I would ask Paul if he would build you one like that. Only he can answer that question.
TRL Dude or Joule 150 MKII for Major Pre Upgrade
Thinking of either of these for what I view as a huge pre upgrade in my system. Current system is:
-Celestion A3
-Krell KAV250a (500 wpc/4 ohms).
-Nohr CD-1
-Rotel 995 preamp
I am looking to pickup warmth, depth and much more soundstage. Quality bass is also important to me. I want to keep the Celestions and feel that my current pre is the weakest link. Will also will update my digital source and ss amp down the road.
My thinking is that it will be worth paying up a bit for a higher quality pre that I can grow into.
Also I have a small naive question...with either of these pre amps will the sound difference be that great compared to the Rotel.
Thanks...any comments are appreciated.
-Iggy
-Celestion A3
-Krell KAV250a (500 wpc/4 ohms).
-Nohr CD-1
-Rotel 995 preamp
I am looking to pickup warmth, depth and much more soundstage. Quality bass is also important to me. I want to keep the Celestions and feel that my current pre is the weakest link. Will also will update my digital source and ss amp down the road.
My thinking is that it will be worth paying up a bit for a higher quality pre that I can grow into.
Also I have a small naive question...with either of these pre amps will the sound difference be that great compared to the Rotel.
Thanks...any comments are appreciated.
-Iggy
- ...
- 102 posts total
I sadly passed on a "like new" Dude this week because I couldn't make the high output impedance work with my amps. Although the amps have 100K ohm input impedance, they have balanced inputs only. I have to use transformers to convert rca to XLR since using a basic rca/XLR adaptor causes hum. The transformers have an input impedance of only 23K ohms, which would not work with the Dude. I will need a balanced version if I want to try one, or own one. I would like the opportunity to see and hear one sometime before taking the plunge to purchase one. |
Mitch2, as much as I think you should be buying my preamp :) instead of the Dude, I am sure the Dude can work with your amplifier. The problem is that the adapters you were using were not wired right. The problem is that pin 3 of the XLR was left floating, allowing the amp to buzz of hum. Cardas adapters are often wired this way. Its easy to fix- you just connect pin 3 to pin 1 and you're all set. |
Tim (Mitch2), Ralph's comment that pin 3 should be grounded when adapting to an XLR input using a simple RCA-to-XLR adapter is of course correct. I would add that the 23.5K nominal input impedance of your Jensen PI-RX transformers is specified based on a 20K load being connected across its secondary. See the datasheet. With a 100K load I would expect its input impedance to be, as a rough approximation, more like 100K! A separate question would be how well the transformer will perform when loaded with 100K and driven by the Dude's output impedance (I don't know what that is). I note that the datasheet indicates a maximum allowable load of infinity ohms, but a maximum allowable source impedance of 2K. A conversation with Jensen would seem to be in order on that question. An ideal transformer (which of course is something that does not exist) having a turns ratio of one-to-one will present an input impedance identical to the load impedance that is connected across its secondary (output) winding. Best regards, -- Al |
- 102 posts total