Onk "Grand Integra" P-308 Preamp
George Grand
Posts: 12,258
I haven't used my "Half-Assed HT Rig" in some while, due to the preamp (Apt "Holman") needing a De-oxit but BAD. Plus, change is sometimes good. It's "Half-Assed HT Rig" because even though I in-walled everything for surround when the room was added on in 1999, I only used surround for about a year (four RTA11t and TL), and then never put anything in the rear when I got the AR-9's in there. Stereo HT if you will.
So the other day I parted with $15 US dollars for this Honkyo. Good looking with the rosewood panels and all, it had all the features I was looking for. Those features would be two sets of main outputs (several reasons for those). It is loaded with features other than that as well, to include being able to drive one set of speakers in mono, and the other in stereo, simultaneously.
So I broke down the system a little and put the Honkyo in without giving myself a lot of afterwards time to monkey around in case anything was wrong. When I powered it up, plenty was wrong. No woofer activity from the left channel. Shut everything down, unplugged and re-plugged all the possibly offending connections at power amp and speaker, powered it back up and no good. Swapped the possibly offending power amp out for another. No good, so I put the original back in there. Monkey around time expired and I had to do other stuff, but I had narrowed down the possibilities to the innards of the AR-9, or the Main 1 Output of the new pre. I figure I'll tackle that in the morning (today), and spend the rest of the day silently praying that it's the preamp. Should be easy enough, just swap the inputs to the two power amps, and hope the high-end of the AR-9 disappears when powered up. Last night laying in bed before falling asleep it came to me. Why not try a different pair of interconnects before anything else in the morning?
Happy ending this morning, INTERCONNECTS of all things. The heavy cables that ADCOM pre-packs (or used to) in their new stuff are the ones that failed to boot! Nice SS pre I might add.
So the other day I parted with $15 US dollars for this Honkyo. Good looking with the rosewood panels and all, it had all the features I was looking for. Those features would be two sets of main outputs (several reasons for those). It is loaded with features other than that as well, to include being able to drive one set of speakers in mono, and the other in stereo, simultaneously.
So I broke down the system a little and put the Honkyo in without giving myself a lot of afterwards time to monkey around in case anything was wrong. When I powered it up, plenty was wrong. No woofer activity from the left channel. Shut everything down, unplugged and re-plugged all the possibly offending connections at power amp and speaker, powered it back up and no good. Swapped the possibly offending power amp out for another. No good, so I put the original back in there. Monkey around time expired and I had to do other stuff, but I had narrowed down the possibilities to the innards of the AR-9, or the Main 1 Output of the new pre. I figure I'll tackle that in the morning (today), and spend the rest of the day silently praying that it's the preamp. Should be easy enough, just swap the inputs to the two power amps, and hope the high-end of the AR-9 disappears when powered up. Last night laying in bed before falling asleep it came to me. Why not try a different pair of interconnects before anything else in the morning?
Happy ending this morning, INTERCONNECTS of all things. The heavy cables that ADCOM pre-packs (or used to) in their new stuff are the ones that failed to boot! Nice SS pre I might add.
Comments
-
For $15?, ya, I'd say it's a really nice pre for that...Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me
-
Last night laying in bed before falling asleep it came to me.
That's when all the best ideas occur.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Yes. And while taking a shower.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
George sure gets the deals, must be one heck of a smooth talker. 15 BUCKS.....can barely buy 2 beers at the ballpark for that.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
No doubt a great price for sure. Hey George, you still schilling LPs????2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E
H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-
Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc -
That's a pretty nice Pre; especially for $15! I have a P-304 that some describe as "dry" but capable with a decent phono stage that I use below. I got it at an excellent price from a fellow Polkie but not quite as good as your price, George.
The 308? Even BETTER!
Enjoy your gains for the New Year!
cnhCurrently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!
Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
[sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash] -
Last night laying in bed before falling asleep it came to me.
That's when all the best ideas occur.
Or while sitting on the porcelain god, that's what works for me.“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~ Mark Twain -
Had that happen to me some years ago.....I thought I lost a channel in a Carver M1.5t that I had gotten from El Grande....turns out to have been a bad cable. It's happened to me a couple times over the years.
That is a very nice Preamp.....I've been looking for an APT for years and yours is the only one that I've seen since you got yours.
BDT
