Need a preamp, like right F'n Now!!

stuwee

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#1
I always have a back up amp/pre wise...lost my lovely SAE P102 last year, now the Yammie has given up on me!!!! :angryfire:

I can get one channel on cassette, the other on LP, nothing on digital...yeah, I swapped cables, made John pick up the 90lb SAE to balance it....F'n Shi-te!! I have about $200. plus shipping costs.... Need a pre amp, must have phono at this point, I'll deal later for better!!

Sniffin' round da Bay as well....
 

R1200S

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#2
Don't rule out some of the integrated units and receivers from the better guys out there. A lot of them will have pre-out jacks you can use. Something like NAD and Adcom. Lots of versatility with some of those.
 

62vauxhall

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#5
I always have a back up amp/pre wise...lost my lovely SAE P102 last year, now the Yammie has given up on me!!!! :angryfire:

I can get one channel on cassette, the other on LP, nothing on digital...yeah, I swapped cables, made John pick up the 90lb SAE to balance it....F'n Shi-te!! I have about $200. plus shipping costs.... Need a pre amp, must have phono at this point, I'll deal later for better!!

Sniffin' round da Bay as well....
Two phono inputs a processor loop and they sound pretty good. BIN $195 OBO + $28 shipping & supposedly recently serviced.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAVID-HAFLE...159708?hash=item2cae14cc9c:g:xLIAAOSwbYZXY8ge
 

orange

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#8
I'm still using tape switchers.

(third try posting)

sheesh
 

stuwee

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#9
Thanks guys! Love the Sumo...but, my heart says the apt/holman :happy2:

I'm gonna miss the Yammie's variable loudness control Big Time! What a lovely thing to have, it makes so much sense...guess I'll have to drag out the SAE 1800 parametric EQ again, I hate all those cables tho...what fun to sit in the sweet spot and play 'sound engineer' :happy3:

Even with one channel the Summits still amaze me, like a giant monolith, soundstage for days with just the one...why have 2? :blob8:

I'm not going the Accurus route, no phono...

Huge shout out to Jaytee :love7:!! Your mix tape you sent me recently got me thru the day with only one channel dude, you are my Idol :happy2:
 

62vauxhall

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#11
As long as it is in good working order, you will probably like the Holman. Especially if you're geared toward vinyl.

I was shooting for one for a couple of years but it took until last summer before finding a beater I could afford. It was worked on who knows how many times in the past and sounded like crap. Did a complete re-cap (41 or so), sounded great for a while but developed sporadic noise shortly thereafter. Vince at AudioProz hit it with a $130 hammer that made it dead quiet, Even with volume up full - no noise.

It's nice now and the total cash outlay was not too bad.
 

Northwinds

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#12
Danimal just totally recapped his APT Holman and says it still sounds like shit. I would like to hear it myself when he comes down as this is another preamp I want. The Carver C1 has a great phono section IMO (or I would not own it). Very quiet and dynamic, I actually prefer it to the Kenwood Basic C2 which is another preamp with a killer phono stage. I have one of those mint in it's original box saved as a backup
 

62vauxhall

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#13
Once I fixed the broken mechanical stuff, and it worked, the mids and highs sounded very good but the bass could not hold a candle to a Hafler or NAD and I was expecting it to be at least as good as those. Thats what prompted the re-capping which was a shot in the dark but it worked - bass was restored.

The noise it developed happened 2 weeks later and I thought it was thunder rumbling in the distance. It was when I went into the living room to close the window when I reailzed the noise was coming from my speaker(s). I thought a transistor was to blame and tried cold spray & a hair drier but could not initiate the noise I was hearing.

It may help Danimal to know this but I just checked the bag of old parts Vince sent back with the pre and in addition the the relay there are (2) TI TL072CP IC's. Since I replaced all the caps and no other parts were sent back, transistors or other wise, I assume these were all that Vince found to be lacking.
 
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#14
Indeed, I bought an apt holman that was inop. Power switch was wonky. I got that working, did a total recap as well, cleaned all the controls and replaced all the IC's in the tone circuit and phono circuit.

As ron said, I'm just not impressed with it. My nad 1155 sounds superior to it. I feel like it lacks low end and just not very dynamic. I got really frustrated with it so I put it aside. I want to love it!!

I definitely will bring it with my Ron when I come down. I actually really want to do some comparison between that and your preamps, especially the Carver. Maybe it just doesn't agree with my turntable??
 

stuwee

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#15
Great posts guys! I really wanted the Holman.....But, I got the SUMO!! After talking with all the sellers on my list of 4 pre's, he was the coolest guy, owned since new, doesn't abuse his gear, it's very near mint, big and robust build.

No headphone jack though. I decided on going with my gut feeling, staying with James Bongiorno gear. I hope I did well and it will last me for awhile.

Thanks again guys!!
 

Lazarus Short

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#16
I'm tempted to bring up my Acoustat pre, which I think I have listed in another B/S/T thread. Otherwise I plan to recap it and replace all the IC's (all socketed) with Burr-Brown units.

Here's a link to the thread:

http://forums.phxaudiotape.com/showthread.php/6888-Interest-Check-Acoustat-Preamp-and-Vandersteen-2C-Speakers
 
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