Does remote control degrade the sound of tube preamps?
Some preamp manufactures (e.g. CAT) don’t put remote controls in their preamps due to the supposed sound degradation. This could also be just an excuse. Do you think the sound quality is degraded with a remote? I am talking about an audible effect.
@ghdprentice I think @blackdoghifi knows what he is talking about and here are pictures of the line-stages he builds. |
Was a long time Spectral Audio devotee. Had dmc 12 an amazing value and outstanding phono module. At the time both models of spectral did not have remote controls based on the sound degradation pathway. Eventually moved to the dmc 30 with remote control. Essentially the same spectral sound . Found most of the spectral equipment had thei house sound, the only reason I upgraded power amps was power hungry Maggie’s/ so answer is well designed circuit will not degrade sound |
It is only beneficial for Focal to manufacture their own drivers if they can do it to a better quality/value mix than other OEM manufacturers. Given Focal's production volume, this is unlikely to be the case. Therefore if the quality of Focal drivers is truly superior to other OEMs then this is likely to drive up sharply the price of Focal speakers, making them poorer value for money. |
Different use cases. I use a VAC Master preamp in a system with one source (phono stage) that is 2ch only. There’s no need for remote input switching here. Ideally, I don’t want to pay for all those extra inputs. And I absolutely hate the HT Bypass, which I’ve engaged by accident a couple times now (it’s next to and looks like the power knob with no LED indicator) to my MASSIVE displeasure, until I figured out what was wrong. Remote has Mute & Volume Up / Down, which is all I need and want, other than a "Mono" function which this preamp doesn’t have. It’s hard enough to serve the already narrow market for a $30K preamp, then have to subdivide it further between the pure 2ch guys and family entertainment guys. VAC made what they thought was the best compromise to serve both sets of customers, without sacrificing ultimate 2ch performance. I can suggest that the ARC Reference preamps are excellent, and provide a full-function remote. |
ARC reference preamps are totally inappropriate for home theater use since they are on most of the time during the day and they have so many damn tubes. You’ll be chasing tubes every 12 months if not more. Yeah I saw the Home theater bypass button looking really obnoxious on the front panel of vac preamp and then they don’t have a remote that’s fully functional how stupid is this?
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