Engvet

Thanks for the info ejn, will be talking to Gary about it tomorrow. Looks like MBL is another contender to add to the list. Good luck with your search!

ejn, Did you get to listen to the Meraks? What were your impressions? I completely understand what ulysse21 is saying having used a Border Patrol se300b to drive my Scorpio 25s and being much more engaged with the music compared to my Trigon TRE50Ms which, whilst not being Class D, are very clinical and uninvolving. Merak sounds like the amp to give the control I am after whilst retaining the emotional connection. Will be speaking to Gary at Audio Emotion to get a demo myself :-)!

Yeah, ah, not sure if it is expectation bias that makes me think it is better really but if it plays without drop outs I will take it:-)! The attenuators plug into the power amps before the balanced leads and basically adjust the gain as your power amp does, allowing a greater range in the volume control which seems to benefit digital volumes especially. Taurus with analogue volume pot (and a very good quality one at that!) sounds good for retaining that sound quality while listening at lower levels, which is how I tend to listen most. Build quality is also great like you say.

yeah AE really know their stuff :-)! Going off Gary's recommendation it is the Taurus or the Trigon TRV 100 but the extra cost for the TRV 100 is for extra connectivity (not needed) and digital volume(not wanted) over the Taurus (very good volume pot). SQ of the two pres is equal so it will be the Taurus by the looks of it! Just wondered if it made the Vega better or just the same? Gary said he had the Vega through the Taurus at a recent show, and has done the dem since, and he finds it better. His recommendations have always been good previously so as long as it does not make things worse by affecting the Vega output sound quality by putting it through the Taurus all should be good. Where are you located in UK I am in NE. Running Vega from a Shuttle PC with SSD Win 7 dedicated for music only, JRiver with Vega on exact and filter 1. Only get drop outs in first 5 mins from start up from sleep and then none once it has settled down. Not tried DSD yet though. I am using 12dB attenuators to get 75 to 85 dB at 2.5 m listening position with50 to 65 on the vol control and it sounds excellent. Will the Taurus require the attenuators to stay or be removed? Cheers Keith.

ejn, How do you find the Vega through the Taurus, do you think it improves the presentation and how does the Taurus sound purely as a pre? I have a turntable so need an analogue input so am thinking Vega plus Taurus into my TrigonTRE50s and Audio Physic Scorpio 25s. Vega would use the balanced analogue inputs and the phono would use the single ended inputs, and then 5m balanced cables to power amps next to speakers withnd short speaker cables. This is what I have already and the Vega plus Taurus would be replacing a Perreaux DP32. Where did you get your system ejn? very similar to mine and see you are in uk, your system has an Audio Emotion look to it :-). Anyone out there with any other ideas about how to incorporate a Vega and turntable into the system? Music First Copper pre? Goldpoint stepped attenuator (all balanced or all single ended so maybe not)? Best regards, Keith. By the way, have listened to Vega in my system against Perreaux and SotM sdp1000.