Preamp Hunting

polkfarmboy

I have a Classe cp500 I just listed on audiogon, of course I would knock the price down way more if your interested. If anything goes wrong just send it back. The Classe has really great control over the music and sounds very refined with a stunning top end.

gce

nooshinjohn wrote: »

If you want to come up to Woodland Hills and hear my stack of stuff, you are more than welcome anytime

Yes, I like to come up and hear your stack of stuff. I think it would help me decide on what to do. The more I look at this stuff the more I get confused. How's the 23rd of May sound?

nooshinjohn

Shoot me a pm and I will give you my cell. Everything I have except my DIY amps and my phono cartridge was bought from a previous owner.

gce

Is there any Tube Preamps with HT bypass that don't have to be turned on for the bypass to work?

nooshinjohn

The Rogue Perseus but is not in the same league as the Pass IMHO.

gce

Thanks John, This looks like it could be in the running. I've been reading that the best fit for a Tube Preamp is SS amps to make it shine. Don't know why people are saying this. So this might fit real good in my system with my SS mono's.

nooshinjohn

I still think the best value is in the used Pass preamps.

I could have you come up anytime during the week, but the 23rd is out due to it being our 15th anniversary weekend.

This one is a bit outside the range given, but it is a superb pre, and is as much an endgame pre as the Pass models.

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/tube-conrad-johnson-et-5-tube-preamplifier-mint-2015-05-12-preamplifiers-h3b-5e9

Joey_V

Had the rogue Perseus. Cary 98 beats it in my opinion. If you want a good preamp near end game, I would also suggest Cary 05.

tonyb

While a fine and stellar pre the Cary 05, outside the OP's budget, even used. The Pass would be a great choice in a SS pre within budget. Tubes....the Joule, Cary 98 as Joey suggested. Many more, but my brain doesn't function so early without at least a gallon of coffee first.

gce

You're right on the 05 (outside budget) and I don't see that the 98 has HT bypass.

SCompRacer

gce wrote: »

Is there any Tube Preamps with HT bypass that don't have to be turned on for the bypass to work?

There is an older thread at Audiogon discussions that has info you seek. It covered both XLR and RCA HT bypass, tube and SS. IIRC some worked off with RCA only, Cary SLP-98 'F1' only has bypass, etc. It was Preamps w/HT Bypass or some variation of the words.

tratliff

I looked at the manual for the SLP-05 for the HT bypass. Here is the snippet:

The special Cinema Bypass feature routes the balanced or unbalanced cinema inputs directly to their corresponding outputs, bypassing all the SLP 05 circuitry and turning over control to the user’s cinema processor. The cinema bypass circuitry may be engaged by toggling the Cinema bypass switch on the front panel of the preamplifier. If the SLP 05 power switch is turned to the off position, the SLP 05 automatically defaults to the cinema bypass mode.

You might keep it in mind. You can pick one up used for the upper end of your budget if you look around used.

tratliff

You might also take a look at the b-stock page on the Cary website. They have a slp-98p on it now. Doesn't appear to have HT bypass but I think they can add it.

WLDock

nooshinjohn wrote: »

The Rogue Perseus but is not in the same league as the Pass IMHO.

Joey_V wrote: »

Had the rogue Perseus. Cary 98 beats it in my opinion. If you want a good preamp near end game, I would also suggest Cary 05.

Have any of you guys listened to or compared the new Rogue RP-5 pre?
http://www.rogueaudio.com/Products_RP5.htm
http://www.needledoctor.com/Rogue-Audio-RP5-Preamp?sc=7&category=35774

Joey_V

No WLD I have not heard the rp5. I have heard 3 of rogues preamps before settling on the Cary 98. I owned the regular 98 then the 98F1 then I am now on my 2nd Cary 05.

Best so far has been 05.

But I am itching to go audio research 5se or 10 someday.

WLDock

Joey_V wrote: »

Best so far has been 05.But I am itching to go audio research 5se or 10 someday.

That Cary seems to get great feedback.....but Joey...my man....you are somewhere out in the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, etc....or somewhere off the deep end! A $30K preamp? Dream Big or go home right?

Man if I became a multi-millionaire over night I don't know that I could do. Maybe that's what my problem is...I don't dream BIG enough? LOL!

Joey_V

WLDock wrote: »

Joey_V wrote: »

Best so far has been 05.But I am itching to go audio research 5se or 10 someday.

That Cary seems to get great feedback.....but Joey...my man....you are somewhere out in the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, etc....or somewhere off the deep end! A $30K preamp? Dream Big or go home right?

Man if I became a multi-millionaire over night I don't know that I could do. Maybe that's what my problem is...I don't dream BIG enough? LOL!

Hahah... thanks man.

I dream big. Not just in this hobby but more importantly elsewhere. I think that's where my PROBLEM is, I keep dreaming. Sometimes I need to just sit back and learn to live in the now.

I can buy almost any audio equipment I want, but there is a stop gap (wife) but if I really really wanted an item - say I want to buy the Audio Research 10 for whatever that price is, I can always have final say and I can get it in the house... I'll just feel bad after buying it since it wasn't in the budget for the year.

We have an annual budget, including an audio budget. If I get the Sonus Faber Strads, I will go beyond my budget this year - so there's an internal struggle within myself there. If I don't get the Strads this year, then I will remain in the budget.

And really in the end, it's not about the gear - it's about the enjoyment you get out of any set of products. Whether it's a 1K preamp or a 30K preamp - who really cares?

The guy with a 2K system but uses it every day and enjoys it with his family in his family room is in much better shape than the audiophile who has a dedicated room with 50K of equipment but only listens 30 minutes a day.

This is a very personal hobby and how we navigate through this hobby is not only a function of finances but also of personal preference.

I just got lucky I found it early and was able to include it in my budget and that I get to dream big and sometimes, just sometimes, I also get to buy big. I work hard, I'm not a trust fund baby.

gce

WLDock wrote: »

Have any of you guys listened to or compared the new Rogue RP-5 pre?

I'm putting the RP-5 on my list. It has everything I want and more. The HT bypass works the way I want it to and even though it has a phono stage you can switch it off and use that input as a 5th input. Not that I'm looking for this but it also has a tube based headphone amp with a standard plugin.

Here's a little review I found on the HF forum from Uptown Audio:

I have played around a bit with the Rogue Audio RP5 and compared it to their Metis Magnum preamplifier. It is in a fair system by audiophile standards, not nearly the best possible match available here but just where it was convenient and where I wanted to set it up and try it out with a few other items as well, so I killed a covey of birds with one shot. I connected the Metis preamp first to the rest of the system which consists of all used equipment for sale in one of the back rooms of my shop. The turntable is a Project debut Carbon with Ortofon 2m Red cartridge, the CD player is a Cambridge Audio DVD99 universal player, then from the preamplifiers into a pair of custom vacuum tube monoblock amps that i built a few weeks ago and haven't had much listening time with, into a pair of Tannoy Sensys 1 speakers. These are the stand mount speakers in the system photo.

The sound of the RP5 compared to the Metis (and most other preamps actually) is best described by one word, transparency. The RP5 is more dynamic, has lower noise, cleaner overall sound, deeper and faster bass, and more extended highs. The stereo imaging is improved over the Metis as is the soundstaging. Both preamps have excellent midrange detail and neutrality but the Metis tends to soften the frequency extremes and loses some resolution by comparison. Keep in mind that both preamps are USA built to a very high standard and offer excellent performance at their price points. The Metis Magnum is actually the preamp that I chose to use in my home and I cannot fault it for its price. The RP5 is simply at another level. both in performance and price. The Metis Magnum is $1500 and the RP5 is $3500.

I used a rather modest table and cartridge into these for this comparison, well it was a rather modest CD source as well but neither are crap, so the resulting sound was very good. The phono section of the RP5 is very nice and seems to support most of the dynamics and bandwidth that the linestage section is capable of. The dynamics and bass response was greater with the CD as a source in this set-up but we must consider the cartridge and table to be in part responsible for that. Even in the best systems, dynamics of the Lp is often less than that of many CD renderings. I say that with all respect given to the Lp as it has been my favorite source for my entire life and I have amassed a rather impressive collection of LPs over the last 35 years. As a bit of irony, I have two Dynavector MC cartridges on two much nicer Rega tables nearby and decided not to hassle with the set-up of those for this short run. The customer who will be collecting this new RP5 preamp does not even own a turntable at this point and has no intentions of getting back into analog playback. The RP5 has a jumper setting inside of the unit which the customer has requested that I set for him to bypass the phono section as he has no use for it. This feature allows an additional line level input to be used in place of the phono input. It would also allow the use of Rogue Audio's all tube, external phono stage, the Ares (or any other phono stage)into the converted line level input.

Joey_V

gce wrote: »

WLDock wrote: »

Have any of you guys listened to or compared the new Rogue RP-5 pre?

I'm putting the RP-5 on my list. It has everything I want and more. The HT bypass works the way I want it to and even though it has a phono stage you can switch it off and use that input as a 5th input. Not that I'm looking for this but it also has a tube based headphone amp with a standard plugin.

Here's a little review I found on the HF forum from Uptown Audio:

I have played around a bit with the Rogue Audio RP5 and compared it to their Metis Magnum preamplifier. It is in a fair system by audiophile standards, not nearly the best possible match available here but just where it was convenient and where I wanted to set it up and try it out with a few other items as well, so I killed a covey of birds with one shot. I connected the Metis preamp first to the rest of the system which consists of all used equipment for sale in one of the back rooms of my shop. The turntable is a Project debut Carbon with Ortofon 2m Red cartridge, the CD player is a Cambridge Audio DVD99 universal player, then from the preamplifiers into a pair of custom vacuum tube monoblock amps that i built a few weeks ago and haven't had much listening time with, into a pair of Tannoy Sensys 1 speakers. These are the stand mount speakers in the system photo.

The sound of the RP5 compared to the Metis (and most other preamps actually) is best described by one word, transparency. The RP5 is more dynamic, has lower noise, cleaner overall sound, deeper and faster bass, and more extended highs. The stereo imaging is improved over the Metis as is the soundstaging. Both preamps have excellent midrange detail and neutrality but the Metis tends to soften the frequency extremes and loses some resolution by comparison. Keep in mind that both preamps are USA built to a very high standard and offer excellent performance at their price points. The Metis Magnum is actually the preamp that I chose to use in my home and I cannot fault it for its price. The RP5 is simply at another level. both in performance and price. The Metis Magnum is $1500 and the RP5 is $3500.

I used a rather modest table and cartridge into these for this comparison, well it was a rather modest CD source as well but neither are crap, so the resulting sound was very good. The phono section of the RP5 is very nice and seems to support most of the dynamics and bandwidth that the linestage section is capable of. The dynamics and bass response was greater with the CD as a source in this set-up but we must consider the cartridge and table to be in part responsible for that. Even in the best systems, dynamics of the Lp is often less than that of many CD renderings. I say that with all respect given to the Lp as it has been my favorite source for my entire life and I have amassed a rather impressive collection of LPs over the last 35 years. As a bit of irony, I have two Dynavector MC cartridges on two much nicer Rega tables nearby and decided not to hassle with the set-up of those for this short run. The customer who will be collecting this new RP5 preamp does not even own a turntable at this point and has no intentions of getting back into analog playback. The RP5 has a jumper setting inside of the unit which the customer has requested that I set for him to bypass the phono section as he has no use for it. This feature allows an additional line level input to be used in place of the phono input. It would also allow the use of Rogue Audio's all tube, external phono stage, the Ares (or any other phono stage)into the converted line level input.

Let us know how you like it... Sounds like a winner!

gce

Joey_V wrote: »

Let us know how you like it... Sounds like a winner!

Well this one definitely is in the running as it does all that I want but I'm still looking. Your Cary's are out of my price range. Even the SLP-98 in B-stock is right at 4k and adding HTbypass costs another $225.

I also have to keep in mind that I'll have get cables too.

Joey_V

Have you started to look at Audio Research? Maybe LS26?

OR the LS17?

I'm just not sure if they have HT bypass or phono... but they are very excellent pres.

gce

So who do you guys trust to buy from online if you can't buy from the dealer directly?

gce

DSkip wrote: »

What are you trying to get gce?

I couldn't find a dealer that sold Rogue but I finally found that Acoustic Sounds sells all there stuff. Musical Fidelity can be had on Amazon and your favorite Wyred sells it own stuff on line.

I think so far that's the only ones on my list but I'm going to keep looking and then go back and review all the ones I've picked, then pull the trigger.

Hey Skip, maybe you should put Rogue on your list of company's to sale for. Doesn't seem they have a lot of distributors on line.

gce

DSkip wrote: »

And another one:

http://www.echohifi.com/details/6913/Modwright_LS-36.5

So many pre's...so little time. Thanks Skip!

nooshinjohn

Reno hifi

Joey_V

gce wrote: »

So who do you guys trust to buy from online if you can't buy from the dealer directly?

Not sure where you're at... but Decibel Audio in Chicago is an AD for Rogue, I bought from them a while ago.

WLDock

I like the Rouge Audio story and have only briefly listened to their top preamp, the ($9K) Hera II. It was mated with their top ($11K) Apollo monoblocks and the ($27K) Sony SS-AR1 speakers and ($2K) HAP-Z1ES music streamer. The sound just knocked me off my feet but... its hard to take much from that as all are WAAAY too expensive for me. Still, I want to try one of there preamps and listen to more of their affordable stuff...its just a feeling I have. I do love the looks and construction. The hope would be to find a used 66 or 99 Magnum at a good price.

The new RP-5 sounds fantastic on paper and would be high up on my list to check out if I had that much in the budget. Maybe something to upgrade to years from now on the used market? Maybe I will just go listen to it in CHI just to get an ear on it vs. some other stuff?

SCompRacer

WLDock wrote: »

Maybe I will just go listen to it in CHI just to get an ear on it vs. some other stuff?

Holm Audio is a Rogue dealer near me. Unsure of what Rogue demo gear they have there. They have several listening rooms, digital and vinyl. Located in Woodridge, not far from Chicago.

http://www.holmaudio.com/

erniejade

Holm also does weekend in home trials, You pick a unit up on Saturday, return it Tuesday. I have had good dealings with Neil and Mike there.

gce

So I've noticed that some of these Preamps have a Mono switch/button. What is the advantage in having a Mono button? I'm assuming its for when you play a mono LP or recording? If so would a mono recording sound better using this?