trainbuftony
Electron Herder
My opinion, may not be popular but it has been my path to personal audio bliss.
I went ahead and built a preamp.
I couldn't afford any of the good ones, and upon studying them I concluded that there wasn't anything really special about them.
(Unlike tube power amps, which often have very special proprietary transformers)
I had a few things that I liked the sound of, (a Scott designed phonostage, a modern line stage, and enough switching to route only one signal to the output at any given time.)
I decided to stuff them all in one box, with some cinemag step up transformers and call it a preamp.
I built 5 of them so far, and run them with just about every amp I come across with fantastic sound. Buying all new premium components including a few custom components still got me in under the $1000 price point. Finding a vintage tube pre under that price is real slim pickings, and you are not likely to find one which works perfectly and is completely restored.
In collectors value, my preamp is worthless.
Does it maximize my musical enjoyment, definitely does...
Does it sound better than a McIntosh tube preamp? Jury is out on that.
Does it sound worse? Certainly not.
After having done this would I ever consider spending several thousand on a box of 60 year old parts, with sincere expectations of getting a working unit? No. I'd simply be cashing out a collector and then footing the cost of the rebuild myself.
Seems less than prudent if your intent I to listen.
If your intent is to make an investment then buy the investment grade stuff and accept the consequences.
I went ahead and built a preamp.
I couldn't afford any of the good ones, and upon studying them I concluded that there wasn't anything really special about them.
(Unlike tube power amps, which often have very special proprietary transformers)
I had a few things that I liked the sound of, (a Scott designed phonostage, a modern line stage, and enough switching to route only one signal to the output at any given time.)
I decided to stuff them all in one box, with some cinemag step up transformers and call it a preamp.
I built 5 of them so far, and run them with just about every amp I come across with fantastic sound. Buying all new premium components including a few custom components still got me in under the $1000 price point. Finding a vintage tube pre under that price is real slim pickings, and you are not likely to find one which works perfectly and is completely restored.
In collectors value, my preamp is worthless.
Does it maximize my musical enjoyment, definitely does...
Does it sound better than a McIntosh tube preamp? Jury is out on that.
Does it sound worse? Certainly not.
After having done this would I ever consider spending several thousand on a box of 60 year old parts, with sincere expectations of getting a working unit? No. I'd simply be cashing out a collector and then footing the cost of the rebuild myself.
Seems less than prudent if your intent I to listen.
If your intent is to make an investment then buy the investment grade stuff and accept the consequences.
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. I will open a separate post on this as I get inside of it and do careful updates, first thing on the list is updating PS cans and rectifiers. There is some hum (does not change when volume is increased), and one channel input is intermittent - possibly dirt or loose tube socket - have not investigated yet. This will be driving a recently restored pair of Dynaco MK IIIs.
