Fantastic Audio Research hybrid tube/FET preamplifier with separate power supply. Phonostage with front panel selectable 47K, 100, 30, 10, 3 ohms. Sound is amazing. shipping weight is 21kg. See more at
www.arcdb.ws
from Stereophile
"The SP-11 is a design departure for Audio Research. It is neither a tube nor a solid-state preamp; rather, it is both at once. Each active stage is a combination of a triode tube and a FET—devices whose dynamic transfer (input/output) characteristics just happen to be very close to complementary. The result is an amplifying "stage" whose distortion is inherently lower than that of either a single tube or a single FET. (The distortion figures for the SP-11 are dramatically lower than for any other available tubed preamp.)
The control lineup on the SP-11 is awesome. The listing at the head of this report is pretty much self-explanatory, but some control functions need explaining. First, note that there are two "volume" controls—neither of them called that. One of these is ahead of all high-level amplifying circuitry, at which point its judicious use prevents input overload no matter how strong the signal. The second, just ahead of the output buffer, can prevent any background noise originating in the high level stages from being audible through very efficient loudspeakers or in extremely quiet rooms."
So what do you really get for your almost-$5000? Does it sound like what $5000 should sound like? Oh boy, does it!
First, it must be said that the SP-11, more even than most other preamps, does not like a cold start. After 15 minutes' warmup, it sounds very good—ho-hum. After an hour it starts to pull ahead, sonically, of any of its known competition. After two hours, it is head and shoulders better than anything I have ever heard! The Audio Research SP-11 is an incredible preamplifier, very probably the best preamp that any amount of money can buy today. If it does not sound as musical on some loudspeakers currently in my house than some other preamps I have, I am willing to blame that on the loudspeakers and look for other ones. And I don't usually make that kind of excuse for any product. This calibre of sound quality is what high-end audio is all about!—J. Gordon Holt
Postage Cost: 48,00 €
