Tube Preamp Reviews

Audible Illusions Modulus preamplifier Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Stereo vacuum tube preamplifier. Inputs for moving-magnet phono (MM), Aux, and Tape. Mute switch, remote power supply. Separate volume controls for each channel, no balance control.
Price: $450 (1984); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Audible Illusions, San Jose, CA 95126 (1984). Distributor: Apax Marketing, Castro Valley, CA 94546. (1984); Audible Illusions, PO Box 2537, Daytona Beach, FL 32115. Tel: (386) 676-2004. Fax: (386) 676-0042. Web: www.audibleillusions.com.

COMPANY INFO
Audible Illusions
PO Box 2537
Daytona Beach, FL 32115
(386) 676-2004
www.audibleillusions.com
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
spacehound's picture
Submitted by spacehound on June 29, 2018 - 1:47am

Different makes of thirty year old poor quality preamps might find a match with different makes of thirty year old poor quality loudspeakers.

Yawn.

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on June 29, 2018 - 4:16am

So, proof that two negatives make a positive (or not) ..........

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on June 29, 2018 - 4:48am

Two positives can make a negative .... "yeah, right!"

So, a man calls a talk show and asks the host "What's the difference between ignorance and apathy?"
And the host says "I don't know and I don't care", and he hangs up the phone.

cgh's picture
Submitted by cgh on June 30, 2018 - 12:57pm

"Two positives can make a negative .... "yeah, right!""

They can if they are imaginary.

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on June 30, 2018 - 3:51pm

Square root of -1. It is imaginary, but it has very real application in math.

My "yeah, right" is an English idiom - it's said sarcastically with 2 words that are each positive, but said together with sarcasm do make a negative.

cgh's picture
Submitted by cgh on June 30, 2018 - 4:02pm

Very good! I missed that on the first pass.

Maybe even three rights make a wrong for quaternions...

ok's picture
Submitted by ok on July 1, 2018 - 2:37am

..a whole lotta rights and wrongs to make the actual thing finally alright – it also takes a busload of intuition and pure luck!

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on July 1, 2018 - 5:05am

Intelligent politician ........ Is that two positives making a negative? ...........

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 1, 2018 - 5:39am

Why, yes! You have solved the equation!

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on July 1, 2018 - 7:36am

BTW .... AudioStream website has a recent article written by HR about tubes ......... Interesting article (with interesting comments) ...............

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 1, 2018 - 1:06pm

THIS is the comment of all comments, from that discussion:

"I have had 2 major wow moments/revelations in the 30+ years I have been chasing better sound:
-> Hearing single point source speakers, and being blown away by the coherence.
-> Hearing a tube amp for the first time, and realizing that no SS amp will do anymore.
Tubes (especially single ended DHT) just sound more real to me. I don't care if its a trick or illusion."

And I concur...

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on June 29, 2018 - 4:49am

BTW, not to disagree with the other guy, but there are important lessons to be learned of history, even audio history.

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on June 29, 2018 - 5:05am

True ..... We should learn from history and not repeat the same mistakes ........

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on June 30, 2018 - 5:38pm

I was a Dealer that carried the Audible Illusion Preamp.

My experience is that it was a remarkably musical device.

I loved and still love the Audible Illusion stuff.

It's because of the "great" tubes that Art Ferris was supplying.

I was also a Full Line(s) Conrad-Johnson Dealer with "2 to Go and one to Show" of all their product line. Today, I'll own one of these Modulus Preamps and not bother with those CJs.

---- It all rides on great Glass! ----

I heard a Schiit Valhalla 2 with superb Russian Glass and was again delighted with what Tubes can do.

But, I still like Solid State Gear.

Audible Illusions is great gear. ( JA kinda says that tubes are like equalizers ) Hmmmm.

Tony in Sweltering Michigan

ps. ...and worried about a Trade War, dam it!

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 1, 2018 - 2:45pm

There's no trade war, Tony.

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on July 1, 2018 - 3:59pm

Just war of words? ..............

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 1, 2018 - 5:39pm

There's no war at all. People, and this includes audiophiles, are usually afraid of change. We've been discussing tubes a lot, and we see audiophiles having an almost palpable fear of tubes, as though they'd wake up one day and solid state would evaporate, leaving only the dreaded tubes to amplify their audio. So in a weird kind of irony, it's a fear of the past as well as the future. I just don't understand the dread - even though I don't have a tube amp at the moment, I'm ready to buy one when it strikes my fancy. Perhaps some of our audiophiles are afraid that if we don't make tubes in the U.S., the supply could get cut off or become too expensive with tariffs. It ain't gonna happen. Don't worry, be happy.

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on July 2, 2018 - 9:02am

Like "the rent is too damn high", the tariffs on imported tubes could be "too damn high"? :-) ............

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 2, 2018 - 9:20am

It's a non-issue because the contentiousness is fake. Nobody cares about tubes. They do care a lot about very small solid state devices, because those are used in security applications. Even with the tiny solid state devices, there's no real issue there anyway because of the small cost. The contentiousness is about big money. Now why any audiophile would feel that they understand the nuances of international trade deals is beyond me - makes no sense.

Bogolu Haranath's picture
Submitted by Bogolu Haranath on July 2, 2018 - 9:43am

I was Just Joking :-) ............

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 2, 2018 - 11:29am

I knew that.

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on July 2, 2018 - 11:00am

is he giving the anger people the finger? ( like in the video )

Anger about the Top 1% reaping GIGANTIC rewards for being born into wealth or in a wealthy ( lucky ) place will eventually accumulate into a Bastille Day. It's the Economic Rule stating : when the top 10% of the population own 90% of the Assets, Blood will flow.

Overall, the top wealth people will turn our children into the low paid servants of their children, result yielding anger. An anger that manifests itself in anger over some Analog Guru wannabe touting $10,000 Phono Cartridges and saying things like a $200,000 Wilson speaker fills a "gaping hole" in the Product Line.

We Middle class have been loosing Pay grades for 20 years now ( maybe even longer ).

Stereophile brandishing High Priced Audio is Hubris to folks that struggle to pay rent or own a necessary Car and iPhone.

Show pricy stuff for the Rich, expect anger.

Tony in Michigan

dalethorn's picture
Submitted by dalethorn on July 2, 2018 - 11:30am

We the hard working middle class are more angry at the socialist class, and there will be a reckoning. Count on it.

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