2. amps-preamps
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Is preamp remote volume a deal breaker for you?

I've been looking for a quality active tube preamp with remote volume control. Most high quality tube preamps that are reasonably priced (ie, under $4000) do not come with remote volume. Those that do use the cheap motorized Alps pot (I've had bad experience with Alps), probably because it's cheap and widely available. I've seen some very expensive preamps us this pot, unfortunately. The two very high quality preamps I've read about are the SAS Labs 11A, Don Allens preamp, and Atma-sphere M3, but the designers refuses to implement remote because they believe the sound will suffer. Atma-sphere uses a huge hand assembled remote volume only for there expensive MP1. A preamp without remote is a deal breaker for me. How about you?
dracule1
james63
534 posts
 
Yes it is a deal breaker, I would never own a pre without a remote.
dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Looks like about half of you have to have a remote. I'm like Realreno, all my music is now on computer server, so you can switch between CDs on the fly. Problem is the recording levels between CDs can be drastic. It's too distracting for me to change the volume level between songs from different CDs and sometimes within the same song when dynamic swings can be very large. Speaking to designers, the volume attenuator seems to be one of the most important components of a preamp, and there just ain't any good commercially available remote volume controls. That's why some designer build their own remotes, but at a significant cost increase. I believe the remote control option on the Atma-sphere MP1 is close to $1000.
sibelius
256 posts
 
While a remote is indeed a nice convenience, I would not sacrafice sound quality for it. I auditioned a lot of preamps and the ones I really liked were the ones by Shindo. All come without a remote and I'm okay with my choice. So no, it's not a deal breaker for me. For 2 channel I'm after the absolute best fidelity I can get so the price I have to pay is getting up to flip records and adjust volume. I'm also getting to be an old fart (45+)so getting off my lazy ass as much as possible is probably better for me anyway as well.
ncarv
983 posts
 
Definitely. Aesthetix & VTL have remotes.
mitch2
4,315 posts
 
I agree the Alps is crap. I had it on a $10k preamp and it just made the whole thing suck. The DACT on my TEAD sounds great. I actually like setting volume then leaving it alone for a given listening circumstance. If I want quiet I just pause or stop my source with its remote. I owned an MP3 with caddock resistors and the VC was very nice there too. The Bent guy has made some motor drives for remote volume on Goldpoint and DACT that you might retrofit if you had room. I see Audio Horizons is now offering a discrete resistor (no remote) volume control as an option on the 2.3. Lamm L2 Reference uses 2 TDK's.
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