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What solid state preamplifiers "Elevate" the material? In other words, sound "Musical"?

exwhyzed

exwhyzed

Active Member
Hi All,

I'm looking for suggestions for solid state preamplifiers that elevate the material put through them, and could be considered "musical."

I'm planning on getting a Yamaha RX-777, prompted by the recent thread here, and want to use its clear amp section with a musical sounding preamp.

One important criteria is that the preamp does not have any unobtanium parts inside!

I look forward to hearing people's experiences and suggestions!
 
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avionic said:
Yamaha pre-amps of course..
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Can you suggest me a few Yamaha preamps, from best to worst, that would be better than the one in my Yamaha A-1000 integrated, which as a whole unit sounds super musical and engaging (to me)?
 
exwhyzed said:
Can you suggest me a few Yamaha preamps, from best to worst, that would be better than the one in my Yamaha A-1000 integrated, which as a whole unit sounds super musical and engaging (to me)?
Click to expand...

then you have your answer, connect the new amp to the A-1000.

so I just pulled up the owners manual and it appears your amp doesn't have pre outs so it's a no go.

on that note this is one schveet preamp that supports both MC & MM with loading options.

Amber Model 17 Full Function Preamp
20210628_164658.jpg

Carver C-16
1876779-9e9542d5-carver-c16-preamplifier.jpg
 
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avionic said:
.

Yamaha pre-amps of course..
Click to expand...


:)

It's a personal taste thing... However , I use a Yamaha C85 (Recapped by avionic) as my main Pre. I've had many many Pres in and out of my system but I go back to the C85

Top Class Phono section

Parametric equalizer

Can do crazy good hookups to amps

But... age can be a problem like solder joints. Need a good tech - IMO
 
Grenadeslio said:
then you have your answer, connect the new amp to the A-1000.
Click to expand...

This is actually one of my plans. I'm going to tap a pre-out from the A-1000 into the main-in of the RX-777 and give it a try. If this marriage between yamaha warmth and Top-Art clarity is successful, im going to jam these parts together and make a mish-mash custom integrated device...hopefully.
 
It really depends on what you want to spend. I would grab a Maker Audio, Edge Audio, Classes, Superphon, Proceed, Plinius, Coda, Audio Research, or even Conrad Johnson.
 
Mister Pig said:
It really depends on what you want to spend. I would grab a Maker Audio, Edge Audio, Classes, Superphon, Proceed, Plinius, Coda, Audio Research, or even Conrad Johnson.
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Any and all, tube or solid state, Audio Research Corporation preamplifiers have always been called/considered especially musical.
 
El Rubio said:
What does “ elevate” and “ musical” mean?
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For me, it means that I am easily drawn in to the musical experience of a good recording, with dynamics and clear transparency, allowing me to hear everything in/of the performance the system is capable of conveying.
 
My past experience with active preamps is that many of them is where the qualities I enumerated in my post goes to die. Easily demonstrated with a parity check, substituting a decent passive controller for the preamp with a sufficiently robust quality line source.
 
Lyngdorf makes a pre-amp with room perfect that will give you the best results from your speakers. Mac also features Room perfect, but not in their stereo units. Its available as a separate MEN 220 processor or in the top of the line MX 150, 151, 160, 170, and soon to be the MX 180. Is amazing what room/speaker voicing can do to make the sound so realistic and natural. Of couse that is with great recordings. There are a lot of duds out there. Probably more bad than good.
 
I like Audio by Van Alstine solid state preamps. I have 2 of the EC (extended capabilities) models that are full featured, including bass, treble controls, 2 tape outs and ins, 1 EQ processor loop for easy graphic equalizer inclusion, tone defeat, Filters, stereo/mono (or just one channel), mute, reduced output. There are also provisions for 2 sets of power amps, 8 total line inputs (unless it has MM phono, then 7/1). Plenty of drive current to make any amplifier behave.

They also seem to last forever, as my first one is from 1997 which is in use every day.
 
I haven't owned very many preamps (NAD 1020B, conrad-Johnson PV3, Linn LK1, AVA OmegaStar), but I've been most impressed by my Audio by Van Alstine OmegaStar PAT-5. I bought it used directly from AVA a little over 16 years ago, and it's had hours of use just about every day since I owned it. It matched the musicality of my Linn while also providing a more open, precise soundstage, and its built-in phono section was better with my Grado cartridge than Grado's own separate phono stage.
 
Been real happy with my Apt Holman preamp, runs every amp I own perfectly. Also the only preamp I own .....
 
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