Folks,
I used a Morrison for 2 years. At $800 new it is a bargain. I have compared it against a lot of preamplifiers.
I challenge anyone who can name a high end preamp for less than 2 times it's price that is better. I'd like to hear from folks that have actually compared this unit to others. AND NOT FROM FOLKS WHO HAVE NEVER EVEN SEEN THIS UNIT IN PERSON. I have compared against Krell, Aragon, Acurus, Monarchy, Classe, and many great passives, and I thought the Morrison was a better unit. I only recently sold my Morrison because I needed more inputs and I wanted to combine my HT and 2 channel seup (in the future). I replaced the Morrison with a SF3SE preamp ($6k retail). The SF3SE is a better preamp... ofc it is more than 7 times the Morrison new.
The only (SS) preamp that I know of that may compete with it (That is less than $1600 retail) is the ADCOM GFP-750 for around $1200. Anyway, I have not heard the Adcom, so I have no opinion about it. Although a friend of mine (who has forgotten more about high end audio than I could ever hope to know) swears by this piece. I trust his judgement ehough to mention it here. It receives rave reviews; however, Adcom does advertise A LOT.
It seems remarkably difficult for companies to do great preamplification for less than $2k. Go figure...
The question I have is: Have you heard an ELAD, ANYONE?
You may not believe some of the stuff Don preaches (I sure do not buy into some of what he says... he acts more fanatical audio than I do about 6 pin I2S [do not get me started]), but I still think he makes a killer preamp for a mere $800.
If you have heard the ELAD that is one thing. If not... please make that clear. Folks that comment on gear that they have not heard... well they should be taken with a grain of perspective salt (as should everyone else).
Anyway, the guy who effectively bought my Morrison conceeded that it beat his Classe CP-45 ($1800 retail) preamp hands down. I told him that I had supreme confidence it would.
Always let your own ears be the judge.
Peace.
Keith
'not a shill'