Sonic Frontier Line 3 vs McIntosh C2500

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

That's awesome feedback Eric... I think that I'll follow your advice. I'm keeping my 15 year old (!) 802s for a while. Gotta save some $$ somewhere! The SF3 is shipping off to Canada tomorrow morning...

Great! Chris is a great guy.  I buy parts from PCX all the time. 

Let me know what upgrade you get and how it sounds. :)  I'm unable to switch right now because of my 5.1 needs... but the SP3 has always been one of those romances I wish I had committed to. :) 

Best,

Erik