still-one
Active member
- Thread Author
- #1
I have been fortunate to have one of Dan D’Agostino’s just released Momentum pre-amplifiers in my system for a week now. My dealer graciously allowed me take home this brand new, never opened unit and see if it would sound as good as the demo I attended at the Paragon event last November.
Set-up
Many of you know my current set-up consists of Wilson Alexandria X2 Series 2 speakers, Momentum mono block amps, Meridian 808.3 acting as a CD player, endpoint for my MDMS (aka SooLoss), Dac for my SonoS , MS-300 and pre-amp for my connected Pro-Ject Phono Box RS. Speaker cable is Transparent Opus, interconnects are Transparent Reference MM2 and power cables are Reference Powerlink MM2x. Each amp has it own dedicated 20 amp circuit while all sources share another dedicated 20 amp circuit.
I disconnected the Transparent Reference LowZ interconnect from the Meridian to the amps and connected that to the Momentum pre-amp then I entered the set-up menu on the Meridian and switched the output from variable to fixed . I then inserted the Momentum pre-amp using my Reference HiZ interconnect between the pre-amp and amps. Since I only had a one meter interconnect I had to place the pre-amp in close proximity to the amps. Unfortunately I did not have a dedicated outlet available for the pre-map so it shared the line with non-dedicated lines in my room.
I guess I was too excited to get going and forgot to take a photo of the unit before I removed it from its flight case. The first photo below shows the inside of the case. The second photo shows the repackaged unit ready for return.

As many of you are aware this is a two-piece unit with the dedicated aluminum stand that also functions as the power supply. The next two photos show the top and back of the power supply. The included cable connects the two units together.

If you like the casework of the Momentum amps you will probably like the looks of the pre-amp. In my opinion the final design is much nicer than photos I had seen of early prototypes . All of the Momentum series are rectangular in shape. The amps were designed with the shorter side facing towards the front. Like the unit I saw in November the final version of the pre-amp has the long side of the rectangle facing forwards. If I remember Dan’s comments correctly this allowed him to optimize the signal path and so that the front controls would not appear crowded. See photo 5
Continued in POST #3
Set-up
Many of you know my current set-up consists of Wilson Alexandria X2 Series 2 speakers, Momentum mono block amps, Meridian 808.3 acting as a CD player, endpoint for my MDMS (aka SooLoss), Dac for my SonoS , MS-300 and pre-amp for my connected Pro-Ject Phono Box RS. Speaker cable is Transparent Opus, interconnects are Transparent Reference MM2 and power cables are Reference Powerlink MM2x. Each amp has it own dedicated 20 amp circuit while all sources share another dedicated 20 amp circuit.
I disconnected the Transparent Reference LowZ interconnect from the Meridian to the amps and connected that to the Momentum pre-amp then I entered the set-up menu on the Meridian and switched the output from variable to fixed . I then inserted the Momentum pre-amp using my Reference HiZ interconnect between the pre-amp and amps. Since I only had a one meter interconnect I had to place the pre-amp in close proximity to the amps. Unfortunately I did not have a dedicated outlet available for the pre-map so it shared the line with non-dedicated lines in my room.
I guess I was too excited to get going and forgot to take a photo of the unit before I removed it from its flight case. The first photo below shows the inside of the case. The second photo shows the repackaged unit ready for return.


As many of you are aware this is a two-piece unit with the dedicated aluminum stand that also functions as the power supply. The next two photos show the top and back of the power supply. The included cable connects the two units together.


If you like the casework of the Momentum amps you will probably like the looks of the pre-amp. In my opinion the final design is much nicer than photos I had seen of early prototypes . All of the Momentum series are rectangular in shape. The amps were designed with the shorter side facing towards the front. Like the unit I saw in November the final version of the pre-amp has the long side of the rectangle facing forwards. If I remember Dan’s comments correctly this allowed him to optimize the signal path and so that the front controls would not appear crowded. See photo 5

Continued in POST #3
Last edited: