I heard this preamp last weekend at Craig's......and in a word -
AWESOME.
When I began putting together my systems, I spent a great deal of time listening to other Klipsch forum members' systems in various parts of the country. I heard a LOT of high end gear, and finally settled on tube McIntosh. When I had my MX110 preamp rebuilt, I took that preamp and swapped it in and out of a few systems, with preamps costing 4-5K. While some of these preamps were a bit better than my Mac, I didn't really feel I was missing much....not enough to make me want to buy the other pre.
But the Blueberry is like Listerine: It says what it does, and it does what it says. That's RARE in audio. EVERY preamp I've heard either adds or subtracts something from the original recording. But not the Blueberry.
Those older classic rock recordings will sound better than ever before, because the Blueberry extracts ALL of the music without ADDING any hash. On these 1970's era recordings, typical hi-fi stuff will make you hate these old recordings - the Blueberry will have you in love with them all over again. That's one of the aspects I have always liked about my McIntosh - great on those older recordings where you want to revive the recording, so to speak. The Blueberry does this better.
And on an SACD??? Gimme a BREAK. This preamp is liquid, clear, and clean to an almost shocking degree.....FAR more expensive sounding than it is.
And then, of course, the new pricing.....and the new black Xtreme model......all I can say is there's gonna be a whole lotta happy 2 channel folk......because THIS preamp has allowed many the top flight performance they have been wanting at a price that is "mid-fi". Mark could charge $5000 in a B&M store with reps etc.- the usual distribution channels - and be able to get it, because the Blueberry SCHOOLS most other preamps at that price.
Sure, I might want a C22 ($2,500 or more) or new Mac tube preamp (6K)....and who could argue with wanting to own those fine pieces.....but the Blueberry would keep me just as happy on a sonic level.......for MUCH less. Mark at JuicyMusic has done for 2 channel as SVS has done for home subwoofers - made the unaffordable and unobtainable - obtainable.
All of this would not be possible without the rest of the system being well set up - including Craig's LaScalas and his VRD power amps (very impressive in their own right):yes:
Oh, and BTW - a 200G pressing of "Led Zeppelin" sounded pretty good, too :yes:
Congratulations, Mark - you deserve it. :thmbsp:
