pre-amps

leftwinger57

Hi Guys,
It's been a while but I do now have a question. Right now I've gone back to the 2-channel arena and I'm very happy w/ the Adcom gfa555 amp I've chosen for power. now the I finally figured out how to get my Yamaha rx-v665
pre-outs to work but was not happy w/ the results. Next I got an Onkyo P-301
pre and it does work fine to a point. I've been looking at other Adcom pres and seem to be the GTP400 -500 and so on .Idealy I would want a MAC C-28
30 or 32 these are way to much for my wallet at this time. Keep in mind I get
absolutly no hum, buzz or noise or speaker pop from the Onkyo but I know there's got to be someother pre out there. Any advice on other brands and I do use the pre for the I-pod dock going through both systems which I still want as a feature.Thanks I know you guys have more knowledge then I do in
this area.Thanks......LW

Rev. Hayes

Wait.... what are you asking?

You want to know what is a good brand preamp you can run your Ipod on?

TORI3

I don't think you need an I-Pod dock to run you I-Pod through you preamp. You can simply run an RCA Y Adapter (Mic to RCA) from your headphone jack on your I-Pod to one of your inputs on your preamp. I don't know if I answered your question, but I guess what I'm saying is that you can bypass your I-Pod dock.

As far as brands, I guess it would depend on your budget and the synergy you're shooting for.

george daniel

Get a tubed pre for the Adcom,, and pop in some film caps on those electrolytics in the amp--pm ben,he can walk you thru it.

leftwinger57

Hi guys, The intention of my post was to get some advice on an upgrade to the Onkykio pre301 I'm using now. I of those functions on this unit is the ability to run my I-Pod through both my 2-channel gear and my H/T stuff. It is not the main priority of a pre since I can already use it w/ the Yamaha. what I was really asking is for another pre that could handle both but w/ priority
on a no hum no noise or speaker pop unit that will destroy speakers. So what
would be nice is some form of list of pres that can do this at between$100>300$. As I have said before I would like a Mac c-28 or it's stable mates but it'sort out of my financial sceme of things. Don't get hung up on the I-pod issuse
for 2-channel the device was not even a dream of Mr. Jobs in the 60s.
As a post script I have found that there is nothing wrong runnig a pod that plays all day iong through ones favorite speakers what ever they may be.....LW
H/T--Tosiba au37> Yamaha rx-v665avr> Klipsch500 matched set w/ 8insub>
Denon1940ci-cdp>Yamaha ysd-11dock
2-channel--Adcomgfa555>Onkyo p-301pre>Infinity SM112s>Denon1940ci-cdp>
Dual1229turntable>Shure Proheadphones

halo71

I would look for a tubed pre if it were me. If you decide to get rid of that P-301 please let me know. :biggrin:

cnh

An Adcom GFP-750 is considered the best Adcom pre for you Adcom amp combo. This pre is very clean and neutral, adding very little in coloration to the sound.

Of course a Tube pre will give you a warmer more musical sound, depending on the amp and the quality of the tubes and you can spend years 'rolling' tubes until you're satisfied. They will also blow on you and cost you to replace at intervals. Love the tube sounds. Not sure about the Up-keep. See Ern Dog's recent post about the 'trouble-free' nature of tube amps....NOT!

As halo knows, I run my 555 with an Integra P-304 and that's not a bad combo. The 304 also has a decent phono pre-amp for you vinyl aficionados? '

But if I had the money, and I am saving, it would be for the GFP-750.

cnh

ben62670

Wow some bad advice. Want to know why some people think Adcom's are grainy? Hook up a cheap Adcom pre to an Adcom amp. The amps are fine, but the cheap Adcom pre's do not sound sweet at all. The 7xx pre's sound good, but you are going to pay. As for the Ipod being hooked up to the pre via a mini to RCA connector... well garbage in is garbage out. The only way to get good sound out of an Ipod is to pull the digital signal from it and send it to a decent DAC. Also you will want the files to be lossless.

TORI3

ben62670 wrote: »

As for the Ipod being hooked up to the pre via a mini to RCA connector... well garbage in is garbage out. The only way to get good sound out of an Ipod is to pull the digital signal from it and send it to a decent DAC. Also you will want the files to be lossless.

Totally agree, but do you have any links for mini to optical or mini to coaxial? Only connectors I've seen for an I-Pod have been mini to RCA, while the majority of DACs only have USB, optical, and coaxial inputs.

FTGV

TORI3 wrote: »

Totally agree, but do you have any links for mini to optical or mini to coaxial? Only connectors I've seen for an I-Pod have been mini to RCA, while the majority of DACs only have USB, optical, and coaxial inputs.

There are a limited few iPod docks that have the capability of obtaining the digital data stream from an iPod .Ofcourse the Wadia 170/171i are the best known such devices but this one is the most economical I have seen to date.http://store.pure.com/store/pure/en_US/pd/productID.221628800 .It has an integral DAC that should offer a decent upgrade compared to using the iPods analog outputs.For even better performance you could add a good external Dac.

NJPOLKER

leftwinger57 wrote: »

Hi guys, The intention of my post was to get some advice on an upgrade to the Onkykio pre301 I'm using now. I of those functions on this unit is the ability to run my I-Pod through both my 2-channel gear and my H/T stuff. It is not the main priority of a pre since I can already use it w/ the Yamaha. what I was really asking is for another pre that could handle both but w/ priority
on a no hum no noise or speaker pop unit that will destroy speakers. So what
would be nice is some form of list of pres that can do this at between$100>300$. As I have said before I would like a Mac c-28 or it's stable mates but it'sort out of my financial sceme of things. Don't get hung up on the I-pod issuse
for 2-channel the device was not even a dream of Mr. Jobs in the 60s.
As a post script I have found that there is nothing wrong runnig a pod that plays all day iong through ones favorite speakers what ever they may be.....LW
H/T--Tosiba au37> Yamaha rx-v665avr> Klipsch500 matched set w/ 8insub>
Denon1940ci-cdp>Yamaha ysd-11dock
2-channel--Adcomgfa555>Onkyo p-301pre>Infinity SM112s>Denon1940ci-cdp>
Dual1229turntable>Shure Proheadphones

Where are you located? Maybe one of our awesome members live close and you can take a listen to what they have.

leftwinger57

Hello Ben,
I do believe this is our first b/f and hpoe to gain some info from you.I think
most of the guys possibly missunderstood my notion of the I-POD. It's nice to run a full day of music w/o owning a reelt/reel ,that said my main listening pleasure would be well recorded 2-channel stereo.Adcom for me was a big step up after owning the typical HTIB and then the utter diappointmentw/ the quality of sound not to mention nothing in the H/T DEPT.So now some money is here and AMP IS # 1 and then would be speakers but got side tracked w/ the H/T craze and got suckered in h/t and got the yamaharxv-665 w/ Klipsch speakers and a Denon cdp. After the shine wore off it was back to 2-channel
and enters the Adcomgfa55, a very respectable amp by all accounts. After dicking w/ yamaha about using pre-outs I went and got anOnkyo301 which plays ALL MY DEVICES.Asking you what other choice besides my dream machine Mac-28 would work and not break the bank. Yes I would want the I-pod to work as a prerecquisit. I have seen Adcoms pres on after shipping it brings out the moths of the wallet. Listen, being brutally honest w/ you all I had an exstesive drug problem which is being overcome by the fact I'm spending cash on tangleable items and well you know. A list if time allows would be nice.....LW

tonyb

ben62670 wrote: »

Wow some bad advice. Want to know why some people think Adcom's are grainy? Hook up a cheap Adcom pre to an Adcom amp. The amps are fine, but the cheap Adcom pre's do not sound sweet at all. The 7xx pre's sound good, but you are going to pay. As for the Ipod being hooked up to the pre via a mini to RCA connector... well garbage in is garbage out. The only way to get good sound out of an Ipod is to pull the digital signal from it and send it to a decent DAC. Also you will want the files to be lossless.

Agreed

I just don't get why you can't run your Ipod all day long with any pre or receiver. They'll connect up to anything really. But if SQ is what your after, then a seperate DAC has to be on the short list. As Ben states, garbage in...garbage out. It's not the pre so much as it is the cheap dac in the IPOD.
Plus using flac,lossless, over standard mp3 is a huge jump in SQ. Maybe going the computer route for continuous playing music is an avenue you should look into.

soundfreak1

I use a parasound hca 1200 and I thought it was great on many ss and digital pre's but tryied a tube pre and was totally blown away. Did not even concieve the diff. Or that the hca could even sound that good! Up graded tubes and I'm done! Incredable change! I think the adcom will respond the same way, try it u won't be sorry.

TORI3

Not to go off topic, but to answer my own question...

You need to utilize the Wadia to bypass the iPod's internal DAC. Using coaxial from the iPod/Wadia into the DAC is where you'll find better SQ -- by utilizing the separate DAC.

I'm pretty sure that Wadia is the only one who is licensed to do this, but I could be wrong.

Sorry to get off topic but it might be useful.

leftwinger57

I think I hit the wrong post. But to clarify the Yamaha has a port to which the YSD-11 Dock sets and that's works for the avr-h/t system, Now I have rca outs out of the Yamaha to the ins of the Onkyo.When I mute the avr the i-pod works for the 2-channel system.
I pretty much do the same sharing of my Denon1940ci-cdp but that that goes direct to 2-channel.

BtrSound

I think that you need to sell it all and give it to charity. Oh wait, left wingers only believe in yelling at other people to do charity.

leftwinger57

sports as in hockey not as in politics