eBay stuff (Part 1)

PM on its way.

VB

Rare, not sure itā€™s not a scam.

Anyone had experience of one of these? Looking for a low gain pre-amp.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/lector-zoe-preamplifier-use-your-favourite-tubes/1322759234?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social

Bargainā€¦a few Accuton drivers in an ugly box.

My experience of Accuton drivers is that they are shit at making music and have peaks. You have to drive them hard to get any life out of them.

Only heard them once for a few minutes at a show in a pair of Estelon standmounts, sounded impressive with the pristine recording they were using but I imagine I couldnā€™t live with them as I prefer a relaxed listen.

20 dB of gain isnā€™t low for a line stage.

Whatā€™s the input sensitivity of your power amp?

What speakers will you be using?

Funny - Iā€™ve heard some Accuton-based speakers sound exactly as you describe. Iā€™ve also heard one or two that sound utterly stunning.

Clearly itā€™s all in the crossover!

Depends on which driver too, some of them are not too bad, others have crazy peaks that need seriously steep crossovers.

Indeed. The best examples Iā€™ve heard (Isophon/Gauder Akustik) do indeed use ridiculously steep crossovers.

Crazy peaks.

Thanks for those thoughts, I remember that pre I think. Letā€™s hope someone can sort this one on eBay out without too much hassle

Wow, even fourth order wouldnā€™t be enough for that :rofl:

Thatā€™s not a frequency response, it is a bad signature.

The guy has come back advising it has two sets of outputs, one that is attenuated to give 0 gain.
Not convinced itā€™s going to match my Job 225. Might have to look at a passive.

Job state the following figures for my power amp;
INPUT SENSITIVITY

  • Nominal level : 0.75 V.
  • Unbalanced only (RCA).
  • 51k input impedance.

Most reviews and users advise using low gain or passive pre amps. I have to use 10dB attenuators with my current Type 36 DIY pre. The builder of my pre has advised that gain is low on the unit, so I would assume under 10dB.

Speakers are Spendor S8e, which seem to work well with the Job 225 as it has a high damping factor and power output

If two inputs and no remote is not an issue then this is a fabulous, and beautifully made, preamp for the money.

2 Likes

What sources are you using?

A DAC typically puts out ~2V RMS.

A phono stage often less, sometimes 0.5V RMS whereupon you would need a line stage with gain to get full output from your power amp.

How the attenuation is implemented is quite critical to whether the sound is compromised by it.

Analogue - I use a Rega RP6 with exact cart into Trilogy 906 phono pre.
Digital - DDDAC 1794

-10dB attenuators are on the RCA inputs of my power amp to reduce gain from the pre-amp.

Yes I highlighted that before . Had one similar on demo and built like a tank

Needs work, but should be cheap.