vinyl1
Super Member
Today's listen was the Audio Consulting phono preamp. Like many of the ridiculously esoteric preamps, it is kind of a pain to use. It is battery-powered, and comes with an elaborate (and ugly and space-consuming) battery charging system....but in order to listen, you have to disconnect the charging cables.
The only control is an on-off switch. It automatically detects the cartridge and applies the resistive loading and gain that it believes the cartridge needs. if you don't agree, too bad.
After all this trouble and expense, it had better sound divine! Well, it did. Our test records were:
Blues and the Abstract Truth (mono original)
Time Further Out (six-eye stereo original)
Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (ORG 45-RPM reissue)
Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet (Sheffield direct-to-disc)
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto, Argerich/Abbado (ClearAudio reissue)
They all sounded out of this world. You could really hear the distinct sonic signatures of the late-50s pressings, which are virtually impossible to reproduce with modern reissues. It was not thin or washed-out, either, like you sometimes hear in 'accurate' phono stages, but warm and rich. The bass on the Romeo & Juliet crescendos was huge.
It's a really nice piece of equipment, but absurdly expensive and awkward to use. The designer is said to be in his own world, and doesn't care about anything except sound quality.
I was lucky to get to hear it, as there's only one review sample floating around over here. If I had a fortune of fifteen or twenty million, I might seriously consider one.
The only control is an on-off switch. It automatically detects the cartridge and applies the resistive loading and gain that it believes the cartridge needs. if you don't agree, too bad.
After all this trouble and expense, it had better sound divine! Well, it did. Our test records were:
Blues and the Abstract Truth (mono original)
Time Further Out (six-eye stereo original)
Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (ORG 45-RPM reissue)
Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet (Sheffield direct-to-disc)
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto, Argerich/Abbado (ClearAudio reissue)
They all sounded out of this world. You could really hear the distinct sonic signatures of the late-50s pressings, which are virtually impossible to reproduce with modern reissues. It was not thin or washed-out, either, like you sometimes hear in 'accurate' phono stages, but warm and rich. The bass on the Romeo & Juliet crescendos was huge.
It's a really nice piece of equipment, but absurdly expensive and awkward to use. The designer is said to be in his own world, and doesn't care about anything except sound quality.
I was lucky to get to hear it, as there's only one review sample floating around over here. If I had a fortune of fifteen or twenty million, I might seriously consider one.
