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Best Vintage Preamp

FauxHall said:
Any recommendations for a fully balanced vintage preamp with two sets of XLR inputs?

I've been spending hours digging but find few candidates and if I do find a nice model, say a Luxman, HiFiShark can't find it.

A wood cabinet would be icing on the cake.
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No wood cabinet, but a Pass Aleph P would meet your other requirements and is a very nice and good sounding preamp.
 
The NOT highly-regarded SAE P102 that I picked up with a bunch of other components has found a permanent place in my system. It is clear, quiet, dynamic, and has excellent bass response. It is cold-sounding, though, so I added a tube buffer to the signal line. Well, it's permanent until I find something that sounds better! I think we can all say that. :)
SAE P102.jpg
 
slofut said:
I never knew that Rotel was Roland Electronics Co. has to be the same as the guitar amp company? And I thought they were a USA make :dunno:
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There were two different Roland companies.

First was the home audio equipment company, established in 1957 in Japan. Their products were exported to the US, under the name Roland Martel (Martel being the US importer). However, due to prior claim on the Roland name in home audio in the US- they later changed their name to an amalgam of both names- Rotel, for exported product. The first known use of the Rotel name was in 1961, and by the early 1970s, everything they made was under the Rotel name.

The other is Roland Music, founded in 1972. This is the company that made synthesizers and other musical products, including the famous TR-808. Fortunately, there was no direct conflict in the musical instrument electronics field for the name Roland, so they have been known by that for their entire history, worldwide.

Regards,
Gordon.
 
I have had: A couple of Carver's, including a C-1, a Conrad Johnson PV-6, an Audio Research SP-3A1, and a McIntosh C-24. I rebuilt or tested the power supplies in the C-24, the ARC, and the PV-6.

The PV-6 was an insult to all of the music I played through it - an NO, there was nothing wrong with it other than it existing. It went after maybe 4 or 4 months of sonic torture. So far, the best of these, IMO, *easily* was the SP-3. The soundstage was wide, deep, and lush. Gorgeous presentation. A lovely, lovely piece of gear - one that I deeply regret selling. The Carver C-1 wasn't bad at all, and I HATE the C-24 - again, I've gone through it and everything is within parameters. It's just not a good sounding device to my ear. It is shortly being replaced by a Sansui CA-3000 that I have very high expectations of. Again, I will go through the CA-3000 and replace anything that needs replacing as I do with my vintage gear.

Am sure the OP has sourced something though - 2013 was awhile ago.
 
jcolletteiii said:
Am sure the OP has sourced something though - 2013 was awhile ago.
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Oh we are just piling on. If someone has owned a vintage preamp, it seems they need to post it here. Well except you with a list, dissing a couple of them, correctly I believe for the one of those that I have heard. And with an SP-3A sitting over there awaiting a hot soldering iron, I'm agreeing with the comments on that preamp. A true classic.
 
I just got a Mitsubishi DA-P20, sound nice, got it for a good price.
a tone control set for each side, make no sense but whatever
The preamp is a Dual Monaural construction, what does it mean ?

P1130510.jpg


Mitsubishi-DA-P-20-innen-25.jpg

Mitsubishi-DA-P-20-Front-25.jpg
 
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