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DIY Preamp: Any Ideas For A Simple Kick-Ass 3 Input Design?

Gary D Olson

Gary D Olson

Skilled Tightwad
'twas a sad day when I recently put almost my entire vintage collection up for sale. All that remains is a Hitachi turntable, Kenwood KR-9600 receiver, Luxman R-117 receiver, and Yamaha M70, C70, & T70 separates system.

The Lux will stay behind as my power amp along with the Hitachi turntable (MC). Other sources are a high end modern Marantz CD player and computer with external USB Schiit DAC. The latter is my primary source and someday may well be my ONLY source.

My three top preamp options are:

1. Keep the Yamaha C70 (sounds great but is overkill and gets pretty hot)
2. Use the R-117 after a $500 rehab by Tom Ishimoto at Northridge Electronics
3. Build one

So... my big questions to you are:

A) Can you point me in the direction of a design that would perform at or above options 1 & 2 that would cost no more than $500 to build?
B) If not, which of the first two options would you recommend?
C) Outside of these options, what sub $500 preamp would you pair with the R-117?


Much obliged.
 
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You definitely have some options. I am currently using the preamp section of the Nakamichi receiver to feed Rotel amp but in the meantime, I am building ESP P88 preamp (Elliott's design). The DIY preamp is not finished yet so can't comment on the sound quality but the reviews of people who built it are very positive. Total of all parts is definitely below $500 but work is involved (soldering, case, hookups, etc).
 
Hi
I have built Pass B1, DCB1 and also Super simple preamp(SSP) designed by Hypnotoad. All were great, but SSP was cheapest and great sounding.
My friend recently designed a Class A preamp/ headphone amp using all discrete components. It sounds much better than DCB1 and B1, has onboard power suppy and volume pot.
here are some builds
https://www.hifivision.com/threads/discrete-dynamics-class-a-pre-amplifier.75761/
https://www.hifivision.com/threads/discrete-dynamics-class-a-pre-amplifier.75761/

Regards
Sachin
 
late to the party, but fwiw, been very happy with a technics su-9070 pre-amp and the lux r-117 amp section.
 
avionic said:
Keep the C-70.. With a switch upgrade an new relays.
Click to expand...

I'm keeping the C70 and will look into the upgrades.

All that's left to decide is to pair it with the R-117 and sell the Yamaha M70 or the reverse. Leaning toward the latter as the M70 has always performed flawlessly which is a nicety I expect will continue. This has been my experience throughout the years with all things Yamaha. Not at all so with the Luxman R-117, though that should improve significantly with the preamp out of the picture.
 
My prior comment aside, matched separates are always more attractive to me, particularly if the performance is at least equal.
 
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