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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: Re: Seduction is much better sounding phono pre than my HF-85's... posted by dBurino on December 3, 2003 at 12:15:14:
Hi dBurino,I tried to stay out of this one, because I really feel it is necessary to listen to the stuff yourself, with your amps before making a decission. That said, I have owned or extensively listenned to: Dynaco PAS, ARC SP3, Fisher 400, Eico HF-85, and Bottlehead Foreplay. I have not owned a Seduction but know others who do.
I will say that I use a modified Foreplay in my system (DIY 300B SET; modded Pilot SA-232, EL84's; Accrosound UL-2, Dynaco MkIV, EL34's, and others). I like the 400C with some of the vintage 6L6 amps, as its "sweeter" midrange compliments thier typical dryness. I think the PASS is a neat little unit, and pretty neutral in presentation. I ended up modding mine extensively in order to get it to sound decent (my ears). There are commercial mods, but they are pricey, ultimately remove most of the controls from the unit, and may not have the price to performance ratio of other units. One note, however, the mods typically keep the basic layout of the RIAA phono stage which speaks to the generally good layout of this negative feedback circuit. Yet, in my experience some mods are necessary to really get it to perform decent. The SP3 is pretty fancy, but never sounded great to me. The Foreplay beat its line stage in extensive A/B's (lots of different amps/ speakers)a friend and I did. This same guy now uses a Fisher 400c. Now the Eico, it is similar to the PASS, 12AX7's, negative feed back design. Mine is a little thin sounding, but I have not really messed with it yet (grain of salt). This would be my choice, IF you want to basically rebuild another circuit using 12AX7's into it (ie... convert the RIAA to a pasiive stage, get rid of the tone controls, and add a cathode follower to the output. I plan on using mine as an experiment for which this unit is better suited than the PASS (point to point wiring, a little more head room in the power tranformer).
As for the Bottlehead products, well they are great for the price. Friends love their Seductions. I love my modded Foreplay. However, be for warned, in my experience the neutral sounding Foreplay can bring out some shortcomings in particular amps. Also, the Bottlead mods really bring out the performance, so these may end up being more expensive than the sticker tag.
Hope this helps,
Rodney
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Follow Ups
- Well.... - rodney 12/4/0311:33:51 12/4/03 (0)
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