Adding a pre amp

[Lordhenley]

Ive been contemplating adding a pre to my Integrated, since I have the facility to make the Integrated a pre power combo at the flick of a switch. My amp is an all valve Eastern Electric M88, Ive seen a few valve pre's secondhand for around £500 or so, would it be a worthwhile upgrade or would I be better off keeping my money? Plus if I did add one what difference would I get?

FWIW I use an EAR 834 dedicated phono stage so I wouldn't necessarily need to have a phono stage built into the pre

Link to the EE amp

http://www.eeaudio.com/eeaudio_008.htm



any help much appreciated

Thanks

Lee

 

[Bluedroog]

I don't know your amp but at rrp a couple of grand I can't imagine the pre stage is too shoddy. Although for me the pre section is only second to speakers in the final sound (assuming everything is a least reasonable quality) I think you'd be taking a sideways step at best.

Can't be sure without trying it but I would be surprised if it were money well spent.

 

[paskinn]

Can this make sense? I use an integrated, and it cuts out the issues of extra cabling, impedance matching and so on. Unless the pre amp section is incompetent (unlikely) you will just be wasting cash. Additionally, the 834 has loads of gain, so it will drive your integrated well. Save your money.