FS: Dodd MLP Pre Amp

audiobliss

Wow. That didn't take long. Open her up, hook her up, and report back!!!!!!

SCompRacer

I'm glad it arrived safe and sound Ricardo. The MO's were just dropped off in todays mail. How about that for a cross ship! :cool:

Ricardo

That's great!!! It was a real pleasure talking to you!!

Good that you received payment today; expect a little "treat" on the mail tomorrow

Ricardo

Ok; here we go. Don't expect a pro review....I am no expert and hardly understand the concepts of imaging, depth, etc. etc.

First of all, I think that the system as it was sounded pretty damn good; the Dared tube preamp made a huge improvement when I got it a few months ago and I really thought that it would be hard to notice additional improvements. (Wrong, wrong, wrong). The rest of the system? Cambridge Audio D500 SE player, JBL Urei amp (thanks Russ, I love it), the mighty 1.2 TL's and outlaw inteconnects all over. Audioquest type 4 speaker wires.

I hooked up the MLP and the first thing I did before hitting the play button was to look for the "hum" that I've heard others complain about. Well, no hum, hiss, shhhhh or anything like it. I do hear a "sssss" if I get 2 inches close to the tweeters, but that was there before and I guess it is totally normal, and if it is not, I don't mind it anyway. Not sure if the Outlaw interconnects help here; I remember when Noel had a hum problem I let him use a pair of Outlaws and he noticed imporvement; I think he still uses them.

I've been listening since yesterday to only two CD's in preparation for this: Jane Monheit's "Taking a Chance on Love", and Disc 2 of Chick Corea's "Rendezvous in New York". I love both of these CD's. I like Jane more than Diana Krall and Norah Jones; sweetest voice. Chick Corea's is a SACD hybrid , mainly piano and drums, with LOTS of dynamics. Very nice recordings both.

So what do I think?

With Jane's CD it was hard to tell a difference initially; starts with just vocals with very low instruments; some piano but not a lot..... What I did hear was the voice dead on center, more than before. It also somehow made the sweet spot wider; before I had to be exactly in the middle of the two speakes or the sound moved violently to the side I was leaning to, while now I can move a little and it feels like the centered voice moves with me, if that makes any sense. With track 5 (I won't Dance), there's heavy "Big Band" instruments, and here I could spot two differences; the soundstage is a little wider (good SDA in this song), but what was more obvious was the bass; I don't know how to explain this, but it was like more violent, vivid. I enjoyed it so much that I played the song a couple more times. Big smile on my face.

Now for the real winner of the night; Chick Corea. I've played this CD twice already, and I am not sure I can stop This is the beauty about making improvements to your system. You hear something that you've heard 100 times, and it sounds better than ever. I think this is one of the best sounding CD's I have; Well, if I close my eyes, I swear I "feel" the instruments in the room. This is most noticeable with mids and lows. The drums...you know when you hit a drum not too hard, but it is so tight that it's like you feel the echoe? That's what I hear.... it is so alive. Same with the piano; mid and low notes sound amazingly real. I love it.

Enough for now; No need to say I am really happy with the MLP. Rich, thanks again for a smooth transaction; I enjoyed talking with you and I hope you get your new pre soon!!

Ricardo

Wow, wow, wow...

Stan Getz is IN the room..