Preamp Possibilities

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Originally Posted by thesaint519

Can't wait to hear what your comparison yields.

Thank you. This will, I hope, be enlightening.

I had a change of mind, and decided that since I've used only the Hero with my CD player, I should use that in the comparison. The swapping of connections wasn't as bad (on first try anyway) as I thought, so I'm sticking with the Hero. Connections are made, and the LS3 is hooked up and turned on as I type. Later today I will perhaps play some music through it.

Because of the tight squeeze behind the system I wonder if the King Cobra might not be best to use for the connection to the amps. I can use a pair for each pre and save some time behind the rack (my knee didn't like the position I was in for the length of time I was back there). I'll think about that one.

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I began my comparison between the C2300 and my Audio Research LS3 yesterday. The plan was to do this three times, playing selected tracks on each. The comparison was cut short by the C2300's failure (perhaps a fuse—I'll need to check), but I almost completed the first round. I am not a full-blown audiophile, so the descriptions may seem incomplete.

I used tracks from Wondrous Stories, a prog-rock anthology: Wondrous Stories, Yes; Living in the Past, Jethro Tull; Crime of the Century, Supertramp; Frankenstein, Edgar Winter. Along with these were Fanfare for the Common Man, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; and Slow, Rumer.

First up was the LS3. There was a "hash," "glare," or sense of hardness over the highs with the prog stuff. It seemed the highs were emphasized a bit too much. I suspect the recording has something to do with this, and the LS3 brought out more of what the recording has already. Crime and Frankenstein had good dynamics. The kettle drum in Fanfare had appropriate impact as well, and the aforementioned issues with the highs were less evident, same with Frankenstein. With Slow, I was almost unaware there was a midrange, as the highs and (to a lesser extent) the lows seemed most evident.

On to the C2300. Wondrous and Living were smoother (though not smooth; again, the recording is partly responsible for the glare. I chose less-than-perfect recordings deliberately). Crime had good dynamics also, about the same as the LS3. The preamp failed during this track, so the comparison stopped.

Overall, the C2300 was sounding better. It should be noted I was using JJ ECC803s gold pin tubes in the line stage, and the bass was set to +3dB. The LS3 has no tone controls. Once I get the 2300's problems resolved, I plan to pick this up again.

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UPDATE: So I called my dealer, who suggested the C2300's problem might be a blown fuse. Home Depot has them; he could order it from McIntosh as well. I took the fuse out of the C2300, but it looks perfectly fine. An e-mail went off to McIntosh, who responded today, suggesting I take it to the dealer. So as soon as I can round up transportation the C2300 goes back into the box, to the store and, quite possibly, to McIntosh.

Fortunately, the LS3 is here. I won't be without. This will give the LS3 an opportunity to "break in" again; I suspect some of the brightness (which I don't remember hearing previously) is due to it having been unplugged for several months.

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Today I called a car service and hauled the C2300 in to the store, Lyric Hi-Fi on the upper east side of Manhattan. I packed it in its original box (it pays to keep those when possible) and called a car service, then off I went. The box wasn't necessary as it turned out, but this way they can send it back to me, saving me a trip and the attendant headaches of arranging one. The service center the store uses is in Manhattan also; that should help on the turnaround time. It is agreed generally that the problem is related to the power supply. We'll see what's what.

I intend to connect the most used sources to the LS3 in the meantime. It needs to recharge its juices after being unplugged so long, so here's an opportunity for that. And because I've been on a thread on another forum I have another of those "idea seeds" to contend with: the idea of changing out my ICs to King Cobra. The Hero with WBT 114 connectors costs $59 more for a 2m pair than the KC; ultraplate RCAs are $39 less than the KC. That WBT version used to cost what the RCAs do now. In my setup some of the Hero ICs (all 1.5m) strained to make it to the 2300's terminals. Unless I want to mix brands or try creative system configs, a longer IC or two more will help.

Anyway, this is the rack with the LS3 in and the 2300 out; the ugly magenta thing on the top of the rack is the Wireworld Aurora PC used on the 2300 (like the cord, still don't like the jacket color).

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This was odd.

I turned on the system to watch a DVD earlier this week, and . . . the hum was back. A bit louder than before, I think. Well, I thought, perhaps I should plug the LS3 in the way the 2300 was plugged in, so I moved it from the Furman Elite to the Furman SPR. Still got hum. So I lifted the ground with one of my Conntek adapters (those things are so cool); no hum.

When both preamps were plugged in there was no hum (the 2300 didn't have its ground lifted), so I don't get why there should be hum if the only difference in the setup was the removal of the 2300. It does change the lay of the power cords, maybe that has something to do with it; I don't know. Plus, the LS3 has a captive cord and the 2300 had a WW Aurora on it. But the hum is gone, at least for now.

Anyway, I later played two DVDs, Green Lantern: The Animated Series and one of my reference discs (Yes Live at Montreaux), and noted that, again, with the Yes disc the sound favored the upper end to the point of seeming somewhat harsh (I didn't notice on the GL disc). But with that came more detail and articulation than I remember previously. There is a difference: before I used AQ Black Mamba II on my BD player, whereas I'm now using Kimber Hero. And again, the LS3 lay dormant for over three months; could it need to break in some more? Could it be that the Kimber/2300 combo is a nicer balance of sound? Maybe.

No hum interfered while playing discs, so that was good.

UPDATE: I swapped in AQ King Cobra in place of the Kimber Hero on my BD player this afternoon, and did a quickie test sample. Preliminary conclusion is the KC has more bottom and is a bit less bright/hard on the LS3. Before I go and spend for what is an unnecessary purchase in absolute terms (3 more pairs of KC) I might want to hear/watch other discs, and run the KC with the 2300 when it gets back.

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I just checked in with Lyric Hi-fi not long ago, and was told my 2300 came back from repair about a half-hour prior. The store will ship it to me. My salesman is on vacation and there's no info available on what the problem was, perhaps something will be in the box.

I'm considering a reconfiguration also, a small one to perhaps redistribute gear so I can make better use of the shelves in the middle rack. And I'll probably try my AQ King Cobra with the 2300 to see what happens.

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UPDATE: The C2300 arrived today. I almost missed UPS due to working late. As it was, I ran into the driver a few doors up from me (he'd already been to my building). He put the box on his hand truck and brought it back to my building. That was nice.

I got it upstairs, and after some dark chocolate-covered cashews dealt with my attack of the nibbles, I opened the box. Everything looks fine. But there's no paperwork inside, so I don't know what was wrong specifically or what the repair guys did. But I unboxed it and plugged it in, and it comes on just fine. I think now might be the time to do that reconfig I was thinking about, especially since it's clear I'm not going to go to the gym now. And at the moment, I'm not feeling the LS3 comparison thing, so I might just set up and use some King Cobra to see what happens.

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Sunday night I was watching a gospel DVD, one of the Bill Gaither series. At one point I turned the volume up so the person I was on the phone with could hear a couple of songs. The system sounded AWESOME!!! It was UNBELIEVABLE how good the sound was. The C2300's volume goes up to 100; I had it at 56 at this point; usually I don't go beyond 42. No pain to the ears, it wasn't too loud or hard to listen to; just natural, clean, beautiful sound. I may have to visit the upper volume range more often. And it gave me second thoughts about a proactive replacement of my Mirage M-3sis before retiring in 7 or 8 years, when I would be (presumably) unable to do so.

Despite my LS3 being a bit more dynamic, there was nothing to complain about with what I heard. I could never play the LS3 this loud; I max out at one-third volume with it. I am thinking about changing speaker cables, to either Kimber 12TC or Transparent MusicWave Plus. Maybe one of those would tweak the weight/dynamics issue a bit in a positive direction.

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Two days ago, I replaced the Kimber Hero IC on my CD player with Audioquest King Cobra, which had formerly been my pre-power connection. I then took out a Telarc CD by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Louis Lane conducting; this is the very first CD I ever bought.

The sound seemed a bit darker than I'm used to with the Hero, but the dynamics were satisfying with good weight. I played the same thing last night, same response. The low end had nice detail, and for some reason I don't remember hearing it before. It seemed dark with a few tracks from Wondrous Stories, a prog-rock collection, as well. I will put the Hero back in and repeat the exercise.

What I do see is that I should be able to tweak the sound with ICs or speaker cables to get what I want pretty much, without swapping out preamps. Besides, the 2300 does some nice things I'd rather not give up if I can help it.

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Ok. Until further notice, the Kimber Hero stays. I played a BD last night, another of the DC Comics animated movies: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. The abrupt, low rumble that accompanies the Menu screen tells me that the system (2300 included) will thump when called upon. It would be frightening to contemplate a speaker in here that goes deeper than my Mirages' 30Hz.

So unless the VTL TL-6.5 Signature becomes available suddenly at half-off, the C2300 stays for the foreseeable future.