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Experience with Raul's Essential 3150

Here are my comments on the listening session I had with Raul and his Essential 3150 Full Function Preamplifier.

Firstly, I would like to thank Raul. He is a very knowledgeable and kind gentleman. He has years and years of experience in music and analog systems. My respect for him is in another league after his visit. Some times his post opinions may seem controversial, but I think he knows what he’s talking about. Remember. Respect your elders…they have more experience.

Raul and Jose’s preamp is a seriously built unit!!! It has a separate power supply and the total weight of the two units is close to 50lbs. Very heavy, well shielded frame. Raul opened up the preamp and pointed out the level and quality of the parts. Vishay resistors, V-Caps, etc. This preamp is completely solid state and made with the finest parts and the inside does not look garage shop at all. It is impressive looking. His design is fully balanced from input to output. It included 2 SE line inputs, 2 balanced line inputs and 2 sets of phono inputs, both SE and balanced. It has a separate left and right volume control as well. The preamp is 12 years in the making and uses some interesting proprietary techniques. According to Raul, the distortion and frequency linearity is orders of magnitude better than just about all the other equipment out there.

We compared the music we were hearing using either his preamp or my CAT Ultimate MkII preamp. Since I had to create space in my rack, I removed my CD player. Therefore, we only listened to my analog system. I wish this were not the case because it would also have been good to compare line stages.

We listened to a few records: Miles Davis-Kind of Blue, Sade-Stronger than Pride, Steve Miller-Fly Like an Eagle, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon, and various classical selections. The most clear and obvious differences were bass response, transparency/detail and sound staging.

Music with the Essential had INCREDIBLE bass and midbass. Much, much better than listening through the CAT. It is extended, articulate and not attenuated the least bit. This improved the fullness and impact of the presentation greatly. It is quite amazing that my Analog system has bass potential that I was not even getting close to with the CAT. This alone has me seriously considering buying his unit.

As you would expect from fine solid state, the music had fine detail and transparency was at a higher level than you would expect with tubes. In this regard it was better than the CAT. Due to the transparency, the soundstage depth and width was very apparent. Dynamics were also very good.

In the mids to highs, music through the CAT had a richer and more immediate quality. Brass sounded brassier with the CAT than through the Essential. In comparison, music through the Essential had a detailed but lean, soft and relaxed presentation compared to the CAT. It comes down to which is more correct, which has a coloration and what does one prefer. Also, the Essential has some trim pots that allow extension or attenuation of frequencies above 20KHz. Raul believes that this observation would have been ameliorated by extending the frequencies.

Through both preamps, we heard slightly tipped up high frequencies in my system that Raul believes is not a function of either preamp. The most likely culprit is the frequency balance of the speakers or room acoustics. Therefore, I may need to address this problem first. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong with the Essential 3150. It really is like a tool.

The other thing I will try is replacing the tubes in the preamp. They are about two years old and have been used extensively. Ken Stevens from CAT believes that this will improve the level of the bass, articulation and transparency across the entire frequency range. It will be interesting to rehear some of the tracks we played after this. I also would like the chance to try the Essential for a week instead of the 5-6 hours we took as well as compare the line stage performance.

Overall, the Essential 3150 is a seriously good preamp and is probably better than most commercial solid state and tube units. If you have a chance, give it a try. In my case, I’ll first try addressing the speakers, seeing if the new tubes make a difference and hopefully spending more time with the unit.

Andrew
aoliviero
piedpiper
753 posts
 
I believe "Experience with Raul's Essential 3150" can include real comparisons to other known preamps. Obviously, this would shed light on the character of the 3150, which, if I'm not mistaken, is the topic of this thread.

'nuff said, eh?
groovey's avatar
groovey
125 posts
 
Pied Piper,

Raul is a bennevolent pressence here at Audiogon and shares his passion and point of view for audio excellence often. He gave me an introduction to the Empire EDR.9 and you could look at my review.

When I asked Raul the same question he forwarded these comments from another thread concerning the introduction and demonstration inside other peoples home systems.

Let me pass these on to you

" 02-16-07: Sbank
Last weekend I was fortunate to get an extended opportunity to meet Raul and
listen to Raul's Essential 3150 at great length in three very different
systems. I will go into more detail in a moment, but let me summarize by
stating that as a guy with a longtime preference for tubes vs. ss, this is
the first piece of ss gear that I would be happy to own for the long run.

Long story, short, Raul came to Philadelphia after an email mail
exchange(about phono stages in general) where I mentioned to Raul our local
audio club, and that if he ever wanted to give a bunch of us a chance to
hear his phono/line preamp, that I could arrange it. I had never met Raul
previously, and have no business or economic relationship with him. Simply,
I saw an audience for Raul, and my audio club often enjoys demonstrations
from various manufacturers, etc.

The Essential 3150 spent time in three systems: mine, Slipknot1's and
Badboss429's. The systems are quite varied as follows:

"Warming in the Atma-Sphrere" - Atma MA1s/Merlin VSM-MX w/ SuperBam/ Atma
MP3/VPI TNT6-HR w/12.6, Walker Motor Controller and ZYX Airy3S- SB/ modded
Sony SACD/Cardas, Omega Mikro, Silent Source, GroverHuffman cabling

"Ars Musica" - Walker Proscenium Gold w/Magic Diamond/Wolcott P220s/ Kharma
2.2s/Supratek Chenin/Rives room design/Silent Source, Synergistic, Omega
Mikro cable

Badboss429's - Quicksilver Triode Monoblocks/Audio Research SP11mk2/ heavily
modded Michell Gyrotec & Zeta Arm w/Transfiguration Temper W/ Goldmund
Dialogues/Minimax CD/Walker Velocitor/Omega Mikro cables

Of course no component is "best" overall, and I haven't heard every preamp
around, but I can say that in these systems, the Essential 3150 was a
dramatic improvement over the other preamp in each case with both line and
phono stages. The Essential has no signature of its own that I can detect.
It sounds neither "tubey" nor ss. It allows music to flow in a seemingly
effortless fashion.

In my system, I heard details in familiar recordings with greater clarity.
For example, in the last movement of the Mercury Dorati/LSO Firebird, just
before the main theme returns a short motif starts at the back or the
orchestra and then is repeated by success rows of instruments, coming closer
each time it's repeated. This hit me like waves hitting the beach with
tremendous emotion. The Essential lowered the noise floor beyond other phono
stages that I'd tried without bleaching the tonality or sacrificing the full
body of individual instruments.

In "Ars Musica", the Essential immediately increased the size of the
soundstage in both width and depth, something I didn't expect vs. the
Supratek, which generally excels in that area. Quiet black backgrounds are
often the forte of ss phonostages, but the Walker table really can expose
any downstream troubles. The synergy between the Walker and the Essential
was overwhelming.
I must say that the sound in that system that day from the sweet spot is one
of the best sounding to my ears that I've heard in 25 years in this hobby.
Without a doubt, the most musical of about 5 times hearing various Kharmas.
Whether listening to classical, jazz or rock, everything sounded balanced
and natural. Dynamics, tonality, transparency, we heard it all. So many toes
were tapping, we looked like an audio-geek chorus line!
About 40-50 members of our audio club were at this demo, spread out over
about 6 hours, so perhaps some others who attended will chime in here with
their impressions. From the reactions I heard, I think many were
dumbfounded, as I was.

On Monday, Raul and I brought the Essential to Badboss429's place, as he was
hoping to hear it in his rig. Same story here, with overall enjoyment of the
system taken to new heights. Bass clarity and detail was the most apparent
thing, along with great dynamic presence notable on things like loud trumpet
bursts, etc.

It's hard to describe a component that doesn't have its own sound. But I
can't find much of a signature on this piece. It allowed me to hear more
everywhere I heard it, but it didn't strike me as "too hi-fi", as many ss
components affect my ears. I never thought I'd lust for a piece of ss gear;
now I stand corrected.

The construction and design of the Essential 3150 are high quality and low
key style-wise, with many aerospace industry quality parts. Raul spent many
years in the design of this piece, and I was fascinated to hear from him how
he went to great lengths in both measuring components for great subjective
performance and listening by ear to ensure great musicality. I encourage
anyone who is interested in a state-of-the-art phono/line preamp to check
out the Essential 3150; Raul and his new jewel really impressed me. Cheers,
Spencer Sbank "

best regards

Groovey Records
piedpiper
753 posts
 
Thanks Groovey, I had read the original which is why I wanted to pursue it further. I am well aware of Raul's generous presence here and generosity therein. He is a testimony to well meaning directness; still only one point of view, however experienced. No need to read into my comments any negative subtext. There is none.
dgob
848 posts
 
Hi Piedpiper, I am a proud owner of the Essential 3150 and have had a chance to compare it with my various former preamp's and phonostages. These include an EAR 324, Audio Research LS25 MKII, Conrad Johnson PS16, Croft classic, and an Atma-sphere MP-3 (among a few other valve and ss models).

I think Groovey's point is valid and that the Essential does not impart any detectable signature of its own. What it does above other models is provide an optimum platform for the recorded source to flow through with an unbelievable degree of accuracy. This includes accuracy in timbre, pace, pitch, soundstage (width and depth), frequency extremes (top and bottom), midrange, dynamics and all against an unplumbably low soundfloor.

It might even seem to be an anti-hifi piece of equipment to the extent that it removes the numerous colourations that are inherent to much hifi and leaves only the musicians and their performances before the listener. This meant that it took me more time to get used to - with me having been unknowingly led by the industry and its champion's to an appreciation of the sound of different pieces of hardware.

Although I do not think it unacceptable that the more coloured and traditional approaches to performance can satisfy and provide a pleasurable listening experience, the Essential is indubitably something else. I believe (and he might strongly resent my assumptions) that this form of musical portrayal is what underpins Raul's many comments on valve amp's and his preferences for specific cartridges (Allaerts MC2), cables (Anaylsis Plus Silver), etc. It also underpins (IMHO) his emphasis on live performances as the true reference for hifi.

As I say, I think it has no signature or colourations and is only limited by the quality of the equipment that you select to accompany it. In this sense, it might be difficult to compare it to other pieces of equipment but I hope that my personal account is of some use and that more people have a chance to give the Essential a go: it really seems a phenomenal piece of equipment to me.

Kindest
piedpiper
753 posts
 
Thanks Dgob; all the more reason to hear more specific comparisons to known references so I can know what you mean. Of course, trying the piece out, alongside others, in my own system would trump all words. In lieu of that...
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