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New Preamp arrived....

So a few short hours ago my Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp arrived. It will be replacing a Schiit SYS passive that was bought to be able to implement the first piece of the puzzle, the power amp, and be able to sell my cheapo integrated.

its been 20 months since the power amp arrived so today was super exciting.
I hook it all up (and reverse the speaker connections as it says it inverts phase) and...

Well its every bit as clean and clear as the Schiit. Bass is a little better. The volume knob can actually be turned further to get as loud as the Schiit which was surprising. The treble has some sizzle on the very top end which I’m assuming will work itself out over time. Not much different in the bass department.

My fear going in was it’d sound the same which would add a heavy dose of buyer’s remorse ($1300 vs $50). It’s got the stock JJ 12AT7 tubes and I have a pair of NOS RCA black plates coming next week.

So what kinds of things can I expect for the first few days/weeks?
gochurchgo
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,138 posts
 
Warmup and break-in are essential with any active preamp.

You can't take it seriously for the first 20 minutes or so and it really will need an hour or two to sound right (our preamps take about an hour). If its all going well you should hear across the board improvements over any passive control.
gochurchgo OP
931 posts
 
So the units been on for over 200 hours now usually processing some sounds for ~12 hours a day.
I do notice the bass and midbass improvements as well as staging. Detail is very enhanced. The sound is very clean!

i have not swapped out tubes or put the Schiit back in but rolling around in my noggin’ is the feeling my speakers are limiting the changes I hear. And I suspect that this is more true in the mid bass

some tracks have hilariously wide channel
separation and great detail.  
noromance's avatar
noromance
10,177 posts
 
Go on... swap the Schiit back in...
gochurchgo OP
931 posts
 
I eliminated the toe in on the speakers and moved them back 6” closer to the front wall (now at 12”).

While I like the improvements I’m looking for more warmth and I know my room is an issue but am starting to feel my speakers just aren’t going to do what I want. When I ran them before with a Sansui it had a +10db boost at 50hz (Loudness) which really
brought a lot to the sound.
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,533 posts
 
Small tweaks would be appropriate to speaker placement.  I found, that a small tweak to the toeing was necessary and I ended up closer to being aimed perfectly at my eating location where with the SS I was tied slightly in front of it.  Eliminating the toeing altogether shouldn’t help.

We talked a lot in another thread about new speakers.  Have you picked something?  What speakers are you running?
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