World's best Pre-amp for $10K and above?


Looking for the HOLY GRAIL in Audio? Here it is. I'm in my early sixties and retiring to my final system, which I was going to purchase during the past twelve months and decided to put on the brakes, and investigate whats out there as the most advanced engineered high end audio products for the money in the market place. As far as I'm concerned, the two top engineers in the world for the best Amp and Preamp at low prices are Bent Holter with Hegel Audio in Norway and Roger Sanders with Sanders Sound in Colorado. Why? The Hegel P-30 Pre-amp is a game changer, and will easily compete with Pre-amps at $30K and above. The FM Acoustics 268 Preamp that retails for $107K, uses a technology thats called "feedforward" instead of feedback.
Amps and Pre-amps since the early 80's have all used either global feedback, zero feedback or local feedback to filter out noise and lower distortion by sending and filtering the feedback current to filter capacitors or or an extra filter transformer. A small amount of voltage feedback occurs at the output stage in amps and preamps which goes back into the parts and boards causing noise and distortion which smears the quality of the music.The best Preamps in the world all have S/N noise ratios at 125 db's or above. The Hegel P-30 Preamp uses the same feedforward technology as FM Acoustics but is a more current design that Bent Holter calls "Sound Engine" patented technology that eliminates feedback which is why the P-30 Preamp has a S/N ratio of 132 db's, which has never been accomplished in high end audio with a Preamp costing $10K or below. The same applies to Roger Sanders Magtech amplifier which uses a patented linear voltage regulator that controls and regulates voltage with no excess voltage going back into the amp causing heat and distortion problems. The amp puts out 900 watts into 4ohms. Krell makes a pair of mono blocs that also use a similar voltage regulator. The amps are $100K a pair. HERES THE PERFECT SOLID STATE SYSTEM. A Hegel P-30 Preamp. A Sanders Magtech amp, A pair of Aerial Acoustics 7T speakers. The worlds finest SACD player, the Playback Designs MPS-5, designed by Andreas Koch, who invented SACD technology when he worked for Sony. He built the worlds first outboard DAC in 1982 and is legend in digital engineering. The MPS-5 is the most analog sounding player on the market which costs $17K. The Hegel P-30 is only $7500.00 and the Magtech amp is only $5K. The Aerials are $10K. Buy the solid core cables from Morrow Audio. They are low capacitance cables which matches up perfectly with these components. This combination sounds like the very best tube and solid state gear on the market. The whole system will cost about $42K but will sound as good as any system costing $200K. All of these products are game changers. If you want better looking cabinets and faceplates, then blow your money, but you will not get better performance for what this system has to offer. It is the HOLY GRAIL you are searching for and there is no better combination for the total cost of the system.
audiozen
If its your business I bought it used on Audiogon and had it for three months and yes I sold it to another audiofool. I could put the receipt on line, but this is not a communist country.
Jwm..I'm still puzzled that your MPS-5 sounded very lean due to the fact that the reviews during the past two years out of Europe and the States, are the most positive I have ever read on any SACD player during the past ten years. All the reviews are consistent how analog and organic the player sounds with excellent full midrange bloom and outstanding bottom end. Having heard the player twice during the past year struck me as the most unlean playback I've heard from a disc player. What Preamp and amp were you using with the MPS-5?
Audiozen, sorry to burst your bubble but JWM did own the Playback Design for a few months and I heard it on numerous occasions. He's exactly right; not only was it lean and quite two dimensional, it also sounded rather closed in and dry.

You on the other hand base your opinion on two brief auditions in someone else's system and a couple reviews by nimrods who rarely give bad reviews for fear of losing advertising dollars in their rags.

JWM owns VAC amps and preamp plus a 3-box Aestetix phono stage. The sound is quite exceptional; that is, as long as you don't insert the Playback Design.

Finally, your initial post was quite rediculous and really ended up making you look like a phool instead of a phile. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!