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Best preamp for Symphonic Line RG4 MK4

Hello,

I have monoblocks SL RG4 MK4, and I use right now pre from Naim 252 with Supercap2, Naim DAC and Rockna wavequest as transport, Sonus Faber Cremona M, speaker cable is Kimber KS3033 and interconnect only Neotech 3101. When I bought Naim pre I was very happy, sound of Naim on SL it was nice, but with time something trouble me, I need more detail, more transparency, more bright. As we know Naim give a little darkness and I want to change the pre.

Please tell me best choice in this case. I just looking about CAT SL1 but I can not find this products. Also many people told me that Jadis pre can be one of the best choice.

What do you think ?
Regards
Razvan
razvanvrs
talk2me's avatar
talk2me
325 posts
 
I had a SL RG1 MK3 many years ago. I used a modified Klimo Merlin preamp to great success.
rfogel8's avatar
rfogel8
192 posts
 
I've owned an RG-1, RG-7 and finally RG-4's. I used Cat's with all of them and there's a nice synergy. For the money, the Cat is hard to beat. My favorite was the Sig. Mk 2 which used 12AU7's in the line rather than 6922's.

I owned Cat Sig. Mk 1, Sig, Mk 2, Sig. Mk 3, Ultimate 1, and finally Ultimate 2; all with phono. After the Symphonic Line's, I went with CJ Premier 12's(OK but not that great) then VTL 250 monos(very nice).

I'm now running Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk3 with phono and MA-1 Mk3 monos and I'm done looking. The MA-1's are wonderful; way more believable than anything I've had previously but the MP-1 preamp is the key to it all. It totally outclasses any of the CAT's or anything else I've heard. Waaay more refined, smoother, cleaner and just plain more believable.

I liked the Sym. Line gear a lot but you'll never get that 3-D organic sound that tubes provide. If you want that flesh on the bones sound, you'll have to go all tubes. If you want to stick with the RG-4's, I'd look for a good used MP-1 pre which would be a nice compromise.

Just my 2 cents!
pani
1,219 posts
 
Rfogel8, that was an informative post. I too use S-L RG1 MK4.
Have you heard the Symphonic Line preamps ? How do they compare to CAT and Atmasphere ?

One more question out of curiosity, Symphonic Line users mostly use difficult to drive speakers (Dynaudio, B&W, Apogee), I personally use ATC SCM40, do you think 60 - 100 watt OTL amp from Atmasphere can drive these kind of speakers well ? Or do we have to change our speakers to match these amps ?
jwm
918 posts
 
Rfogel8's brother had the Symphonic Line RG-4's and tried the Symphonic Line Preamp. We thought the sound was very good, but the gain on the volume control was way too high. One little click from 0 and you were blasted with sound. No question the CAT is a way better preamp. Its always a good thing to have tubes somewhere in the chain. I personally think once you go all tube even the amp there is no looking back.
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