I have decided to go with a true separate component approach for this system. This will provide me with a lot of flexibility in terms of tuning the overall sound of the system. Another benefit is that if I get into tweaking things inside of a component I am only altering once part of the signal chain. In other words if I break a preamp I have broken a preamp, not my amp, preamp and tuner at one time.
Speaking of preamps I have decided that will be where I start the selection of components. I already have two preamps to pick from and I will build a third. I am heavily leaning towards building a preamp. So lets assume the following will be compared.
1. Adcom GFP-565
Lets have a a look at some of the features shall we?
- Low impedance power supply with discrete regulators
- DC distributed after the power supply via heavy brass buses
- Signal path amplifiers use premium ICs, Uh oh, does that mean opamps?
- Pure class A
- Class A phono preamp, Now we will just have to assume that whatever preamp we choose the phono stage is good enough. I don't have a record player right now but I do plan to get a good one in the future.
- Amplifier outputs are low impedance (100 ohms)
- The processor can be switched in and out of the signal path. Hopefully they are only talking about tone control. I'll dig around on this a bit more.
- I paid about 260 dollars shipped for this preamp in excellent condition.
2. NAD 1020B
- Musically useful tone controls, I love the way NAD describes it. I think you should have least have the option of bypassing the tone controls. I'm sure I will be able to find a way of bypassing via a relay and switch.
- High current output buffer, errr I call it a headphone amp. We need to find a way to switch this thing out of the circuit to or just remove it entirely. It might be worth switching in and out if...