2. amps-preamps
  3. 1225160584

Best preamp for and EAR890 / ESL57 rig

Hello folks, I own a EAR890 amplifier, which drives a pair of Piquet restored Quad ESL57 (that in turn sit on a pair of dipole Gradient woofers, driven by an Acurus250 amplifier). I am currently using a pretty good Klyne SK-6 preamp, but I was thinking to move to a tube preamplifier. What do you recommend? My instinct would be to try either the Shindo Aurieges (around $3K) or the new EAR 868 ($5K). Any recommendation? thanks. Giovanni
ggavetti
ggavetti OP
143 posts
 
I did some research and I discovered that a few Quad folks recommend strongly the Audible Illusions M3A, even against way more expensive pieces of equipment like the EAR 868 and the Shindo Monbrison. I was surprised at first but then I read a few reviews and it looks like the AI is really a sleeper -- you can get one for between $900 and $1,500 and the performance looks really competitive with much bigger and more expensive brothers. Any thoughts? Giovanni
ajackson1
156 posts
 
Modwright SWL 9.0 SE with Tube rectifier-- simply the best
vinyljh
46 posts
 
SInce only one person I'm aware of combines a Monbrison with Quads, why not ask him. He actually has heard a Monbrison. look for him here- http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vdone&1070840258
And try to listen for yourself. Others opinions are quite meaningless.
ggavetti OP
143 posts
 
Vunyljh, actually i just closed a deal on a monbrison. the guy who sold me the EAR 890 basically said that he tried 7 or 8 preamps (he also had quads, but a more recent model) and thought that shindo was the best (he had a massetto, which is more expensive than the monbrison, but the basic principles should be similar). thanks for your message. giovanni
podeschi
303 posts
 
I know it's an old thread but how did the Shindo compare to the Ear preamp?
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