Recession Busting Preamp

[Poultrygeist]

You'll be hard pressed to find a preamp with phono stage and three inputs this cheap. Replace the wall wart with a cheapo Pyramid regulated power supply and this thing elevates to another level. Actually there's even a cheaper version of this preamp on the bay which is the same except for the name. I think I paid around $45 for mine.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/t-preamp_e.html

[blackraven]

Whats your impression of the sound?

[harley .guy07]

I have heard good things about their separate phono preamps for the money since they are around $45 bucks. From what I understand is that their phono preamp is supposed to be as good as NAD's phono preamp at under half the price and it is funny how the NAD phono box and this brands look alike. This is the first time I have seen them make a full preamp with volume control and everything. From the look of the circuitry I would say this unit would fit a lower budget system just to get things going but I wouldn't put big expectations on this unit keeping up with anything higher end. But if you are going to use it in second system and it works fine then its a cheap way to get that done.

[harley .guy07]

I have heard good things about their separate phono preamps for the money since they are around $45 bucks. From what I understand is that their phono preamp is supposed to be as good as NAD's phono preamp at under half the price and it is funny how the NAD phono box and this brands look alike. This is the first time I have seen them make a full preamp with volume control and everything. From the look of the circuitry I would say this unit would fit a lower budget system just to get things going but I wouldn't put big expectations on this unit keeping up with anything higher end. But if you are going to use it in second system and it works fine then its a cheap way to get that done.:21:

[Poultrygeist]

It's not as good as my Aric tube pre but it sounds better than a 1999 Marantz prepro that I recently sold for a friend on ebay.

[blackraven]

It's not as good as my Aric tube pre but it sounds better than a 1999 Marantz prepro that I recently sold for a friend on ebay.


Thats nice to know. I'm going to buy a digital amp kit and would like a cheap preamp to go with it. I was thinking about the Maverick Tube Magic Pre-DAC-

http://www.mav-audio.com/

[Poultrygeist]

The Chinese version of the Mav sells for $150 on ebay and it's probably better than my little pre. I used the T-amp Pre with the Sure Class D I built and it worked well but I believe any Class D would benefit from a tube front end. If you get the Mav, I have the tube upgrade I'll let go cheap. I bought the tube but never bought the Mav as I ordered the Audio GD NFB-12 instead ( it's also a Pre/DAC/HP amp ). Which Class D are you considering?

[RGA]

Well the T-power amp beat a $1000 Celeste (Sim Audio) power amp in my shootouts and it sounded quite good on AN K speakers where a lot of much more expensive amps get chewed up and spit out. Although the T amp was modified a little bit taking it up to about $200 it still impressed me given the ridiculously low price. A matching preamp is interesting.

The Grant Fidelity Tube Dac 09 is a preamp for $300 and it's pretty cool as well for not a whole lot more. Although it's still more than 6 times the price of this unit - the GF does offer both tube and SS selection for preamp, is a tube or SS DAC, has a headphone output, and is also a USB DAC and has more inputs.

So if money can stretch a bit further - it too should be considered for a budget preamp.

Looking at the site it is now $215 but it is a DAC only unless you make the change yourself to passive preamp. Still worth a look regardless http://grantfidelity.com/site/Grant_Fidelity_Tube_DAC-09

[Poultrygeist]

I believe the Maverick and GF are the same and both made by Xiangsheng. There's a huge thread on the Mav at AC.

Of the Tripath based amps the TK2050 is my favorite although it doesn't come close to it's rated 2X100 @ 4 ohms.

[Poultrygeist]

Here's the link to the preamp on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/4WAY-INPUT-EXTENDER-W-INTEGRATED-PHONO-PRE-AMP-75-754-/130484091980?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e61753c4c

[dean_martin]

Lots of interesting stuff out there. I've been looking around for a cheap preamp with headphone amp because I have a power amp that's not in use but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. The Matrix M-Stage is a headphone amp/preamp for around $270 shipped that is based on a Lehman model. No dac and no tubes but it seems to be a quality piece.

[bobsticks]

Interesting.

A newb (or anyone for that matter) could pick up the T-Amp/T-Preamp combo and:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1303510915&/Tekton-Katz-Meow

and:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?dgtlplay&1298686461&auc&3&4&

and have a very nice starter/secondary system for under a thousand bucks. Hell, forget the descriptors...that would be a pretty decent system for anyone with a small listening area.

[Poultrygeist]

If this is the same guy on AC who had the Katz Meow and bought the Omens it looks like he's made his choice.

I drive my Omens about half the time with a $100 Sure TK2050 T-amp from Parts Express.

[blackraven]

The Chinese version of the Mav sells for $150 on ebay and it's probably better than my little pre. I used the T-amp Pre with the Sure Class D I built and it worked well but I believe any Class D would benefit from a tube front end. If you get the Mav, I have the tube upgrade I'll let go cheap. I bought the tube but never bought the Mav as I ordered the Audio GD NFB-12 instead ( it's also a Pre/DAC/HP amp ). Which Class D are you considering?

I'm thinking of buying the SDS-254 or the CDS-254.Kits
http://classdaudio.com/products/class-d-audio-kits.html
To use secondary systems MMG's or Monitor Audio S1's. I like the fact that the MAV can be used as a preamp and DAC.

Poultry thank for the offer for the tube upgrade. If I buy the MAV I will take you up on it.

Larry

[Poultrygeist]

The SDS is a great choice. If you go with the more powerful SDS you could move your Parasound to the secondary system.

[E-Stat]

You'll be hard pressed to find a preamp with phono stage and three inputs this cheap.
True. On the other hand, it is not a preamp in the sense that it offers zero gain for line level sources. If you don't need the phono, you can build an equivalent passive for around $15 using Rat Shack parts.

rw