In Praise of the Pre-amp (Kinos with Unidisk SC)
Posted: 2008-11-18 01:01
Hello Everyone!
1) Adding a Kinos to a Unidisk SC
Those of you who've been here for a while might remember that I (or more accurately, my parents) went Aktiv a year ago with Ninkas + C5100 + Unidisk SC.....with completely and utterly underwhelming results: we were expecting the heavens to open upon inserting Aktiv cards into the Chakra amps (after having read everyone else's accounts of how wondrous an Aktiv system sounds), but instead we heard very little difference at all -- a big surprise, and a big disappointment! :D
Well, to fast forward a year: thanks to the ongoing collapse of used audio prices (amidst the general financial crisis going on around us), we now have an ex-Dem Kinos (for less than the retail price of a new Classik Music, which is just amazing....). And when we inserted the Kinos into the system (bypassing the Unidisk SC's internal preamp, running the SC's "TV Out" fixed analog outputs to the Kinos, and using the Kinos as a simple 2-channel preamplifier), we suddenly experienced all the improvements that we thought we were going to get by going Aktiv:
1) TuneDem: even simple melodies sound sweeter and happier / sadder / more poignant / more invigorating / etc., etc. -- basically whatever the composer and performers had in mind, there's much more of it!
2) Dense "difficult" music that hitherto sounded like unpleasant noise (e.g., Linn Record's recording of Spem in Alium**) now sound like music: we can now (easily) hear the individual voices and sub-melodies criss-crossing within what used to be massive strident chords.
(** - This motet has 40 parts(!) -- i.e., there are 40 independent vocal lines, all of which sound simultaneously in the forte sections.)
3) More instruments are suddenly noticeable, as are grace notes, fast ornaments, subtle bowings, inflections and attacks -- all the little things that help make a great performer better than his/her peers.
4) The bass is much, much stronger and louder (which was a big surprise -- why should this happen?).
5) It's become more enjoyable to listen at very low volumes (i.e., if we have to turn things way down because people have gone to bed, it's still possible to really hear the music).
In short, adding a Kinos to a Unidisk SC system causes a big step up in overall system performance -- not in terms of power or slam or sound or anything like that, but in musical enjoyment and nuance. It's really a pleasant change! :D
2) A Reflection on Aktiv / Passive
We're not going to be doing the experiment anytime soon (the Ninkas are long gone, having been replaced by Espeks), but I suspect that if I were to try comparing Aktiv vs. Passive Ninkas on the system as it now stands, I'd probably hear a notable difference. Or to put it another way:
Our experience over this past year suggests that the limiting factor in a Unidisk + Biamp Chakra + Ninka system is not the amplification, but the preamp. A passive Chakra, when biamping the relatively simple 2-way Ninkas, appears to drive things well enough to reveal what the Unidisk SC (on its own) is able to put out. Going Aktiv thus (we're guessing) doesn't necessarily add very much in Tune Dem terms -- though it might help with low bass and/or with highly dynamic music played at higher volumes (which we don't listen to very much of). For Aktiv to have more of an effect, there has to be more musical information coming into the amplifier -- which a good preamp (like the Kinos) can provide. So in a way our experience last year might have been a backhanded confirmation of Source First (or maybe Control First!).
3) A Quizzical General Question (or three):
Why do analog preamps have this effect on system performance? Dozens of folks on the various Linn-related forums all rave about the Klimax Kontrol preamp, and after hearing what a Kinos does to my parents' system, I can well believe the effect. But what exactly is a good preamp doing? Is it simply causing less degradation to the source signal (i.e., is it a matter of "the best preamp is a straight wire with gain")? Or does a good preamp do more than would a "straight wire with gain" -- does it somehow buffer the source component from the amplifier, so that whatever the loudspeaker is trying to throw into the electrical system winds up having no deleterious effect on the source? Or is there something more subtle going on?
In a related vein, what is the Kinos doing? All it's doing is routing a simple 2-channel input signal to a pair of outputs -- and yet after an hour of operation, the Kinos is by far the warmest thing in the equipment rack (warmer by far than the Unidisk or Chakra). Presumably there's a lot of circuitry at work there - but what is it?
And finally, why did Linn pair a nice source (the Unidisk SC's disc section) with a preamp that (apparently) limits the overall system performance? Is it a matter of cost? Or is it because our SC is a very early model (2005), and later SC preamp sections became better?
Anyway, I'm now a convert to the better-preamps-are-worth-investigating camp! Many congrats to those of you with the Klimax Kontrol! (And best wishes to Mr. Lejonklou with the Kikkin!)
All best,
-C
1) Adding a Kinos to a Unidisk SC
Those of you who've been here for a while might remember that I (or more accurately, my parents) went Aktiv a year ago with Ninkas + C5100 + Unidisk SC.....with completely and utterly underwhelming results: we were expecting the heavens to open upon inserting Aktiv cards into the Chakra amps (after having read everyone else's accounts of how wondrous an Aktiv system sounds), but instead we heard very little difference at all -- a big surprise, and a big disappointment! :D
Well, to fast forward a year: thanks to the ongoing collapse of used audio prices (amidst the general financial crisis going on around us), we now have an ex-Dem Kinos (for less than the retail price of a new Classik Music, which is just amazing....). And when we inserted the Kinos into the system (bypassing the Unidisk SC's internal preamp, running the SC's "TV Out" fixed analog outputs to the Kinos, and using the Kinos as a simple 2-channel preamplifier), we suddenly experienced all the improvements that we thought we were going to get by going Aktiv:
1) TuneDem: even simple melodies sound sweeter and happier / sadder / more poignant / more invigorating / etc., etc. -- basically whatever the composer and performers had in mind, there's much more of it!
2) Dense "difficult" music that hitherto sounded like unpleasant noise (e.g., Linn Record's recording of Spem in Alium**) now sound like music: we can now (easily) hear the individual voices and sub-melodies criss-crossing within what used to be massive strident chords.
(** - This motet has 40 parts(!) -- i.e., there are 40 independent vocal lines, all of which sound simultaneously in the forte sections.)
3) More instruments are suddenly noticeable, as are grace notes, fast ornaments, subtle bowings, inflections and attacks -- all the little things that help make a great performer better than his/her peers.
4) The bass is much, much stronger and louder (which was a big surprise -- why should this happen?).
5) It's become more enjoyable to listen at very low volumes (i.e., if we have to turn things way down because people have gone to bed, it's still possible to really hear the music).
In short, adding a Kinos to a Unidisk SC system causes a big step up in overall system performance -- not in terms of power or slam or sound or anything like that, but in musical enjoyment and nuance. It's really a pleasant change! :D
2) A Reflection on Aktiv / Passive
We're not going to be doing the experiment anytime soon (the Ninkas are long gone, having been replaced by Espeks), but I suspect that if I were to try comparing Aktiv vs. Passive Ninkas on the system as it now stands, I'd probably hear a notable difference. Or to put it another way:
Our experience over this past year suggests that the limiting factor in a Unidisk + Biamp Chakra + Ninka system is not the amplification, but the preamp. A passive Chakra, when biamping the relatively simple 2-way Ninkas, appears to drive things well enough to reveal what the Unidisk SC (on its own) is able to put out. Going Aktiv thus (we're guessing) doesn't necessarily add very much in Tune Dem terms -- though it might help with low bass and/or with highly dynamic music played at higher volumes (which we don't listen to very much of). For Aktiv to have more of an effect, there has to be more musical information coming into the amplifier -- which a good preamp (like the Kinos) can provide. So in a way our experience last year might have been a backhanded confirmation of Source First (or maybe Control First!).
3) A Quizzical General Question (or three):
Why do analog preamps have this effect on system performance? Dozens of folks on the various Linn-related forums all rave about the Klimax Kontrol preamp, and after hearing what a Kinos does to my parents' system, I can well believe the effect. But what exactly is a good preamp doing? Is it simply causing less degradation to the source signal (i.e., is it a matter of "the best preamp is a straight wire with gain")? Or does a good preamp do more than would a "straight wire with gain" -- does it somehow buffer the source component from the amplifier, so that whatever the loudspeaker is trying to throw into the electrical system winds up having no deleterious effect on the source? Or is there something more subtle going on?
In a related vein, what is the Kinos doing? All it's doing is routing a simple 2-channel input signal to a pair of outputs -- and yet after an hour of operation, the Kinos is by far the warmest thing in the equipment rack (warmer by far than the Unidisk or Chakra). Presumably there's a lot of circuitry at work there - but what is it?
And finally, why did Linn pair a nice source (the Unidisk SC's disc section) with a preamp that (apparently) limits the overall system performance? Is it a matter of cost? Or is it because our SC is a very early model (2005), and later SC preamp sections became better?
Anyway, I'm now a convert to the better-preamps-are-worth-investigating camp! Many congrats to those of you with the Klimax Kontrol! (And best wishes to Mr. Lejonklou with the Kikkin!)
All best,
-C