can you complain?
Only really specialized tool you might need is a heat gun for the heatshrink tubing; a Wagner variable temperature "Turbo Cool" heat gun will set you back less than $40 bucks, in most cases; available at a lot of hardware stores, such as my local Orchard Hardware in CA.
Best to use output cable with minimum capacitance to avoid HF roll off; actually, running 20 foot runs is no problem with -3 dB point above 80 kHz.
The Shallco attenuators provide very neutral, consisten performance at any volume setting, without any contact rectification or grunge that is common to conventional conductive plastic volume controls. The absence of a line gain stage means fewer active stages in the signal path. It's like having your CD player or tuner directly hooked up to your power amps, but with level controls.
Highly recommended for the price, or at several multiples of the price.


Regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[ThomasW]

Ok, credit where credit's due. JonMarsh assembled my PR41-KK for me, while in Denver helping to finish up the Whisper "clones".

As I slide past middle age, my vision for very small PCB level soldering has become problematic. So Jon was gracious enough to help out.




theAudioWorx
Klone-Audio

[Lexman]

To top.

[Lex]

Top