Nice preamp with N802's

[braamman]

Hi All,

my setup now is Parasound P3 + T3 as pramp + tuner and a Parasound A21 as poweramp (2x250watt @ 8ohm) together with 2 N802's wired with Siltech LS-100 G3 cables (I only do stereo), yes I don't mention a source yet because I'm still orienting on a good one.
The sound is amazing but I really want to get more out of my Nauts, so I'll be upgrading (again...) and just ordered a pair of eAR 1001 (mono's 500watt @ 8ohm by Acoustic Reality with great looks, XLR and double binding posts).
Now my wife really wants everything to look nice (and with as little amount of "boxes" as possible) so I'm looking for a good/nice (in this order) preamp/tuner combo. I searched the internet quite well and found several, however I really would like some input from everybody on the quality since I will not be able to audition any of these babies (some for obvious reasons, others are just not sold in Europe or I can't find it).
Next is the list in preffered order:
1) AVM - Inspiration V6 (T6 tuner module in it and XLR) AVM gets good reviews but this baby isn't on the market yet...
2) B&K - Reference 5 S2 ((fairly) unknown in Holland, don't know where to buy them here?!? but looks nice and with XLR)
3) Adcom - GTP-602 (same as B&K but lacks XLR and only available in black)
4) NAD - T163 (only in "NAD-black" and offers a lot I won't use, no XLR and a fairly older model)
5) NAD - C720BEE (only in "NAD-zilver", will only use it as a pre-amp, no XLR but I think it's in a "lower leaque")
6) Anthem - TLP1 (stunning looks but only 110v, so no use here in the Netherlands!)

Please don't advise separates I really want (need) a combo, so thanks for your insights and advise.

kr
Edwin

[Aussie Geoff]

braamman,

Just a thought - what about one of the eAR pre-amps such as the eAR Master One - a perfect visual and sonic match for your eAR 1001 monoblocks!

Geoff

[braamman]

braamman,

Just a thought - what about one of the eAR pre-amps such as the eAR Master One - a perfect visual and sonic match for your eAR 1001 monoblocks!

Geoff

Geoff,

your right about the looks and sound, however, there's no tuner! and probably more important I own a MAC, apart from that I really would like my audio and MAC setup to be separated.

Edwin

[Phil Rose]

Here's a solution that approaches things from a little different angle. It's the Linn Unidisk SC, a universal disk player with built in system controller. Get this and it will address your need for a great digital source and give you all the integrated controls and decoding options you might need. The only thing you would need would be a tuner which you already have.

http://www.linn.co.uk/movie_systems_unidisk_sc.php

http://www.linn.co.uk/files/fc55e2f3/UDSC_S_12-05.pdf

[braamman]

Hi Phil,

thx, I did look in this direction (more affordable though via Primare which has a nice combi but without XLR and "just" cd capable not DVD), but decided it wasn't really what I wanted. Knowing Linn this probably is a "sound" solution (for the money). If it were with XLR and tuner for let say half the price I would have ordered one...

keep em coming guys.