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bipper
11-14-2005, 07:22 AM
I have finally decided to go seperates and have spend about 10 hours doing research to determine what pre amp will complement my adcom 555 mk1 amplifier to my PSB Century 600i speakers. ( Sony CA70ES CD and Nakamichi 680zx Tape)

After searching and reading and reviewing many websites I still can not figure our what preamp would fit my $200-$250 budget. Everyone says adcom preamps are mediocre, there there are brands like carver c1-c2-c3, nad 1600 or nad 1700 , b&w, in my price range but still dont know which is better.

I had used a $350 yamaha v701 receiver for the past 5 years (good but flat sound with DH Labs Silver sonic interconnects) but want to get the best use of the adcom 555



please help need some advice

I live in pittsburgh,pa and there are no dealers stereo shops that have used equipment, thus I can not audition anything

edlchiang62
11-14-2005, 11:58 AM
I would disagree with the statement that "everyone says that Adcom preamps are mediocre". The Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp is a great budget preamp and can be bought used on e-bay or audiogon for 100 dollars. I had one for 13 years and I loved mine. The GFP 565 is an outstanding preamp. They are great budget audiophile preamps.

daviethek
11-14-2005, 02:51 PM
I agree, don't give up on adcom pre-amps, or any other entry level pre-amps as long as they don't veil the music and have enough basic features for you. What sounds good is most important. My son-in law has an Adcom 555 and he runs it with a omewhat beat-up Audiosource pre-amp. It sounds great. Its an E-bay looking system but what the heck. You might want to research the long term performance of the Carver stuff. It might not be worth it if you can't get it fixed. have fun.

bipper
11-14-2005, 07:46 PM
please advise

Seem like the following preamps Rotel RC980BX, Nakamichi cr7a, NAD reference 1700, and Adcom 555preamp seem to all be within my price range, do anyone of these products stand out as the clear winner regarding sound soundstage/imaging? thanks again

Pat
11-19-2005, 08:22 AM
Hi,
Just a thought but if you don't mind used www.audiogon.com has quite a lot of preamps and everything else for about 1/2 the price of new. Something else to consider maybe is a tube preamp...I would like to try one some day and they work well with solid state amps from what I've read.

......good luck

MikeyBC
11-28-2005, 03:15 AM
For a 200-250 dollar budget you might be better off with a passive preamp which is basically just a volume control with inputs. They dont sound as dynamic but can be very musical and smooth sounding, rivaling much more expensive regular preamps. Anyway...just another idea to kick around.