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SPL - Pro Audio Blasphemy?

In my never ending quest to scale down, I have been looking for a preamp with headphone out. I enjoy passives/buffers and stumbled upon this when I was looking at the Newport Show report on Innerfidelity:

http://spl.info/produkte/kopfhoererverstaerker/phonitor2/in-kuerze.html

Does anyone have any experience with gear that runs on 120v rails? Sounds intriguing, but I plead ignorant. This might seem like a good alternative to the usual preamp and this amp among headphone enthusiast is much revered.

There is also this 2control monitor controller which might be more suitable to my needs because of the flexibility and the ability to switch to mono, but this does not run on 120v rails.

http://spl.info/produkte/monitor-controller/2control/videos.html

Any opinions, ideas or experiences?

Also, has anyone dived into the pro-audio segment for any of their gear as an alternative to traditional hifi?

Cheers
enobenetto
ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
1,047 posts
 
Enobenetto, understood about the rail voltages. Looks intriguing to me too. But, if this were easy enough to arrange in a preamp (for the maker's stated advantages), then could this same idea not also be applied to amps...leading to a combo of high-headroom amp/pre in order to get the most from this approach - that would evidently be the logical conclusion, to me. What comes of their efforts seems to bear watching, I would think.
sethlover
12 posts
 
I am using a Tascam LM8-ST line mixer in one of my home systems because I need a lot of inputs and it is all balanced. It has 8 stereo in's and 2 stereo output busses. The versatility is awesome and sound quality is first rate. It sounds every bit as good as a Mark Levinson & PS Audio that I've used as well and it is DEAD quite. I've been a musician all my life (62 Y/O) and am well experienced with pro equipment. I have tried a few pro power amps but was not too happy with them so I stick to home audio for that. Oh I almost forgot, I am using an Ashley 7 channel parametric EQ in another home system and have not observed and degradation in sound. Also I have sold off all of my high end I/C's and spkr cables and am now using Mogami 2534 Neglex star quad I/C cable and Canare 4S11 speaker cable...make'm up myself. All this stuff is considered pro audio and I highly recommend giving it a try.
enobenetto OP
67 posts
 
Sethlover you are on my wavelength!!! (or I'm on yours) I recently started using "affordable" Canare cables and they are awesome and reliable. I see you are using the Tascam in the same way I have been thinking about the SPL, which is inspiring. I feel that the pro gear manuf. wouldn't make a controller that changes the signal in any way or engineers would give them grief and not buy their gear.
enobenetto OP
67 posts
 
Wolf Garcia, it's funny you mention the first watt, because the amp I am using is First Watt J2

Princka, I use JBL 4425 which I did not get at first and then it hit me with proper placement and listening position. This speaker is what made me investigate pro gear for some of the areas in my systems chain.
enobenetto OP
67 posts
 
Ivan, I agree. I actually researched a little to find any power amps that had the 120v but I had little success.
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