Shortlist of Pre-amps for Bartok into Active ATC System Please

I have left a modest time gap to allow for replies and thanks everybody for the suggestions.
So…
Given that my new “accommodation” for the electronics is a much modified and deepened bookcase to one side of the listening room (no more tower of power) I think tube electronics will have a hard job getting circulating air to adequately cool…so solid state probably best with somewhat less heat build up.
That being the case I feel this has come to a short list of two candidates, both mentioned in your generous responses and also online discussions.
1 - Benchmark LA4.
2 - Townshend Allegri Reference (new/latest model).
…It now remains to find and drag these units home to my listening room to trial before a purchase.
If anyone of you have a single likely “try before you buy” source that would be good to know…

Seasons greetings, whatever and wherever your circumstances,
SeanS

Erno…I think we are there…thanks!
SeanS

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Happy trial, and please let us know here about the outcome.

I checked with ATC in the UK and they confirmed the ATC SCA2 preamp is still in production.

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That is good to learn. They may even sell more of them if they included it on their website list of current electronic products :wink:

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It is shown on the site but in the preamp section you need to click on the far right image near the top… they show images of the 3 different units.

Very many thanks to @PAR for mentioning this. Until now I ran my Bartok direct to ATC actives. I took delivery of a Phonitor 2 this morning.

I have balanced cables arriving soon, meantime I have RCA>XLR between Bartok and preamp. I have set line output to 6V and dB to 0.0.

I am truly delighted with the immediate increase in transparency, detail and quality. I don’t listen to music very loudly; until now I did not fully appreciate the significant impact of digital attenuation on sound quality. Mea culpa.

It is fantastic value for money; an Allegri Reference is surely better but with a Bartok I do not feel a need to spend 7x.

All that without yet using its designed purpose as a headphone amplifier. I can’t wait.

Glad that you are enjoying it right away at this early stage. Do read and inwardly digest the part in the instruction manual about the cross feed matrix circuitry and how to correctly set it, angle , centre and laterality for headphone listening. I still find it almost unreal that I can be listening with a pair of Senn HD600s , then switch to speakers and as I remove the headphones the image " out there" is the same as the image heard in my head. It is quite spooky.

Tip: if you are using it as both monitor controller ( preamp) and headphone amplifier just leave it on. It does take quite a while to reach thermal stability otherwise.

Thank you, I’m looking forward to experimenting with these settings but I’m too engaged right now listening via speakers :grin:

@PAR Pete a quick question on the Phonitor 2 if I may (with apologies to OP)

Should I consider adjusting the DIP switches to optimise output to my ATC 19As?

I don’t know whether there’s an advantage to this (being plenty loud as is) and/or an overload risk in experimenting

Many thanks

An interesting question. The DIP switches provided change RCA line in voltage from domestic to professional standard and overall gain. This seems to me to be mainly of relevance when using headphones with regard to the impedance/sensitivity of the cans in question. Of course with speakers there is another amplification component in the chain - the power amp and its input requirements. Unless you have some strange amp ( the current ATCs with an input sensitivity of 1v are pretty standard) there is no need to consider this. We do not have 600ohm loudspeakers :slightly_smiling_face:.

Unless the speaker/amp combination provides too low a volume at a reasonable advancement of the volume control then this would seem unnecessary. For insensitive headphones with a high impedance ( e.g. in excess of 300ohms) then adjustment may be required. For the line outputs frankly I am not even certain that the DIP switches for overall gain have any effect.

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Thanks very informative and useful

They arrived today and I have been using them for a couple of hours Bartok > Phonitor 2

Whether or not it’s expectation bias, the bass sounds significantly better and overall clarity is improved vs unbalanced

Stereophile today came with a new review of the Benchmark HPA4:

I concluded my report on Benchmark’s LA4 preamplifier by saying it was the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I had encountered at that time. To those virtues, the HPA4 adds equally superb headphone outputs.—John Atkinson

Erno,

A very convincing argument for the LA4.
I am awaiting a UK supplier to get this and the Townshend into my listening room at the same time.
I understand I could be waiting a fair time at the moment, all understandable.
Keep well…

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Sean, please report back to us all when you have done the comparison. This will be very interesting. Like Erno, I have the HPA4, but if there is one other pre-amp that I would like to hear then it would be the Townshend. BTW, I think the only non-favorable comments about the Benchmark that I’ve seen from a reviewer were by Jason Victor Serinus (Stereophile) in a review of - I think - D’Agostino’s latest and greatest pre-amp. I do normally trust Serinus’ reviews (even though he has a self confessed ‘footer fetish’).

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@SeanSullivan @Simon_C I back Simon’s request, and look forward to Sean’s report.

I had to postpone my home demoing of the Townshend due to the lockdown.

That is frustrating. I was looking forward to a report.

Off to have my first Covid vaccination tomorrow :grinning:.

Congrats Pete!

I have to wait until 3rd quarter…

So having started this thread in Dec 2020 here is what has happened:

I contacted about 4 retailers who looked as if they could supply the Benchmark LA4 and then asked them if they could also obtain a Townshend Allegri Reference. The former element was good, the latter part resulted in comments along the lines of “ummm”, “maybe”, “not straightforward”, “not sure”, “they may or may not be able to get us a unit”. These were all on the basis of buy both units, trial them and return the unit I did not wish to keep.

So I waited…
I waited some more…
I did some reminding.
I did an extra bit of waiting…I mean there is a virus about and we have to count our days maybe…
I waited a bit for luck…
…actually I am not sure I really am very lucky…
I waited one more time…
I squeezed that very last drop of waiting out…
…I ran out of waiting:

…and in the last few days (March 2021) went back to the 4 Benchmark retailers and asked for their best price, no trial, no comparison with Townshend, not even a coffee and biscuit.
You may like to know that there is a pleasant variation in the price here in the UK so I think I ended up with a circa 10% discount and a free remote control.

So the 1/4 (or is it 1/2) size LA4 box is sat on top of my Bartok, the silver is a reasonably close match too.

Question of perhaps ERNO and Simon_C

ERNO or Simon_C I think you also have a Bartok/Vivaldi with a LA4?
How have you set this up? Just relocated the cables to XLR Input 1 on LA4 , add some XLR interconnects and move Bartok/Vivaldi volume to 0bB?
Anything else I should be doing?
Any hidden switches, or menu choices which make a difference?

Sorry no Ken Kessler type review and insightful comparisons.

Be well everybody…SeanS