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Low budget vintage preamp or new

I’m new to this hi-fi world and wow wow wow it is so exciting. Been nerding out big time in these forums and am happy to be a part of this now.

I got Heresy IV’s, a McIntosh MC352, a Project S Box and a $50 amazon dilvpoetry preamp. I spent nearly all of the money I have right now besides about $1,300 I saved for a preamp. 

I definitely want a tube preamp, and am looking most closely at the Audio Research LS7 and the Schitt Freya +. Honestly even with the $50 preamp I’m still totally floored every time I turn the system on and do not think I have had a single conversation with anyone in the past couple weeks that did not at some point turn to how dope the hi-fi world is. 

What are your thoughts on the lower end Audio Research amps? I’m a bit nervous they’ll hum, that I’ll need to spend a lot of time and money repairing them, and that they probably won’t work so well when I use my system to play movies, which I will certainly do at times. 

What do you think? Are there other preamps I should be looking at? Thanks so much for your time


128x128oitsliver
oitsliver's avatar
oitsliver OP
5 posts
 
Anyone ever mess with the quicksilver full function preamplifier? 
Also should I be worrying about gain levels since the output on my McIntosh mc352 is so high? Would I want a preamp with low gain so I can still play music at low-ish volumes? Right now the Lowest possible volume I can go on this shitty Amazon pre-amp is still not that low

thanks again 
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toolbox149
263 posts
 
The input impedance of your MC352 is listed at:
20k ohms Unbalanced, and
40k ohms Balanced.
That’s fairly low which means a fair amount of tube preamps will not match well,,, impedance-wise.
The general rule of thumb is that the input impedance of the amp should be at least 10 times greater than the output impedance of your preamp.Up until this past year, I’ve lived with a tube pre and SS amp right at the 10 times range for over 35 years, with no problems. Exceed the 10 times rule of thumb and I’m told you will experience a moderate to very noticeable reduction in bass.

Tim
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