2. amps-preamps
  3. 1415285678

where to go from here..,,

I stumbled on a steal for Aerial 7T's that I couldn't pass up, and love them. I know they aren't geting the best from the rest of the system...
Oppo BDP103, Odyssey Stratos powering the Aerials, then Yamaha RXA3010 powering PSB center and surrounds (rear and sides).

My serious listening is 2 channel, so my upgrade interests lie in the area of improving that. I do have a sub for movies, but its not in the loop on 2 channel.

From my reading so far, a separate pre- with HT bypass is likely to provide the best improvement in 2 channel SQ(?)

My room is 'live', 19X12X8, tv mounted high between speakers, with the mains about 42" from front baffle to wall behind, and about 28" from side walls. I am learning to use a computer with high rez digital downloads through the Oppo or Yamaha DAC's to feed better source material. No interest or budget for vinyl.

Any thoughts and guidance appreciated....thanks
english210
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,134 posts
 
You don't have to limit yourself to solid state.

In the face of Mapman's rule of thumb, all of our preamps work fine with 10K amplifier inputs no worries.

The MP-1 and MP-3 can both drive 600 ohms which is a lot lower than 10K! They have direct-coupled outputs and so there is no loss of bass with lower impedances.

There are plenty of other tube preamps that can drive 10K. A good example is the old Dynaco PAS-3X, which was quite inexpensive.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,888 posts
 
"In the face of Mapman's rule of thumb, all of our preamps work fine with 10K amplifier inputs no worries."

Fine is fine, but not necessarily best.

"Best" is even a subjective judgement. May or may not be based on anything quantitative.

Just saying. Its all good. Just a matter of how good. Personal preferences mostly determine that in the end.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,134 posts
 
Let's put it this way: 10K is simply not an issue for our preamps. If you have 100K or 10K and switch between them, you can't hear any difference.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,888 posts
 
Atmasphere.

That certainly helps the buyer in the case of your stuff.

The rule I specified is designed as a general insurance policy in cases where it may not be clear based on specs or any other published info. As the amp input impedance goes up, within reason I suppose, the chances of hearing a difference goes down. 60Kohm input impedance spec seems to be a safe lowest common denominator based on teh specs I see published for products explicitly designed to work well with tube pre-amps in general.
tomaswv
245 posts
 
I had an Anthem AVM 30 in my two channel system for bass management. When i changed my speakers to Def Tech BP8080s with built in subs i no longer needed bass management, but i kept the Anthem in my system. Among HT procssors it has a reputation for excellence in two channel. I saw AudioAdvisor had the NuForce mcp 18 preamp for sale really cheaply, so i bought one, intending to put it in my office system. Instead, i replaced the AVM in my main system and wow,what a difference. Much lower noise level, much higher resolution; for $600 you're getting a very well designed SS preamp--two channels have a sophisticated volume control and you have additional channels should you ever want to buy amp. Im very happy with it.
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