It's Time For A New Preamplifier

Jack in Wilmington

Jack in Wilmington

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
196
Location
Wilmington, De.
Well I recently purchased a new headphone amp so I could upgrade to a balanced headphone experience. The trouble is what I thought would work in the connections, sadly did not work. Now my wife has watched me working on this for a month and yesterday she said, and I love when she says this, "What do you need to make it work". What I needed is a preamp with dual input connections. She says, "What is this going to cost" I tell her, mid 4K range. She gives me the green light.

Right now I'm looking at the Bryston BP-17 or the Pass Labs XP-12 (she might go that high) ($5800).

Anything else I should check out? Thanks, Guys
 
I think wifey gave him the green light on a budget of $4500 to $5500. Lots of great options

CPP said:
My Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE has 2 pairs of balanced XLR and 3 pairs of unbalanced (RCA) inputs. Other choices, AR, BAT, Bryston, PASS, Gryphon, Luxman, HATTOR Audio for example . Lot of choices and price ranges out there Jack.
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nc42acc said:
Thank you Jack. Do you need both XLR and RCA inputs and outputs. I just found a great preamp I think I may settle with for awhile so I understand your journey.
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Hi Marty,
I know I need the 2 XLR outputs for my Pass amp and my headphone amp. One RCA input will go from my preamp to my CD player and one to my phono preamp. I may experiment in the future and try the phono preamp connected directly to my preamp.
 
Jack in Wilmington said:
I know I need the 2 XLR outputs for my Pass amp and my headphone amp. One RCA will go to my CD player and one to my phono preamp. I may experiment in the future and try the phono preamp connected directly to my preamp.
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Jack, I'm confused, why would an output from your preamp go to your phono-pre ? should be the other way around as I see it .........
 
Two that come to mind immediately that are both in your price range and have the hookups you desire.

The Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE Stage 2 has great hookup flexibility and is a fine pre-amp.

The second I would recommend because I love mine is the Hattor. Hattor is a passive pre-amp extraordinary performance and add the Tube Active Stage and you are in your budget. A true three box pre-amp with amazing flexibility and a fantastic performer. The top resistor choice (AMRG Trans) version is $1900, the tube active stage is $1900. Arek includes 5 inputs and 4 outputs in any combination of XLR and RCA. I got mine with 3x XLR inputs, 2x RCA inputs, and 2x of each outputs. Also, a really nice full function compact metal remote... both units shipped in flight cases.

Hattor Audio
Hattor Audio
 
I vote for the Pass to get that same brand synergy. I have not heard the XP12 but I loved my XP10.

You might also look at Coda, I believe their entry is around $3k give or take, not sure the in/out array. The 07x is $6k but discounts can sometimes be had, a smaller than normal chassis but the sound quality is far beyond its price. My friend has one that replaced a very capable preamp, the 07x was better by a long shot.
 
Unfortunately the Pass does not offer the multiple XLR outputs that Jack was hoping to get. I totally understand his desires because finding a pre-amp that offers the connections needed with the quality level you are looking for is not always easy. I simply do not understand why many/most pre-amps do not offer a good array of hookups.

I went through the exact same thing. I really wanted at least 2x XLR and 2x RCA outputs. I currently use 2x XLR and 1x RCA in my setup. Not may, especially in the more economical range have enough inputs... I would think 5 should be a minimal... and for my use 3x XLR and 2x RCA was a must.
 
Also take a look at the Atma-sphere MP-3, although it is fully balanced. A friend of mine and a member here has one with a pair of XA-100.5 Pass mono's and it sounds great. I like the pairing of my BAT preamp with my Pass.
 
Mr Peabody said:
I vote for the Pass to get that same brand synergy. I have not heard the XP12 but I loved my XP10.

You might also look at Coda, I believe their entry is around $3k give or take, not sure the in/out array. The 07x is $6k but discounts can sometimes be had, a smaller than normal chassis but the sound quality is far beyond its price. My friend has one that replaced a very capable preamp, the 07x was better by a long shot.
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I have the Coda 07x, and it does have two sets of balanced out. Got mine used for well under the OP's budget, although they don't seem to become available that often.
 
Jack, if I understand correctly you are looking for a preamp that has two pairs of balanced XLR outputs that can simultaneously feed your speaker stereo amplifier and your headphone amplifier. The Bryston BR-20 will do that and is an upgrade in terms of sound quality over the BR-17. The downside is the BR-20 does not have single-ended RCA analog inputs, in case you need that from your source, and you may be paying for other features you don't need.

However, you could also try a XLR female to split XLR male connection, from your Cary SLP-03 to your Pass Labs X150.5 and Burson Soloist 3X. The X150.5 balanced input impedance is 20 kOhms, and the Soloist input impedance is 35 kOhms. So your input impedance in parallel will be ~12.7 kOms. The SLP-03 output impedance is 500 ohms. So your impedance ratio when split will still be approximately 25:1, which should be good enough assuming the manufacturer's specified impedances do not vary widely by frequency.

A splitter adapter or cable will be much less expensive than a new preamp, plus both the Bryston BP-17^3 and BR-20 are going to sound significantly different than your SLP-03 which you may not like. Even if the splitter doesn't work well, it won't have cost much to try.
 
NekoAudio said:
Jack, if I understand correctly you are looking for a preamp that has two pairs of balanced XLR outputs that can simultaneously feed your speaker stereo amplifier and your headphone amplifier. The Bryston BR-20 will do that and is an upgrade in terms of sound quality over the BR-17. The downside is the BR-20 does not have single-ended RCA analog inputs, in case you need that from your source, and you may be paying for other features you don't need.

However, you could also try a XLR female to split XLR male connection, from your Cary SLP-03 to your Pass Labs X150.5 and Burson Soloist 3X. The X150.5 balanced input impedance is 20 kOhms, and the Soloist input impedance is 35 kOhms. So your input impedance in parallel will be ~12.7 kOms. The SLP-03 output impedance is 500 ohms. So your impedance ratio when split will still be approximately 25:1, which should be good enough assuming the manufacturer's specified impedances do not vary widely by frequency.

A splitter adapter or cable will be much less expensive than a new preamp, plus both the Bryston BP-17^3 and BR-20 are going to sound significantly different than your SLP-03 which you may not like. Even if the splitter doesn't work well, it won't have cost much to try.
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Thanks, that's food for thought.
 
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