Audio Mirror Pre-amp

Vlad is a super guy, providing excellent service.
I had an issue with one of my amps and sent it in.
Vlad quickly repaired it and returned it "no Charge".
I purchased the amps used from a friend and they were not under warranty.
I very much appreciated his fast service but felt that he was short changing himself. If a company does not charge/make enough to stay in business they will perish.
I made a payment to him for what I thought was a reasonable amount.
Rest assured you are dealing with a man of integrity.
 
Randy, glad to hear it was something simple for Vlad to discover and fix so quickly. Hopefully it gets back to you safely and you can finally enjoy your preamp.
 
I did not ask him about specifics. Probably should. His e-mail mentioned something about the input selector, but I do not have access to that at the moment. I think I will ask him if he has any idea of what caused the issue and if there is anything I should do to guard against its recurrence.
 
jadedavid said:
Vlad is a super guy, providing excellent service.
I had an issue with one of my amps and sent it in.
Vlad quickly repaired it and returned it "no Charge".
I purchased the amps used from a friend and they were not under warranty.
I very much appreciated his fast service but felt that he was short changing himself. If a company does not charge/make enough to stay in business they will perish.
I made a payment to him for what I thought was a reasonable amount.
Rest assured you are dealing with a man of integrity.
Click to expand...

Good story. It’s refreshing to hear stories like this as opposed to people that look for anything to charge you however they can.

Kudos to you as well for treating Vlad right.
 
Mr Peabody said:
Did he say what the issue was or what caused it?
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Vlad replied on what happened to the pre-amp:
"One of the relays internally shorted to ground the signal on one of the channels. This is something you can not measure or predict. It is very rare though."

He is also putting some isolator feet on the unit before sending it back. Should be sent in the next day or so!
 
Randy Myers said:
Vlad replied on what happened to the pre-amp:
"One of the relays internally shorted to ground the signal on one of the channels. This is something you can not measure or predict. It is very rare though."

He is also putting some isolator feet on the unit before sending it back. Should be sent in the next day or so!
Click to expand...

Awesome Randy can't wait to hear your impressions.
 
Well just got an email form Vlad. The pre-amplifier is being shipped. I am looking forward to finally getting a chance to listen to it!
 
The pre-amp did arrive, although FedEx was two hours late so I had to drive back to work after hours to pick it up. Oh well... it is what it is....

Unfortunately there are issues with the unit. Quite a bit of noise, a slight hum, but louder mid-range static, and hi frequency swirling sound. Noticeable from across the room, especially when listening at low volume.

But even worse is my digital has a very heavy static sound whenever it is playing. I tried different inputs, cables, with and without the Recovery (much worse without). Basically unacceptable. I hooked the T+A back to the amps and all sounds fantastic. I never had an issue with any other pre-amp :(.

I have wrote Vlad describing the issues. I told him that I thank him for his efforts, and I still highly recommend his amplifiers, but this pre-amp will not work :(. I am waiting to hear back from him.

Unfortunately, this is the lowest priced piece that I have gotten but it has been by far the biggest hassle.
 
Randy Myers said:
The pre-amp did arrive, although FedEx was two hours late so I had to drive back to work after hours to pick it up. Oh well... it is what it is....

Unfortunately there are issues with the unit. Quite a bit of noise, a slight hum, but louder mid-range static, and hi frequency swirling sound. Noticeable from across the room, especially when listening at low volume.

But even worse is my digital has a very heavy static sound whenever it is playing. I tried different inputs, cables, with and without the Recovery (much worse without). Basically unacceptable. I hooked the T+A back to the amps and all sounds fantastic. I never had an issue with any other pre-amp :(.

I have wrote Vlad describing the issues. I told him that I thank him for his efforts, and I still highly recommend his amplifiers, but this pre-amp will not work :(. I am waiting to hear back from him.

Unfortunately, this is the lowest priced piece that I have gotten but it has been by far the biggest hassle.
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Damn thats not good. Darn Bummer for sure.
 
Yea, what can you do... Now I have to decide what to do. I may just keep using the T+A because it is rated to have a pretty good pre-amp section. I mainly play my music server, rarely spinning a disk because I rip all before ever listening to them :)... I can listen to the tuner through an inexpensive ADC going to the DAC through Coax input. It works fine for radio :)...

But I was really hoping that a nice pre-amp would add flexibility and take the sound to a higher level still :)...

I do have a couple very nice RCA cables I picked up because the pre-amp is SE only. So they are back in their boxes... I can use them if I decide to try the Dennis Had as a pre-amp again... but dang, they cost more then the T-61 pre did :)... Wireworld Eclipse 5 1M and Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7 1.5M...
 
Randy Myers said:
Yea, what can you do... Now I have to decide what to do. I may just keep using the T+A because it is rated to have a pretty good pre-amp section. I mainly play my music server, rarely spinning a disk because I rip all before ever listening to them :)... I can listen to the tuner through an inexpensive ADC going to the DAC through Coax input. It works fine for radio :)...

But I was really hoping that a nice pre-amp would add flexibility and take the sound to a higher level still :)...

I do have a couple very nice RCA cables I picked up because the pre-amp is SE only. So they are back in their boxes... I can use them if I decide to try the Dennis Had as a pre-amp again... but dang, they cost more then the T-61 pre did :)... Wireworld Eclipse 5 1M and Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7 1.5M...
Click to expand...

Thats why I have always hung on to my W4S pre-, its dead neutral and works nice with almost anything and has the inputs. But I know ya want tubes :)
 
Sorry to hear the Pre did not work out for you. I guess you never know. When my friend brought over his Atma-Sphere UV-1 preamp the other day, it did not play nice with my Luxman DAC. There was a high pitched loud sound when they were connected. And it did not play nice with my Pass amp as there was a lot of noise.

I am planning on buying a Don Sachs custom tube preamp as I stated on previous posts but now I am a bit leery after readng about your experience and mine with the UV-1.

Larry
 
Yea Larry, I am a bit leery about various pre-amps now, but, to be honest, this is the first time I have had a pre not play nice with my DAC, but, I suspect there is something else going on judging from all the other noise, etc.

I hooked the DAC back up to my Dennis Had Dragon Inspire IHA-1 and I do not experience any issues whatsoever.


As a follow up:

Vladimir has already sent me a shipping label to return the unit. I feel very bad that the pre-amp had these issues, but I do have to praise Vlad's customer service handling these issues.

I also want to mention again how much I recommend the Audio Mirror SET 45 amplifiers! In my opinion, these are the best sounding amplifiers I have ever heard in my system, by a long shot. They seem to be solid and built very well. You cannot go wrong with Vlad's amplifiers!
 
This could be a good learning experience for Vlad. You handled this gracefully and so will Vlad once your money is returned. I can feel your hassle and disappointment however.
 
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