Solid State Preamp Reviews

Analog sources in my large room included the Fanfare FT-1 and Magnum Dynalab Etude tuners; VPI TNT Jr. turntable with Power Line Conditioner, tripod pulley system, and an outboard flywheel on a Bright Star base mounted with the Graham 1.5-T and Clearaudio/Souther TQ-1 tonearms. The VPI HW-19 Mk.IV with Stand-Alone Motor Assembly on a Bright Star J-7 base mounted with a Clearaudio/Souther TQ-1 resides in my small room. Cartridges included the van den Hul MC-1 Super, Dynavector XX-1L low-output MC, Benz L04, Fidelity Research/van den Hul FR-1, Denon 103/van den Hul, and a Denon S-1.

Digital front-ends consisted of a PS Audio Lambda CD transport, Musical Design CD-2 player, and Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT recorder connected via coaxial, TosLink, and AT&T optical connectors to one of two EAD DSP-7000 Series 3 D/As.

Other preamps in house were the Pass Aleph P, Audio Research LS5 Mk.II, and Boulder L5-AE line-level, and Vendetta SCP-2C, Naim moving-coil phono preamp with HICAP supply, and Michael Yee PFE-1 phono preamps. Power amps were the Boulder 250-AE, Boulder 500-AE, Rowland Research Model 6, and Pass Aleph 0. Since the T2 is a balanced differential design, I used the balanced inputs and outputs for all critical listening.

Speakers were Apogee Full-Ranges with the Bryston 10B crossover in my large room, and the Avalon Eclipses in my small room. Interconnects included Straight Wire Virtuoso, AudioQuest Diamond, Synergistic Research Kaleidoscope (balanced), and Esoteric Artus and Wireworld Eclipse, the last two both balanced and single-ended. Speaker cables used were Dunlavy Labs DLZ-8 with the Apogees, and Synergistic Research Signature 2 and 3 with the Avalons, all in 8' lengths.

Digital cables used were Mod Squad Wonderlink 1 and Audio Magic Sorcerer coaxial, AudioQuest and Sony TosLink, and Parasound ST fiberoptic with EIAJ connections. Other accessories included RoomTunes CornerTunes, EchoTunes, and Ceiling Clouds, Acoustic Sciences Tube Traps and Shadow Casters (in the small room), Arcici Levitation stand (in the large room), RoomTunes JustaRack, Arcici Superstructure 2, Soundstyle X053, and Billy Bags amp stands, with all major components on Bright Star Audio Big Rock bases and Little Rock top plates (in the small room), Sumiko FB-1 Fluxbuster, The Original Cable Jackets, Music and Sound ferrite beads, AudioQuest ferrite clamps, NoiseTrapper power strip, Synergistic Research power cords, TARA Labs RSC master power cords (with Pass Aleph 0), Coherent Systems EAU-1 Electroclear AC-line conditioner, AudioQuest record brush, Gryphon Exorcist system demagnetizer, Nitty Gritty record-cleaning machine, Radio Shack sound-pressure–level meter, Kleenmaster Brillianize CD cleaner, and How to Avoid Foreclosure, by Laurence Adams.—Steven Stone