Fisher CC-3000 Preamp

Roypercy

Super Member
Since info on this preamp is kind of hard to come by, I decided to post a few thoughts about it. I bought the preamp off Ebay recently to go with my newly-acquired Rotel RB-990BX amp. I gravitated toward the Fisher because it was relatively affordable next to better-known preamps I was seeing, I liked the features, and I found JerryD's glowing comments of it here on AK. I don't have "golden ears" or anything, and I can't describe the preamp in technical or scientific terms, but I thought a few impressions of its quality might be of interest.

The preamp arrived quickly and safely, and in good condition except for a slight scratch on top of the cabinet, probably the reult of something being stacked on top of it. Although I've always favored silver gear, the Fisher has a handsome, no-nonsense look about it that appeals to me more and more. The front is solid-looking, black anodized aluminum.

The Fisher has inputs for two tape decks, tuner, and three choices for turntable: A standard MM jack, a MC jack, and a third MM jack with variable impedance (33k, 47k, 100k). It has simple treble and bass tone controls, a tone defeat switch, loudness, subsonic filter switch, and a nice stepped volume control. After a brief flub attaching my turntable to the MC input, and cursing at how low the volume was (duh!) I got everything connected and sat down to give it a listen.

For a few weeks before buying the FIsher I had been listening to the Rotel hooked up to the pre-outs of my Hitachi HA610 integrated. Going with the Rotel had improved the sound of the Hitachi somewhat, but I suspected that pre-out problems were affecting the sound. The Hitachi is not 100% healthy, it has developed a faulty protection switch, and I'd always felt that the phono preamp on the Hitachi was rather noisy. That being said, the Hitachi had always had solid if kind of messy bass, decent midrange, a nice high end, and a pretty wide soundstage. It was my main source for several years before it started to get sick.

Upon hooking up the Fisher I put on my favorite LP to test new gear, Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez", Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, on London Digital. It's a really nice performance, and a great recording, with a very wide dynamic range. I dialed the Fisher in to 47kohms (to match the suggested loading on my AT120E cartridge) and sat back.

The sound was a revelation: the music came out of a jet-black background, the messy bass of the Hitachi was tamed and controlled, and the soundstage, while not much wider, was MUCH deeper. I felt I was hearing placement of the instruments and the sections of the orchestra that I'd never heard before. This even though I'm listening to a pair of University Dual 12's, very nice speakers but not the most detailed or revealing. The experience was repeated on every input, and every type of material. I listen to a lot of classical and jazz and sometimes it's intended to be background music; my life is busy enough that I don't often get the chance to just sit back and listen. But for the past two weeks, since the Fisher cc-3000 came to live with me, I have many times stopped whatever I was doing to listen to a passage of music as if I'd never heard it before. The sound is musical, detailed and non-fatiguing.

This probably comes from my own inexperience, but one of the things that really impresses me about this Fisher is that it sounds equally good at low volumes. I do a lot of listening late at night after the wife and daughter are asleep, and with the Hitachi I often had trouble keeping it low enough not to wake them, while loud enough to maintain any detail; it always seemed that the Hitachi dropped out below about 10%, despite its sophisticated gain control switches. Even when it's playing very softly, the Fisher maintains its tonal balance. I have engaged the loudness control a couple of times just to see what it was like, but it's generally not necessary for my late-night listening.

I don't have any experience of higher-end preamps, but I'm delighted to discover that the Fisher CC-3000 is not just adequate but really, really good.I think this preamp is a sleeper, and I highly recommend it if you're in the market. :thmbsp:
 

Attachments

  • Fisher cc-3000.jpg
    Fisher cc-3000.jpg
    21.8 KB · Views: 83
I found it to be excellent. It can handle moving magnet and moving coil cartridges, and you can adjust the impedance. It’s the best phono stage I’ve ever heard
 
I found it to be excellent. It can handle moving magnet and moving coil cartridges, and you can adjust the impedance. It’s the best phono stage I’ve ever heard

how about comparing with common pho stage pre amp like Pro-Ject, etc... ?
 
Sorry, I hit "reply" before I had typed anything. I don't have any experience of the other phono preamps you mention. Maybe somebody else on AK with more experience can help you with that question. All I can say is it was a big step forward from other phono stages I had experienced, mostly with receivers. My other preamp was a NAD 1020, very highly regarded, and I found the Fisher overall to be much better with a wider variety of cartridges.
 
Sorry, I hit "reply" before I had typed anything. I don't have any experience of the other phono preamps you mention. Maybe somebody else on AK with more experience can help you with that question. All I can say is it was a big step forward from other phono stages I had experienced, mostly with receivers. My other preamp was a NAD 1020, very highly regarded, and I found the Fisher overall to be much better with a wider variety of cartridges.

i am getting curious with Fisher CC3000 Phono variety input, is it good ?
 
Back
Top Bottom