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Preamp suggestions

Just purchased a Nakamichi PA-5 amp in excellent shape. The previous owner was using an Acurus preamp and driving Klipsch Cornwalls.  In my set up I will be driving Snell E IIs. I'm looking for preamp advice to pair with the Naka and the Snell's.  Much obliged in advance 

icarus12
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
icarus12


You definitely don’t need any more preamp gain with your amp an speakers.
Your Naka PA-5 needs only 1.4v in for full 100w output and it’s 75kohm input impedance. With today’s sources all you’ll need is a passive preamp, especially with your 98db efficient Klipsch Cornwalls.

You’ll really only need the $49 Schiit Sys passive preamp a great match for your PA-5, it’ll work great with what you have. https://www.schiit.com/products/sys


Nelson Pass,

We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.

Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.

Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.

What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.

And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp.


Or if you want to add some tube warmth "colouration", the Schiit Saga+ at $399 has a tube running at unity gain which is also an option. And has remote control. https://www.schiit.com/products/saga-2

Cheers George
icarus12 OP
24 posts
 
Thank you all for your suggestions and ideas. It makes sense to go with a passive preamp and I do like the concept of the Schiit with a tube to add a bit of "Colour".  I would however like to have a built-in phono section and the ability to manually adjust with tone controls.  I would prefer to buy an American or Canadian product and would pay up to $500.  Im not opposed to a lightly used unit either.  Thank you again!  
mcreyn
293 posts
 
You can get all that you want, but it is going to push your budget a bit:

1)  Schiit Saga (original on closeout) $299 (you get the option of passive or tubed with the Saga).
2)  Schiit Mani Phono Preamp- $129
3)  Schiit Loki EQ/Tone Control-$149

This gets you all American designed and manufactured products with a warranty.  You can also go in steps as your budget allows and/or wait for the Mani/Loki to come up on B stock for slightly cheaper.  The downside is that the Loki will have to go in between the preamp and amp to work with all sources (which theoretically can degrade sound quality), but it has a full bypass switch so can be switched out of the circuit. 

The alternative is going to be to start searching on the used market for something that has all of the foregoing in a single box, but it is going to be very hard to find.  Perhaps an older Parasound.  An older McIntosh preamp would tick all of your boxes, except the budget, and I expect it would significantly exceed it.  

Do leave some money for decent interconnects and speaker cables.  By that, I don't mean $500 cables, but something like Blue Jeans, which are made in the US, good quality, and will hold up over time.  (Worlds Best Cables on Amazon sells RCA cables made with Canare L-4E6S wire for $21.95 a pair and you could purchase raw Belden or Canare speaker cable from Blue Jeans for 70 cents to $1.50 per foot (I believe all Carnare and Belden cable is US made).  I only harp on this, as I had a speaker I thought was failing that I traced down to a bad solder connection in a speaker cable that degraded over time.  
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Yes mcreyn got the money shot icarus12 , didn't see that closeout sale on the original Saga which is tube /or passive and remote for $100 less.  https://www.schiit.com/products/saga

Cheers George
mesch
3,529 posts
 
Schiit also sells short interconnects for their products, $20/pair. I have used Blue Jean LC-1, with my passive SYS which are very low capacitance cable than can be made to any length. 
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