I'll second the Forte Model 2. Not all that common so doesn't seem to get much love, but a real fine piece of audio gear designed by one of the masters.
Best Vintage Preamp
- Thread starter mcjohnston
- Start date
I love my Kenwood C1, but it's being recapped so it will be some time before I'll have it back.
The Sansui C-2301 would be the Holy Grail for me, although I haven't listened to one.
I did get a C-2101 delivered today. It's the little brother to the C-2301, and it has sleeper status, IMHO. The only C-2301s on the market have a price tag 20x of what I paid for the C-2101.
Love the 3 I have, two are only used with WOPL's
Perreaux SA3
Carver C1
Kenwood Basic C2
Perreaux SA3
Carver C1
Kenwood Basic C2
Willeve146
Well-Known Member
If a phono stage is a top requirement and you are already adding "warmth" to the sound with the tube amp then may I suggest the APT Holman preamp (reworked by Audio Proz; I found it to be very worth the money). The Holman is commonly acknowledged as one of the best phone stages ever and can had in both MC and MM (two phono inputs) if you like. The Holman is a very neutral preamp (often a criticism), but very flexible and a true performer without allot or gimmicky flash. I stopped looking at preamps after I put the Holman in my system; it is (IMO) the journeyman's preamp.
I'm going to upset the apple cart here and recommend the NAD 1020. It did for the preamp world what the 3020 did for the integrated amp world, turned it on its head. It has a very simple design, using all transistors, no op-amps. It is very easy to restore and upgrade, you can put film capacitors in many key locations, and improve the sound quality a lot. You can even go crazy (for not a lot of money) and replace all the resistors with precision metal film types. The phono stage is very sweet sounding. The only real snag is the lack of line-level inputs, and no remote control (which doesn't bother me).
I have personally restored many many of these, and the results are always the same. My customers say stuff like "I can't tell the difference between the NAD and my xxxx brand preamp". Their xxxx brand preamp is often some so-called "high end" piece costing up to, and sometimes more than $1000.
Lee.
I have personally restored many many of these, and the results are always the same. My customers say stuff like "I can't tell the difference between the NAD and my xxxx brand preamp". Their xxxx brand preamp is often some so-called "high end" piece costing up to, and sometimes more than $1000.
Lee.
Don't take my word for it on the NAD 1020, here are some reviews :
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-masterpiece.629827/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/thanks-leesonic.642467/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-gem.643058/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-nad3020-restoration.646499/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-masterpiece.629827/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/thanks-leesonic.642467/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-gem.643058/
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/another-leesonic-nad3020-restoration.646499/
Imo the NAD 1240 was a much better pre than the 1020 that I had. The 1020 had too much bleed thru and never made it to any of my better rigs. The 1240 actually surprised me and did make it to my main rig for a short stint. But both were handily surpassed by my Avionic Yamaha C4. The 1020 was $180 when new and the 1240 was $250. Best vintage pre-amp really doesn't seem a fitting title to either NAD imo.
No offense, but do you realize how this statement is comparing apples to oranges? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're comparing an original condition NAD 1020 or 1240 to a Yamaha C4 restored by Avionic. What do you do for drag racing? Compare a brand new Corvette against a Pinto dragged out of the junkyard?
Lee.
No offense taken sir but by the same token the 1240 was superior to the 1020 (as I mentioned apples to apples) as it did not have the bleed thru that the 1020 had. Imo a good preamp should be quiet and not have any bleed thru from other sources? In it's unrestored state the C4 surpassed both of them (apples to apples again sorry I neglected to mention that) and with the Avionic upgrade it was much more noticeable. I'm sure your upgrades do wonders for the 1020 I'm just mentioning how low the $180 1020 came in on my scale. Like I said I can't see it in the best vintage pre-amp catagory; rebuilt or not
Thankfully "drag racing" isn't one of my hobbies.
Thankfully "drag racing" isn't one of my hobbies.
It's funny. There are four pages on this preamp thread, listing all makes and models of preamps. Yet as soon as someone mentions a NAD product, there is always someone quick to put it down. No-one mentioned the bad glue in Sansui preamps, or the dry joints on the power supply transistors in Yamaha preamps? Why is this? Is there some sort of bias against NAD equipment because it's not make in 'Merica? Last time I looked, they used to list their location as Boston/London, and had their stuff manufactured in the Far East (Japan, Taiwan, and China).
The thread title says "best vintage preamp", not "best vintage preamp over $1000" or "best vintage preamp under $300". So there are bound to be a few pieces costing more than the next one. I provided four links to people that have had good results with this little preamp, I could list many more. There's even a listing right now (early December, 2015 for archive sake) on eBay for a 3020 that references the work I've been doing on these, surely that's no co-incidence?
Maybe it has a bleed-through problem? I personally only have one source turned on at a time, if I'm listening to CDs, I turn the CD player on. Not sure what the advantage is of having everything turned on at once. I'm not even certain comparing a new 1020 against a C4 is apples to apples, since they didn't use the best quality components anyway. But a few dollars worth of capacitor upgrades take the sound to a much higher level.
It's also strange that the "audiophile sphincterati" go crazy over passive preamps, paying silly money for a potentiometer in a box. The 1020 has the most basic of circuitry, for the line stage your precious signal only goes through four transistors, for phono, only another eight more. Contrast this to some other units, full of op-amps and multiple transistor stages. Sure, a well designed but complicated circuit can sound better than a badly designed simple circuit, but reviews have proven time and again that isn't the case.
Your opinion is just that, your opinion. We all know the old saying about opinions being like.... well, you know the rest. My opinion is McIntosh are overpriced and overrated.
Enough said, no more,
Lee.
The thread title says "best vintage preamp", not "best vintage preamp over $1000" or "best vintage preamp under $300". So there are bound to be a few pieces costing more than the next one. I provided four links to people that have had good results with this little preamp, I could list many more. There's even a listing right now (early December, 2015 for archive sake) on eBay for a 3020 that references the work I've been doing on these, surely that's no co-incidence?
Maybe it has a bleed-through problem? I personally only have one source turned on at a time, if I'm listening to CDs, I turn the CD player on. Not sure what the advantage is of having everything turned on at once. I'm not even certain comparing a new 1020 against a C4 is apples to apples, since they didn't use the best quality components anyway. But a few dollars worth of capacitor upgrades take the sound to a much higher level.
It's also strange that the "audiophile sphincterati" go crazy over passive preamps, paying silly money for a potentiometer in a box. The 1020 has the most basic of circuitry, for the line stage your precious signal only goes through four transistors, for phono, only another eight more. Contrast this to some other units, full of op-amps and multiple transistor stages. Sure, a well designed but complicated circuit can sound better than a badly designed simple circuit, but reviews have proven time and again that isn't the case.
Your opinion is just that, your opinion. We all know the old saying about opinions being like.... well, you know the rest. My opinion is McIntosh are overpriced and overrated.
Enough said, no more,
Lee.
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jbailey930
AK Member
Conrad Johnson PV tube models get my vote. As long as from the 80s in vintage 
Not a put down sir; just stating the facts as mine and several other pairs of ears heard them. Fact is it's a $180 basic preamp that has bleed thru problems from an fm tuner into other sources while the fm tuner is turned on. Funny this does not happen on any of my Yamaha, Sansui,Soundcraftsmen, Marantz, Mac or the NAD1240 that made the grade as my main rig's pre for a while. Did I say any of them were the best no I don't believe I did as I'm sure there's far better out there than what I'm running and have run in the past. Perhaps we should have a recapped vintage pre-amp shoot out.........your recapped NAD 1020 vs. my Avionic C4?
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