2. amps-preamps
  3. 1311549533

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
timlub
2,044 posts
 
Remotes have never been a deal breaker for me.... until I found a few different nice sounding pre's with a remote...
Deal has been broken
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
07-25-11: Peterayer
I'm with Albert Porter. Sound quality first, convenience second.
No kidding. You are not going to buy a preamp if it sounds like crap with or without a remote. if a remote is important to you, probably have to fork out more $$ but I BELIEVE you can find one that meets your standards.

I don't understand if the remote is designed outside of the signal path ... basically a motor turning the volume knob, how is it inferior to an unit without a remote?
rockadanny
1,236 posts
 
No pre remote so I use CDP remote PAUSE in place of remote pre mute button. I don't want the music to proceed without hearing it anyway. So PAUSE works better for me than a mute button.
cajunpepe
255 posts
 
In a word...yes
suteetat
435 posts
 
Remote is a big plus but not quite a deal breaker for me. For the last 20 years, my stero has never been without remote (Krell KRC2 pre, Krell integrated, ARC Ref3, ASR integrated) but recently I switched to all Lamm system with Lamm 2L Reference. I suppose I miss remote control quite a bit but not that badly. The improvement in sound over what I had last certainly was well worth the annoyance. If I come across a remote pre that at least sounds as good as Lamm pre in an all Lamm system, I certainly would be tempted to switch if my budget would allow but I certainly would not accept a remote pre that has inferior sound.
More to discover