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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: The objectives of Einstein self-entertaining Preamp.

Post Subject: Double Coil SpringPosted by Paul S on: 10/27/2015

I had a chance to listen to/for the Einstein components at THE Show, but there seemed to be no reason to pay attention to them, since they neither disappeared nor did they transform the sound in any remarkable way. My overall impression was that the "Einsten sound" lacked the gestalt that I usually require as a starting point. Of course, this was t a hi-fi exhibition; but there were other amps and pre-amps there that did better, IMO.

Regarding pre-amps, it's no secret that I am a long-time "neutral" guy. I regard the pre-amp's function to be attenuation, balance, and little else. In most systems, a buffer is a good idea, in order to keep the source and the amp from "communicating", and - of course - to keep output impedance as low as possible. In my experience, and by my reckoning, a pre-amp is the only component that one can get fairly close to "neutralizing", so why not get it out o the way, if I can.

As for a "neutral" amp, who's kidding whom? Hook the amp up to a speaker and the speaker to a room and you can absolutely forget "neutrality". In the case of OTLs, I think we have a prime example of the tail wagging the dog. I admit I found amusing one internet guy's account of his success with using an autoformer after his OTL. While I'm NOT saying it can't be done, I ask myself, "why?"

Paul S

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