Anyone hear a Croft Integrated Amp?

I have listened to the phono integrated, a really nice sounding little integrated. The stock JJ tubes Glenn sends with the amp are very good, but as others say, one can tube roll and get different sonic characteristics. But mainly, you just have a very good, musical amp in the Croft.

I own the Micro 25 preamp and Series 7 amps, just love them. Simple, very spartan looks, and wonderful sonics. That the phono stages sound so good too in the Crofts can just be an added bonus, even if it is only MM. 

I think some may dismiss the Crofts on looks alone, or maybe even due to the Stereophool review damning the measurements, but who cares, they sound great. Give them a listen, well worth the time! 

Tim

I bought a Croft Phono Integrated last year and have been generally happy with it - mostly playing Vinyl. It's loud enough and has a nice broad tone - neither too bassey nor too trebley - a bit like baby bear's porridge!

Croft's mimimilism really is at play with this amp as the first thing I noticed was I couldn't connect a line-out from it whilst using the phono-amp ... because the phono amp doesn't have a voltage follower (buffer). The result was the line-out sucked the voltage out of the signal and everything went quiet in the speakers.

I had a voltage-follower (valve) stage fitted by a very capable man here in the UK and that solved that problem. However there are one or two other things to bear in mind about this amp.

Firstly, Glenn Croft has stripped this amp back to the bare essentials, so it has just 4 amplification stages; phono, pre-amp, pre-amp follower (single mosfet in class A) and power stage (mosfet pair in class AB).

A typical integrated amp contains 7 to 9 stages. Having recently started building my own integrated amp incorporating valves and mosfets, I can see and hear the significance of the decisions Glenn has made to simplify the Phono Integrated. Most of these were reflected in Sterophile's review in 2013: https://www.stereophile.com/content/croft-acoustics-phono-integrated-integrated-amplifier

- Total harmonic distortion is a little high - though this isn't always a bad thing, but it is a reflection of a very simple pre-amp that doesn't incorporate any negative feedback. The preamp goes straight into the AB mosfet stage i.e. there is no separate gain-driver after the pre-amp.

- The RIAA curve on the phono-amp has notable treble roll-off. Again, not a bad thing, but the Croft phono-stage doesn't sound as detailed as the DIY amp I have built which has a more 'conventional' RIAA profile.

I'm not saying the RIAA curve is related to the differences in detail; I'm not an expert in these matters. However I have found the experience of building something myself enormously insightful and I would recommend it - as I would the Croft Phono Integrated.

Anyone know if I can use the tape outs while using the built-in phono input on a Croft 25R pre? Seems like I read you couldn’t on the less expensive phono integrated.  

I can use the tape outs with the phono input on the 25R. Woohooo

Magic is back with 25R/7R and P3ESR speakers. Went full circle. World class and I think I just have stock tubes in this set.

@zek4u My 25R is dedicated to phono only. It was always verboten back in the day to hang a cable on the tape out unless necessary. You might try it with/without late at night to see if it affects SQ.