Of the three listed, I would choose the Proceed but wow it's really old at this point. The offshore Cary stuff never impressed me and I've never been a Bryston fan either.
Good luck with your decision!
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The one I'd wished I had kept was a Theta Casanova.
Even though it was 5.1 only, it sounded great.
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If you can’t find any flaws with the Bryston it sounds like you’ve got a bad case of upgraditis.
Take 2 paracetamol and put a Justin Beiber CD on repeat until cured. |
And buy a $1,000 power cord. That always helps. Agree with the upgraditis. |
AR, ML, Krell, or old Dynaco tube units B.C. with a recap and new precision metal-film resistors; maybe an ALPS pot or stepped attenuator.
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The Proceed AVP. The reviewers all claimed it was a M Levinson #38 with a processor attached. I have one, it is a keeper. |
The original Halfler pre-amp. Worth its weight in gold. |
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Getting a Perreaux from ‘85 fully restored. Should have it back next week.
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I purchased a used ARC SP-6 for my system recently and am amazed how much better it is than the fairly-well regarded Luxman CL-32 I had been using.
Also, it was CHEAP, and I am poor, so it was a great sonic addition to my system.
I have no experience with Bryston other than the original amps, and they were pretty good.
Cheers! |
I have a Mac C33 (ss) that I purchased new in 1984. Still sounds great and offers fun and flexibility to experiment with various speakers and room configs. Not appreciably better or worse than my 2 year old Primaluna DiaLogue (vt). |
maybe an ALPS pot or stepped attenuator. Just avoid using the ubiquitous ALPS Blue like the plague, or if you must use it with a shunt resistor. Reviewers tend to remark on their presence in a preamp as a big plus (probably because they are made by ALPS, look good and they have never actually compared them to anything else), and their mythical status has thus prevailed. Get a Stepped attenuator, or buy a TKD, Audionote or even a decent carbon (eg Tocos or ALPS) pot instead. The old ALPS Black and Noble pots were actually quite good but sadly are no longer available. |
The Metaxas preamps sound excellent.I owned a Marquis 2 for several years.Most older preamps are not very good.There are plenty of very good old power amps but modern preamps tend to sound a lot more transparent and 3D.
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Muse 3 Signature is quite good, then and now. |
I used to own a conrad Johnson pv1,a tube preamp made in the 70's. Sold it to a a audiophile with a system worth over a hundred thousand dollars. When he hooked it up and play it he was in dreamland . I replaced it with a modern parasound p5. No yummf!! |
I have cary slp 98 with phono. Excellent choise for many years. I want to add to the conversation ,a preamplifier that is under the radar. Onkyo p 303. Great piece with great phonostage. |
The good blue Alps pots (Blue Velvet) were physically larger (maybe 1 1/2 times as big) than the ones you see now. The only place I see the old ones now is in stuff I built 15-20 years ago. |
There is a reason why Classic preamps like ARC SP3a, Sp10 SP11 CJ PV5, and others retain high resale value and tend not to stay on the market very long when offered for sale. Because they sound great and are still very competitive with current equipment. A full VanAlstine PAS3 is also very good. Audible Illisions M3 and M3a are true classics and easy to find. |
@hk_fan can you elaborate on Cary offshore products? Google does not reveal info of that possibility.
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A buddy gave me his Bryston amp and preamp. I could be very happy with only these. They are excellent. Are they as good as my other stuff? Close; maybe not quite as dynamic when there is a lot of bass, and a bit less precise if I wanted to obsess. Does my B&K TS1o8 tuner sound better than my old Kenwood KT917? A bit, on a really good station, if I use my rare Audire Diffet 3 preamp, on parts of the bass, if the recording is good enough, if I wanted to obsess. I listen to music, even XM radio's jazz station, despite its flaws, not to equipment. Don't obsess, but if you hear something that sounds enough better, try it out, but don't get all OC(D) worrying about it.
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pesky_wabbit , I’m about to replace a noisy original ALPS 20K blue motor driven pot in a Professional Systems Engineering (PSE) HL-1 hybrid preamp that I like very much and wish to keep. You have mentioned adding a ’shunt resistor’ when using the new ALPS blue pots. What is your rationale or experience with this addition? Thanks |
My Museatex AVC1 still looks and sounds amazing! |
well ...I missed out on the AVP that was recapped but the cary cinema ll came in. nice unit. looks fantastic. only played for short time so havnt had chance to set up and read over the manual.
the Bryston SP1.7 wasnt a bad sounding pre at all. i just like the looks of this Cary more.
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Buy a Cary preamp if you don't give a whit about resolution or transparency. A good vintage model that comes to mind is an AI Modulus 3a. Lots of gain and the volume control is a little coarse, but it sounds pretty good.
Oz
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GAS Thaedra one of the best sounding SS preamps and incredibly versatile |
Mac 240
Audionics BA-150 Tube Amp
Spectral 150
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The original Hafler pre-amp was amazingly good. My first pre-amp brought with a HK amp first, then a B&K amp. |
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Hello, my choice Sonic Frontier SFL 1. |
Modern system devices like the miniDSP SHD may be positioned to disrupt the traditional pre-amplifier market.
The SHD combines a set of analog and digital inputs, with the Analog Devices SHARC implementing Dirac Live 2 projects directly into the excellent AK4490EQ DAC. An absolute minimum of cabling and excellent design results in ultra low noise and low distortion.
Not to mention, a properly implemented Dirac Live 2 project is like removing Coke bottle lenses from your eyes for the first time.
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I have a 1989 P S Audio 5.5 pre-amp. They are pretty rare to find these days
The sound is incredible. For the cost, back then I don`t think you could do better.
I had a Nad pre-amp that didn`t sound half as good as the PS Audio, and sold that.
I also had a 1989 4004 Aragon 200 watt power amp. Great amp but got SUPER hot. You couldn`t put your hand on top of it I went threw 2 in 2 weeks. I finally got one that didn`t blow. I just sold that for a Bryston. I actually liked the Aragon better, That model Aragon is hard to find. I might get a Classe power amp now. I would love a Krell, but the cost is out of my league.
I have Bowers & Wilkins speakers which I like, and a Oppo DVD player.
I have a separate home theater system
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@skiroe You can look at the images on their website. Some products say "Made in USA" while others say "Assembled in USA" on the back panel. The old Dennis Had products, which IMO put Cary on the map - are the ones made in the USA. These include the SPL-98, the SLP-05, CAD-805, etc.
The newer products after Dennis sold out are not of the same caliber IMO. |
@hk_fan I didnt notice that and usually Im digging in for detail. I was checking on the SPL-98 actually with phono because its on sale. . Still a lot of scrilla and doubt I will do that. The 6sn7 tube is the attraction. I had a Modwright with 6sn7 tube and noticeably a good tube flavor ..Being the that the 98 now available is current production could well be assembled here with parts from China.
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The 98 is a great preamp, and I imagine it's still the same design as it was. I owned it for several years and would easily recommend it. It's one of the old point to point hand wired designs and really is a fantastic preamp.
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Love my Audio Research SP-8 MKII preamp built in 1983. Has a great MM phono stage as well and is dead quiet. Build quality is extremely good as well.
BillWojo
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im surprised at all the hate on the cary. its working well enough I sold the Bryston and now am considering a Halo P7 mainly because I dont need the HT processing. but I may just keep the cary..maybe I got a good one!
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There are Cary's and Cary's. Especially pre- and post-Denis Had, but even within the post- era. Hey, even if you were manufacturing lemons, occasionally you'd make an orange. |
Exactly right twoleftears. The Denis Had equipment is outstanding. Once he left it became all about profit margins IMO.
gentle jax, if you are happy then that is all that matters. I don’t think I am "hating" on Cary, I’m just disappointed in the new direction.
If you get a chance to insert an SLP-05 in place of your Cinema 11 - you will understand what we're talking about.
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