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Erhard Audio

OctalSocket said:
View attachment 2394173

I had been wanting to post about my Erhard for a few months now, but this thread has encouraged me to post my thoughts.

This is my Aretha I ordered in mid-March and received back in early May of this year. Pardon the dusted fingerprints on the top.

I went with the Bird's Eye Maple and bronze metalwork with a flush faceplate. A very classy piece of gear to my eyes.

The only options I felt compelled to add were the remote-controlled volume and tape monitor. Just to the right is an outstanding Hagerman Trumpet MC, so I didn't need the phono option.

First, build quality. The metalwork, lettering, and wood chassis are superb. It's a fly-weight compared to the industrial build of the CJ CT5 I had before this, but the Aretha is very solid, with impeccable attention to detail.

Second, the sound. The circuit with 6SL7s provides a very musical, engaging presentation. Frequency response sounds very flat, and with every genre I've played through it, I find no peaks or dips, unless, of course, it's in the recording. There's plenty of clarity and detail without brightness of any sort. A tough line to walk, based upon my experiences with numerous pieces of gear throughout the years.

The tone controls apply gentle, linear amounts of boost/cut, they aren't heavy-handed or distortion-inducing at all.

As Holger predicted, this preamp has great synergy with my Quad II Classics, driving Tannoy Canterbury GRs. The gain and/or attenuation matches well with the Quads. Depending on who's home, the volume knob is anywhere between 8:00 and 11:00, so finding the perfect volume is a cinch. On too many preamps, that's not an easy thing to find. Many have gain that is too hot.

On a cost basis only, some would say that since my preamp and amp combined only cost 1/6th of the speakers, they're the weak links, but I honestly don't feel I'm missing anything at all right now.

Sure, I may not be squeezing every last bit out of the Tannoys, and upgrade-itis can be a curse, but I'm very happy now and don't see upgrading from the Aretha any time soon.
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Speakers are 90% or better of a system anyway. :thumbsup:
 
Lavane said:
Speakers are 90% or better of a system anyway. :thumbsup:
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I agree about speakers being the major part of the equation. That was my justification for making an additional "house payment" for a year to get the Tannoys. Now that the bloodletting is over, I have no regrets purchasing them.

I have done a bit of A/Bing with preamps, amps, CD players, and reel-to-reels. Sometimes, it's taken that to really identify differences between the contenders. Speakers? More often than not, an hour or so of listening to one pair can easily point out some differences.

Back to the Aretha, the only knock I can think of is that the circuit design does not allow for a second tape out and monitor, so I could have the option of recording to cassette as well as reel-to-reel, which would only happen a few times a year, so it's not a very relevant complaint. In other words, grasping at straws, because everything else is so wonderful about this preamp.
 
OctalSocket said:
I agree about speakers being the major part of the equation. That was my justification for making an additional "house payment" for a year to get the Tannoys. Now that the bloodletting is over, I have no regrets purchasing them.

I have done a bit of A/Bing with preamps, amps, CD players, and reel-to-reels. Sometimes, it's taken that to really identify differences between the contenders. Speakers? More often than not, an hour or so of listening to one pair can easily point out some differences.

Back to the Aretha, the only knock I can think of is that the circuit design does not allow for a second tape out and monitor, so I could have the option of recording to cassette as well as reel-to-reel, which would only happen a few times a year, so it's not a very relevant complaint. In other words, grasping at straws, because everything else is so wonderful about this preamp.
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An external tape monitor would work. But then that's another componant to add along with cables. I don't record tape anymore, so the tape out is used for my headphone amp and tape in is used with a cassette deck for playback of all the tapes I still have.
 
Erhard-Audio said:
thank you all for your kind words and it is really great to hear that you are all enjoying your various Erhard Audio gear!
This is what makes it all worth while! :)
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We have a happy customer in sweden that has contacted me to fix a hum problem with a aretha amp.
It's 5mV p-p hum independent of volume/input settings, and to meke it worse it's overlayered with a
high frequency that makes it even more disturbing.
To spare the time needed to reverse engineer i would like a schematics of at öeast the PSU part. Anyone
in posession of scehmatics ?

I have mailed holger at erhard-audio but not reveived an answer so far.
 
my apologies Peter, I did see your e-mail but then got tied up with our new house. We are currently busy completing our new house build, which is taking up pretty much most of our time. I will get get back in contact with you via e-mail.
 
Erhard-Audio said:
my apologies Peter, I did see your e-mail but then got tied up with our new house. We are currently busy completing our new house build, which is taking up pretty much most of our time. I will get get back in contact with you via e-mail.
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Answer received. Thanks Holger!
 
I bought the Ella without tone controls a few years ago and have been very happy with it. Both the Ella and Aretha use the same phono board using 6922 tubes. It sounds good and the preamp has been trouble free.
He has the Europa now also. It uses al 6922 tubes and has the tubes enclosed inside the chassis.
 
Lavane said:
Speakers are 90% or better of a system anyway. :thumbsup:
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Very true, and it's a very sad situation that nearly all modern full range speakers are low efficiency intended for use with SS amps. To the best of my knowledge, there are no higher efficiency speakers (at least 95 dB) on the market that offer good bass extension and are suitable for lower power tube amplifiers. I had to build my own about 20 years ago and haven't yet seen anything I can buy off the shelf that's comparable in terms of compatibility and frequency response.

Jack
 
TriodeLuvr said:
Very true, and it's a very sad situation that nearly all modern full range speakers are low efficiency intended for use with SS amps. To the best of my knowledge, there are no higher efficiency speakers (at least 95 dB) on the market that offer good bass extension and are suitable for lower power tube amplifiers. I had to build my own about 20 years ago and haven't yet seen anything I can buy off the shelf that's comparable in terms of compatibility and frequency response.

Jack
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I agree.
All the 10wpc or less amps I have are setup for near field listening none of the speakers connected to them would work in a larger room or area.
You would definitely find the sound and low end lacking.
My Dynakit ST-35 does really well though with an old pair of Marantz Imperial 6 2way speakers with 10" woofers. They're only rated at 93db@1 meter@ 1 watt, 30hz-18khz, but the amp pushes them very well and they sound great together with decent low end even at low volumes.
 
Some of these manufactures are not popular or not trusted for various reasons but a few that claim to be suitable for SET amps:
Decware
Omega
ZU audio
Tekton
I bet there are many more open baffle gear.
 
Also, Daedalus Audio, Aric Audio. I can only speak for the Daedalus though that I've pushed with 4 wpc in my main system. Haven't gotten around to trying 2 wpc there yet with 45 monos, but if that doesn't work I plan to try 2a3's. The only time I really ever get close to higher volume settings is with quiet passages like classical music. I like 6l6s and would love to hear the Erhard Ray at some point.
 
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