Joule Electra LA-150 MK3 vs MK2?

"This implies that the Joule Electra Marianne Memorial Edition preamp might be performing something like equalization. Perhaps you simply prefer this equalization to a more truthful presentation."

There is no question that adding any component to a particular system will change the sound, so that will be the case for any audio system. One can also ask these questions: Are the new speakers equalizing or simply passing through the signal? Does the signal need to be corrected, re-timed perhaps? I don't know.

Also, there have been many others who connect a DAC or phono preamp directly to amplifiers and they report that the straight connection to the amps lacks life, etc.

I'm very familiar with equalizers. I'm also very familiar with recording studios. I also know very well what live music sounds like. This preamp simply sounds like live music, which in my opinion is the truthful presentation. BTW, I'm not the only one hearing live music with this preamp. So maybe this preamp is de-equalizing?

I've heard systems costing 100K - 150K that don't sound like live music, but they sound great in the hi-fi sense. Some may just prefer this to live music and they are very happy with it.

Best,

iSanchez

Hello Rafael,

So far, everybody (mostly classical professional musicians) who has listen to my system says the same thing: it's like the musicians are here!!!

Best,

iSanchez

Yes, particularly with MapleShade or other high-end recordings, I hear the same thing - that it sounds live. I even had someone say once that 'it sounded better than live' and at first I was offended in an odd way - it made me think that person didn't understand anything about audio, because 'live' is the ultimate. Eventually, I think I figured out what he meant - had to do with the room. If those 5 musicians were in my living room it would have sounded much worse as we would have been sitting 2 inches from their noses, I was replicating to some extent the space they recorded in, much larger than my puny room, so the room sounded larger and more natural than my actual room.

Its actually funny - the reviews mentioned above sound exactly like what I hear... Perhaps it is similar, but 'more so' for the extra 12 - 15k. Any of you with this pre-amp in California, or northern California? It would be interesting to listen, and I would invite anyone over as well. Send me a message through Audiogon if interested...

Oh - and agreed with the pre vs non-pre. I ran without a pre for years before the Supratek. Its more than acting like an equalizer, they handle voltage increases better than the small pre that comes in CD players. Remember, everthing has some sort of pre, as what 'pre' really means is increasing voltage to some level, even if that level is 2 or 2.14 or 2.4 volts. Except of course passive pre's, which only reduce voltage. So, with an active pre, during loud passages they are better at getting increases in voltage quickly than their small equivalents in source equipment. There are other things that improve with a pre and I don't know why all of them work, but dynamics are improved along the above comments.

iSanches - same speakers, we could have a great comparo but probably you live on East Coast or something :)...

Oh - and my sub gets less and less use as well. Those 3.6s go really really deep after a long break-in period...

It would also be interesting to see what our systems compare like in terms of amps. I am running the 3.6s with 60 watts. You are using something like 800 or 1600 depending on how we count monoblocks. The thing is, I have 60 (well, okay, 90 at 4 ohms) watts from Nelson Pass, and his watts are different than everyone else's watts. I don't feel any lack of slam! On Shostakovitch's 8th on the quick blasts I can easily get to 110/115 db (read from meter, not estimated) without distortion I can tell/hear. (Like I said Nelson watts aren't normal. Try that with a 90 watt Sony or even NAD amplifier!) But it would be fun to hear your system and see what 800 watts sounds like :)...

But I digress - this is a pre-amp thread.

Hello Lightminer,

Two points.

1 - The perceived loudness or even measured peak sound pressure does not depend on nominal power you quoted but only on the headroom which is peak power over the duration amplifier power supplies can hold it. If you measured, say 115 dB then knowing the distance from the speaker to the place of the measurement as well as sensitivity of your speakers (at this frequency) is very easy to calculate the power your amplifier generated during this measurement. There is no magic here whatsoever.

2 "without distortion I can tell/hear" - distortion which you can clearly tell or clearly hear is of HUGE magnitude (at very best more then 1%). Much more dangerous are distortions which only your inner old so called "reptilian" brain detect and it gives some signals to your cortex that "something wrong here. Don;'t know what, don;t care but something is not right". Cortex perceived it as slight or substantial discomfort and its called listener fatigue.

A few months ago, I published an article in EnjoyTheMusic describing challenges of faithful music peak reproduction and if you wish I can send it to you.

What iSancez and other owners of LA-300ME are saying, as I understand, is that Joule-Electra LA-300ME preamp re-creates musical crescendo without (or minimum) of subtle distortions leading to much more realistic experience of listening to "preprocessed, recorded" music.

Thank you