HG Design Home Audio Amps & Preamps

JMiP

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Does anyone have any information on a Turkish hi-fi manufacturer named HG Design Home Audio? This is all I can find on them and it seems to be out of date.

The reason I ask is because I bought one of their preamps yesterday. This thing is very small yet weighs much heavier than you think it would. It's got four inputs (no phono unfortunately) and one set of output. The only way to choose an input is with the supplied remote control, although there is a volume knob on the front.

I a/b'd it against a Technics SU-9070 preamp and this little guy kicked the SU-9070's butt. There was no competition there. We played a bunch of random CDs that included some jazz, blues, and rock. In each case, the HG Design preamp sounded so much fuller and supplied a much bigger punch. I brought it home and hooked it up with a Magnavox 8802 tube amp with a Hagerman Audio Labs Bugle 2 phono preamp and my CD player. It took the Maggie forever and a day to warm itself up to its best sound and when it did, I played CDs and records until 3:00 AM last night (had the house to myself). The only flaw that I found in this preamp was the volume control. As I twisted it up, the volume would go up until I hit a certain point in which there was hardly any difference. However, as I kept turning the volume knob, it finally caught up and got louder again. This I can live with.

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Oh, and that remote is the only way to power on/off the preamp and to select inputs. I went to a big box store and purchased a GE Ultra Pro universal remote. Will I be able to pair this remote with the preamp?
 
I've never heard of them so can't give you too much advice.
You will be able to use the universal remote only if you have someone who can give you the codes or somehow find out what the original remote used. I doubt you'll find such an odd preamp in the code list of the remote though you might get lucky.
Another option is to check the Harmony remote database. There are a lot of oddball units on there.
 
You won't need codes. Get a learner remote that can be manually programmed and Bob's your uncle. Search Amazon for "learning remote" and take your pick. They allow you to hold the source remote to the learning remote and manually program the button functions individually.

BTW, it sounds like the guy that you took to listen to that pre-amp is a great person. Top notch fella. You should give him a box of money.
 
BTW, it sounds like the guy that you took to listen to that pre-amp is a great person. Top notch fella. You should give him a box of money.

Meh. He's OK. Though he'll be a lot cooler if he buys those Dali Ikon 5s!
 
The guy that is responsible for the little pre finally replied to my email. As for the getting a replacement remote (in case the present one goes tits up), he said:

"...you can any sony TV remote to control the preamplifier , you can find the rigt button by trying..."

Not sure what he means exactly. Anyone care to opine what he could mean and how I would go about doing this? I bought a GE universal remote so maybe I can program that one after all.

Also, he noted that he is no longer making audio gear and that he is out of the business due to being too busy with other things. Too bad. If his other gear was as good as this pre, then we are missing out on some good stuff.
 
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