Quicksilver Full Featured Preamp

[Joseph R.]

Don’t exactly know if this preamp would qualify as “Vintage”, but I bought it in 1992 and it is still going strong. I replaced the output caps with metalized Jantzen Silver/Golds and it now sounds better than new. Througout the years, I have compared it with many, but always returned to my Quicksilver.

I feel kind of sorry that Mike Sanders isn’t taking preamps as seriously as before, but my full featured sounds as high end as ever. Every once in a lifetime I make a good hifi decision. This one was it.

[CPP]

Don’t exactly know if this preamp would qualify as “Vintage”, but I bought it in 1992 and it is still going strong. I replaced the output caps with metalized Jantzen Silver/Golds and it now sounds better than new. Througout the years, I have compared it with many, but always returned to my Quicksilver.

I feel kind of sorry that Mike Sanders isn’t taking preamps as seriously as before, but my full featured sounds as high end as ever. Every once in a lifetime I make a good hifi decision. This one was it.

still have the little Line Stage with remote and its still sounds great. Mike does a nice job. It would be cool if Mike again made a updated version of his full pre.amp
I

[JayNudel]

The guys who run Audio Connection in NJ speak very highly of the Quicksilver pre, and if I have learned anything lately, it's that they know their shit.

[Joseph R.]

I have never heard a Quicksilver piece I didn’t like. Mike Sanders is one of the few manufactures of high end gear that real people can afford. Quicksilver is an oasis in a hifi wasteland.

I am not talking NAD, Wyred4sound, Rotel or Emotiva. These IMHO are midfi. Please don’t take offense as my intention is in earnest. Real affordable high end gear is of the likes of Odyssey Audio, Schiit, “The Clue” (speakers), Clearday Cables and of course Quicksilver. I am hard pressed to think of others. I have also ordered pure silver interconnects and power cables from Mike Sanders. All great stuff at affordable prices. His cheap flexible (made in USA) power cables beat the stock cables from Wadia (much thicker), and other expensive cables in my arsenal. Too bad they are no longer available. I figure Mike is getting near retirement age. Mike don’t fail us now !!! Keep keeping on.

[JayNudel]

Joe and everyone,

Well, I will tell you a slightly interesting story. A few months ago when I decided to get a preamp as part of my upgrade path to Vandy Quatros, I had narrowed it down to a few choices, which ended up being PS Audio's BHK pre, one of the Hegels, Bryston's latest, and the Ayre Kx-5 Twenty. I have a longstanding relationship with PS Audio and had heard the BHK a number of times and loved it, but they designed it without one feature that I just gotta have in my main rig- fixed-level outputs. So I dropped that one from my list, with great reluctance, and asked the Audio Connection people to demo the Ayre for me. When I got there John had set up with vandersteen Treos (my current speaker) and a Rotel power amp, I think the 200wpc model. I will tell ya. I wasn't able to compare it directly to my (current) Hegel amp and didn't want to bother him to swap it out for an Ayre or Bryston just so I could evaluate Rotel, but I have heard those at other times. I'm not saying I would choose the Rotel over any of them - but damn, if I had to live with I definitely could. It was maybe just a little warm and soft, but really, way better than I expected it would be, and by no means did it embarrass itself. I guess we all define for ourselves where mid-fi ends and high end begins, but I was somewhat pleasantly surprised!

[Joseph R.]

Dear Jay and all: I too have very high regard for Rotel. As much as I am past them as a viable product for me, I recommend Rotel to my friends and family. My sister has a largly Rotel system and I enjoy it immensly when I visit her. The build quality is first rate and the reliability is second to none. Last time I was at her house I bought her a pair of Totem Mites and the Rotel gear took off. Totem is another product I highly recommend. Sorry to go so far off topic, but along with Quicksilver there is a small amount of audio products I hold dear.