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Pre-amp suggestions <= $150

EWizard

EWizard

Super Member
I was about to purchase an Adcom GTP-500 preamplifier on eBay until I started reading about the tuner having issues, and general freaky stuff happening with these units.
It seems Adcom does not make the greatest pre-amps.
Can anyone suggest a great preamplifier that rules as far as bang for the buck?
I need one with a tuner, or a tuner and pre-amp combo that rules.
I would like to spend less than $150 if possible.
It can be an old unit, which I believe I can get a better deal out of.

Anyone?
 
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I've been using an Adcom GTP-450 in my bedroom system for quite some time. It's never given me one minute of trouble.

BTW: What you're asking about is a tuner/preamp not a preamp. A preamp has no tuner.

"Vintage" is probably you're best option considering your budget. Unfortunately there are very few "vintage" preamp/tuners.
 
Resident said:
Kenwood Basic C-2
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I second that. I have tried a few other respected preamp options, mostly vintage, but the Kenwood C2 is what stays in my main system. Going by MSRP it would have been the least-expensive piece in the system. But it works beautifully and stays out of the way.
 
I had an adcom gtp-350, had no issues the tuner or the preamp section. I thought it sounded great, definite upgrade from my kenwood preamp.
 
EWizard said:
I was about to purchase an Adcom GTP-500 preamplifier on eBay until I started reading about the tuner having issues, and general freaky stuff happening with these units.
It seems Adcom does not make the greatest pre-amps.
Can anyone suggest a great preamplifier that rules as far as bang for the buck?
I need one with a tuner, or a tuner and pre-amp combo that rules.
I would like to spend less than $150 if possible.
It can be an old unit, which I believe I can get a better deal out of.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

I have a GTP-500. No tuner problems at all and it sounds very, very nice.
 
i was one of the people that had issues with the GTP-500 or GTP-500II (can't remember anymore). freaky is right.

if you don't need the tuner, look at a Denon PRA-1000. it's a really nice sounding, flexible unit that you can often find between $100 and $150. a Yamaha C-80/85 would also be a good choice, IMO.
 
Adcom must have had issues with the second generation. I have a GTP-500 in the basement and I love it. A great bang for the buck. I have had no issues whatsoever with it apart from a dirty volume pot. The remote works fine, too. Build quality is quite good as well. Adcom stuff isn't built to BGW tank-like standards, but I would say the gear I have seems to be more robust than a lot of the competition from the same era.
 
If you are flexible about the tuner, you might consider the Xiangsheng DAC-01A. It is basically a preamp with a built-in DAC. It is the clone of the the Grant Fidelity DAC-09 (or GF cloned this one). Has both tube and SS driven outputs.

I don't have one, but I have been researching and am close to getting one to use primarily as a DAC (either this or an HRT Music Streamer II). If you ever use your computer for tunes, this will improve the sound and potentially be better than your CD player's built-in DAC.

May not be exactly what you are looking for, but you can always get a tuner at a thrift store for a song. The $150 budget you quoted made me think of this so I decided to weigh in. Of course, there is no phono input, so depending on your system, this could be useless to you.
 
Resident said:
Kenwood Basic C-2
Click to expand...

Agreed; One of the many reasons to become an ak subscriber........... There's a nice looking C-2 in bartertown that's for sale right now local to the original poster. Also comes in under budget.
 
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After reading up about the Kenwood C-2, I might have to pick up one of those too at some point.
@JoeESP9, I realize what a preamp is.
What I'm after in this case is a unit for the garage, where I already have an amp. I listen to the radio out in the garage a lot.
If possible I would like to kill two birds with one stone, a la preamplifier with a built in tuner.

On a side note, if I were to get a separate tuner who makes strong tuners?
Which one would go well with a C-2?
 
There's a Kenwood L-07C on the 'bay atm too, a split dual-mono design whose modern equivalents will cost you many thousands of dollars...
 
EWizard said:
I was about to purchase an Adcom GTP-500 preamplifier on eBay until I started reading about the tuner having issues, and general freaky stuff happening with these units.
It seems Adcom does not make the greatest pre-amps.
Can anyone suggest a great preamplifier that rules as far as bang for the buck?
I need one with a tuner, or a tuner and pre-amp combo that rules.
I would like to spend less than $150 if possible.
It can be an old unit, which I believe I can get a better deal out of.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

If I might offer a suggestion. You may consider a preamp with no tuner as it would be less expensive and you could buy a very nice tuner for the difference.


I am an Adcom fan so there is little or no possibility of me being objective but the are a number of Adcom preamps that can be had in your price range that have very good phono inputs (if that interests you).

A very nice separate tuner can be had for less than $100, significantly less if you are patient and shop around.
 
Leestereo has one of the pre combo adcoms right now for repair, owner was playing it and it conked out, barely any sound. A cheap decent pre for easy money- sae two pa-10.
 
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