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So, first impressions of a Townsend Allegri+...

Ianp

Ianp

pfm Member
A good friend passed onto me a Creek passive and I was immensely surprised at the performance vs. price, it was lovely, so natural. I knew nothing of passive preamps and upon reading came across a world of positivity, especially for transformer pres, a beast unknown to me after years of being in the hobby.

So, to cut a long story short I have an Allegri +. My first impression is to go for humour and suggest that if your pre has a plug, then chuck it in a skip :)

There are any number of gushing reviews out there, and I have to agree that this thing is jaw dropping. The key word here is realism, the sense of timing is like nothing I've heard.

Anyway, more time required, what it'll sound like with the Leak lord only knows !
 
My Rega Osiris has a pass-pre (Alps Blue) - but can take a direct connection into the power stage. Mmmmmm
Thoughts anyone?
 
We compared a while back my pre 3 vbs and a townshend allegri .certainly the allegri was very impressive but unlike the bc it as no remote which makes it a bit of a pain sometimes

Having had a good number of passive pre amps including 6 mfa i noticed they have an incredibly linear presentation , on changing to a modwright valve 36.5 i noticed it had a lovely midrange ,perhaps a bit different from the very enjoyable mfa .
 
I shall be keeping an eye on this thread - I've been rather sceptical about passives in general, and did try the original iteration of the Music First many years ago which I did not get along with, but my recent acquisition of the tiny/cheap Schiit Saga+ (purely as a stop gap whilst my Modwright pre is being serviced) has given me pause for thought, to say the least....

The rest of my system has evolved substantially over time, so it may be that the potential for extra "transparency" might now be a virtue, rather than highlighting the shortcomings of the DAC etc I had 20+ years ago

Anyone wishing to dip a toe would do well to try the little Schiit (yes, I know....) - it really is an incredibly capable device, especially given the RRP - I'd be very interested to try something a bit higher up the food chain
 
hifinutt said:
We compared a while back my pre 3 vbs and a townshend allegri .certainly the allegri was very impressive but unlike the bc it as no remote which makes it a bit of a pain sometimes

Having had a good number of passive pre amps including 6 mfa i noticed they have an incredibly linear presentation , on changing to a modwright valve 36.5 i noticed it had a lovely midrange ,perhaps a bit different from the very enjoyable mfa .
Click to expand...
Did you choose the Modwright over the MF? Which MF was it?
 
No just liked a change , have had them at various times .also had the baby ref at the same time as arc ref 5 .both were superb

Have had mfa classic silver mark one , mark 2 silver .mark 2 classic copper and 2 mfa baby and another i forget
 
I would just love to try the bel canto pre 5 i have against the allegri , the former has a lovely organic sound with texture and has a remote . Be great to compare the 2
 
Ianp said:
what it'll sound like with the Leak lord only knows !
Click to expand...
You have a Stereo 20? If so, me too.

Therefore, I'm very curious as to your thoughts on this.

My pre is a Django TVC passive. It has a Stevens & Billington transformer as in MFA pre's.

Would be interesting to compare - do you ever go to bake-offs?
 
I had the Allegri+, and only sold it to buy an integrated for my wife to use. That didn't work out, and I would have kept the Allegri+ otherwise. The only thing I preferred was the DHT pre I built, but that was even less wife friendly!
But if you have fault with one, you may find getting it fixed a problem, since Max died. I did, and got it back and repaired it myself; it was only the selector switch, and they are actually a £1.99 item!
 
Although I'm sure not up to Musical First standards, but ive been mightily impressed with my new ( old ) Audio Synthesis passion ultimate
passive that I wisely bought on the bay this year.... And that solid remote !! ... Its a pleasure to pick it up every time 😊
 
Amormusic said:
You have a Stereo 20? If so, me too.

Therefore, I'm very curious as to your thoughts on this.

My pre is a Django TVC passive. It has a Stevens & Billington transformer as in MFA pre's.

Would be interesting to compare - do you ever go to bake-offs?
Click to expand...
Yes, have a 20 and will be popping it in the system this week to try. I don't keep an eye on bake offs but could be tempted if one was fairly close (Notts).
 
MotherSky said:
I shall be keeping an eye on this thread - I've been rather sceptical about passives in general, and did try the original iteration of the Music First many years ago which I did not get along with, but my recent acquisition of the tiny/cheap Schiit Saga+ (purely as a stop gap whilst my Modwright pre is being serviced) has given me pause for thought, to say the least....

The rest of my system has evolved substantially over time, so it may be that the potential for extra "transparency" might now be a virtue, rather than highlighting the shortcomings of the DAC etc I had 20+ years ago

Anyone wishing to dip a toe would do well to try the little Schiit (yes, I know....) - it really is an incredibly capable device, especially given the RRP - I'd be very interested to try something a bit higher up the food chain
Click to expand...

Also a very happy schiit saga owner/along with a khmozo dual mono.

Also measures well on the popular forum..

Theres nothing in it,the saga is feature rich and remote control a big plus.....
 
"Anyway, more time required, what it'll sound like with the Leak lord only knows !"

..... Heavenly of course.

PS: can someone tell me how to include a quote from Another's message in my own ...........
 
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