Hi Breakdown7 ,
the last preamps were the CJ5 and the LP2030
The CJ5 is the more flexible device, here you can roll with tubes and tune the sound according to your wishes on room, speaker, source.
The 2030 is the better of the two devices, closer to the musical truth, but also more expensive and it responds only minimally to the tube roll.

I have them both, and I don't want to miss any of them. They are both great amplifiers for the money and they both play in a league that costs many times more with other manufacturers.

Your thoughts and comments on the preamps are appreciated.

IMO, the LP-2030 is the cream of the crop

I'd love to see a photo of his amp.

Hi Analog Addict,

what kind of rectifier do you use in your phono amp?
Is it a Mercury vapour rectifier? But the blue glow is actually too low for that.

Yes, the LP 2030 is one of the best pre amplifers.
I think he is as wise as the Dalai Lama. He has wisdom.
He plays the right note in every moment. not too quiet, too loud, in the right timbre, with the right intensity and in the perfect position in the room. He can do everything. bass, mids, highs, speed and emotions.
A solo instrument sees in the orchestra in the right position with the right intensity and the perfect size. however, it does not play in the foreground but is perfectly integrated into the overall sound.

He just plays what is available on the record and does not add any sound he stays with the truth.

In some systems he may be too neutral, I love the little guy.

The CJ5 is a fun machine. Like an athlete with muscles, but who also has endurance, intelligence and speed if you have tuned the tubes to your own system.

and you can turn the sound in all possible directions.
More treble, more bass, bigger / smaller space, further forward / back, more speed, more lovely tube sound. Everything can be reached with different tubes.

He builds up the sound action rather from the upper bass and fundamental range.
not quite the truth, but a great sound if everything fits.

Both are best buys for the price, one just more the truth, the other a fun machine with which you can get a lot but not everything from the big LP 2030

Hi Showme,
Just look in the thread, there are some photos of the pre.
or on the Flickr page of Analog Addict

I appreciate the detailed descriptions of Dennis' two most current preamps. I would like to own either of them to use with my 300B-v and will be giving it some thought.

Suppose you must have seen my 5755 phono build on that other audio forum. This build was an experiment using these new little WE tubes we have become so enamored with lately.

I found an old discarded chassis loitering around in the back of the shop, and part of the experiment was how to modify this chassis for this build. This chassis had already been pre drilled and powder coated, so I needed to come up with a way to adapt holes drilled for octal sockets to 9 pin miniatures. I also had a ton of holes that I needed to either fill, or come up with some element of the design that would utilize them.

So, I had a thick piece of copper plate I wound up using for the socket adapters, which also gave me the theme for the cosmetics of the piece. The iron on top of the piece is a pair of big identical chokes, not transformers. There is an 83 Hg rectifier in the build, and that was so that I could add an extra switch and indicator light for the B+ voltage and fill some of those front panel holes.

For those of you that are unaware, an 83 rectifier contains liquid Hg, which must be vaporized in order to allow the gaseous Hg to act as the ionizing agent. This is done by separating the filament voltage from the B+ voltage, in order that they both don't activate when the pre amp is turned on. So the first switch turns on the filaments, which heats/vaporizes the Hg. So you wait 30-60 seconds after turning on the filament, then lift the missile switch cover and fire the B+ voltage, producing a nice little blue flash.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5590c125_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fe00a8f5_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...19bd6c21_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...80068877_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...845f85e6_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cb84dbf3_b.jpgUntitled by analog addict, on Flickr



Anyway, Dennis likes the sound, and may some day build a 5755 or even a 396a phono pre amp, but right now he is finishing out the first of the official Inspire phono pre amps. I should have some pix by this time tomorrow. And if you like the blue glow, I have another planned experiment waiting in the wings using a pair of 816 Hg rectifiers, which will really light up the night

Thanks for the info.
other forum? no I saw the photos on your flickr page.

nice experiment. I have only seen hg rectifiers once in an extremely expensive amplifier by Thomas Mayer, but they lit up as intensively as the 01A, only blue.

Dennis' new phono station is ready?.... I'm curious.

PS
Beautiful photos

You are prolly thinking of this tube the 816, or its big brother the 866.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YgqnxO0dbo...s1600/main.jpg


I have a couple of 816s that are supposed to go into my next amp build…