Sonic Frontier Line 3 vs McIntosh C2500

Hehe.  If I wasn't still unpacking I would have told you that your pre-amplifer was absolutely garbage but for $50 I would help take it off your hands..... :D :D :D

Hah!!

fijunc I would say it's probably a better allocation to go the upgrade route, the preamp you have is well made with a robust power supply. And upgrade and refresh of older parts after 15 years may be a bit of a revelation soundwise, and I don't know that the McIntosh would be that much of an improvement. Either way good luck and happy listening and to answer your earlier question you would connect the Chinook to a line level input and not a phono input.

Thank you Jond...

True. Some of the caps they are using now are a huge improvement over what was available 20 years or so ago. Worthwhile.

I honestly don’t know of a preamp that is inherently better than the SF 3. I know of a lot using more modern or more expensive parts, but not better sounding or better designed.

I would not let a SF 3 go out of my hands. However, I might loan it to Chris to modernize the caps. :) In preamps caps have a very large contribution to the sound, and paying for an upgrade is relatively cheap compared to buying a new preamp with the same caps.  You can really go up a few notches with the right cap upgrade.

I would however encourage you to listen to other british speakers like Monitor Audio and see if you feel the B&W's are still the best match.


Best,

Erik