I’m in a similar conundrum. I’m slightly wary of Pass pres, partly 'cos I believe it’s not NP himself that designs them, and iirc @edd9000 suggested they’re not quite in the same league as the power amps…
I like a valve pre with solid state power amp.
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Someone try one of these out please:
http://www.yoshiba-audio.com/products/detail420.php
Yes I’ve done that before with a Puresound L300 in front of a Krell, and an Ayre pre in front of an ARC Ref 110.
When I had chance to listen to a XA30.8 a while back I found the presentation just swept away notions of tube vs SS sound, it was just so damn musical. Matching a pre is going to be interesting.
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Sounds like a bake off. What about Aesthetix? Modwright?
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Yep ideas welcome and a bake off at some point with some potential suitors would definitely speed up the process of selection.
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50 kOhm SE and 100 kOhm balanced inputs mean it should be a friendly load for a valve preamp
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Wayne Colburn does most of the line level stuff. I’m sure it suits the modern pass XA stuff fine.
Not sure what would suit a J2 though, bit of a different beast, I have a DCB1 I built I could bring over.
@Ijrussell has tried no end of stuff with the Alephs though, he might have a suggestion.
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The J2 is quite high gain for a Pass FW series, so would that make it suitable for a buffer style pre?
1.4v for full power it looks like. So I’d assume so in most instances.
I have to say I am very pleased with my Esoteric C03 pre, does everything I need it to do and is wisper quiet. No phono, but you have a phono stage anyway.
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Yes pls. Mebbe a mini bakeoff?
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Speaking of amps for Avangardes, I really enjoyed the Avantgarde integrated I borrowed from you, Bob.
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Sold it as I had too many amps. I liked it too, sort of wish I didn’t sell it, but life is too short.
As a solid state choice this could be worth considering over a Pass
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I’ve heard the pre power setup a couple of times and really liked it (with Avalon’s on both occasions)
Also owned an Edge G3 integrated for a while which was great. Fantastic build quality too.
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Just get a fucking M7 and be done with it.
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