Classe 30 Preamp ? A good buy or not

[Fraser Ross]

I am currently planning to buy a second hand Classe 30 preamp, I have
had it at home working with some VAF-211A single ended monoblocks. The
sound is quite good, however I believe that the preamp circuitry is
all IC op-amps. I have been told that discrete or tube preamps are the
way to go. So can anyone tell whether the Classe 30 is a good buy or
not

Regards Fraser Ross

[James W. Durkin]

In article <4a0ke9$4...@decaxp.harvard.edu> Fraser Ross
<Fra...@pharmacy.uq.edu.au> writes:

I like the Classe line of amps and preamps in general, and have heard
the model 30 a number of times at various dealers. Driving speakers
like the lower-end Thiels (CS 2 2 and below), Vandersteen 2's, and the
Martin-Logan Aerius, I've found it to provide an uncolored sound, with
pretty good frequency extension at both extremes. This was, however,
mated with the Classe model 70 amp, and not the amps you're using.
When it was new, I thought it was pretty hard to beat in terms of a
solid-state preamp in the $1K price range. There are other appealing
tube preamps that are in roughly the same price range (e.g., Melos and
Audible Illusions), but now we're getting into apples and oranges
territory.

You've heard it and seem to like the way it sounds. If it meets your
needs, and you've not heard anything better that you can afford, by
all means buy the Classe. Tons of net validation shouldn't be
required for you to make that decision. Trust your own tastes. If
you can't, then it sounds like you ought to listen to a few other
items before making the purchase.

For what it's worth, 1) you could do a lot worse, and 2) $700 +- $50
sounds about right (assuming very good condition).

[[ James W. Durkin -- j...@graphics.cornell.edu ]]
[[ Program of Computer Graphics -- Cornell University ]]