In praise of Glenn Croft
- Thread starter Denis McKeown
- Start date
Denis McKeown
Tone
Ah, a great loss was Art Dudley. The Stereophile film of Art is a treasure, from the play on the John Deere at the beginning to the rabbit at the end, wonderful gentle humour and of course a beautiful audio system.
Denis McKeown
Tone
I'm told my Integrated R can serve as a preamp, not quite sure how (surely loudspeakers need to be connected at all times), must look into this
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It very likely can be used as a pre or be modded to. No you do not need to have speakers connected.
Denis McKeown
Tone
Ah, thankyou. Currently using a Manley Chinook phono stage, which I believe has a 'healthy' output, by way of 1/2 m connects to a Khozmo Passive (stepped attentuator preamp) to (again just 1/2 m connects) my VTL ST-150 power. Works extremely well, but will be nice to try the Croft in place of the Khozmo for a bit of fun.
Denis McKeown
Tone
oh, did I mention I loved the Croft Integrated R with my Falcon LS3/5As (silver badge, Burr Walnut since you ask
)
Ianp
pfm Member
oh, did I mention I loved the Croft Integrated R with my Falcon LS3/5As (silver badge, Burr Walnut since you ask
The Falcons do like a valve amp
lawrence001
Basic Member
Never heard the Porsche story but I do know that if there's a test match on, don't expect a quick response to an email
Denis McKeown
Tone
It's the sort of story would start a Ken Kessler review, certainly he writes with dramatic effect ...Never heard the Porsche story but I do know that if there's a test match on, don't expect a quick response to an email
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It has a solid state output stage... ie the bit interfacing with the speaker.
Big John
pfm Member
Never heard the Porsche story but I do know that if there's a test match on, don't expect a quick response to an email
20 odd years ago Len Gregory got Mr Croft to make me a phono stage it is built in to a Croft Vitale preamp case I preferred it to an Ear 834P then and now. I still have & use it. Not knowing about the Test match scenario a couple of years ago a capacitor went south unable to contact Mr Croft I got a trusted friend to replace the cap & give it a check over, it was in great shape. I don't know which version of his phono stages' it is, however it uses 2 x ECC83 & a cathode follower, I had it wired for a 6N1P follower, on an oscilloscope the output signal is dead flat. I would need to spend a lot of money to improve on it.
Mr Croft does makes exceedingly good kit.
Denis McKeown
Tone
Hi. There is also the - what word should I use - ethics? modesty - of his manufacturing which I admire so much. I did have an Ear 834P which looked nice (the deluxe version) but came up a little short against a Manley which I still have.
my vote, too, goes to the Croft & Harbeth combo -- in my case a SMA IV two-box pre, a Series V Mk II, a pair of SHL5s. my back-up amps are a Mega Micro II & the 7R monos (strangely, I prefer the Series V with top-of-the-line Russian EL84 equivalents). this as a result of some 15 years' worth of back-&-forth with Glenn. it's a great pity he's given up on the continent after Brexit.
Denis McKeown
Tone
I do wish I had -- knowing of Glenn -- not investigated his amplifiers years ago ... and yes, France is now not an option for us
I had a Croft SMA IV with a pair of Series 5 driving ProAc Studio One Mk IIs for a few years - a lovely combination. Just a shame Glen never provided an MC phono input to his preamps.
Alex
he did do a separate head amp for MC cartridges. I've got one, sounds rather good with a Denon 103R.
That's something that I never heard of! What is it called? When was he making them?
Alex
The Bish
pfm Member
If you had sold it I reckon you would have bought it back again later! Something compelling about Croft gear that keeps you going back to it, especially the preamps and phono stages.
I think the head amp was an early sideline, rare now on the used market, sells at around the £200-250 mark. it is an outwardly unassuming design, but in relative terms as good as the Croft pre amps I own. here's a pic of a past system of mine with the HA under a book next to the elephant on the left.
