Do pre amp really make a difference??

[admin_exported]

Hello all. Just ordered a pair of B&W 804s and can't wait for delivery. I was thinking of buying a new or pre owned amp in the coming year but when I visited a different Hifi store and they suggested I upgrade my pre-amp first. Currently I'm running a rotel 1080 two channel amp the there basic 2 channel RC 1070. Does upgrading to a new rotel rc 1082 make sense or make that much difference in sound???

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[john dolan]

The preamp is the hardest thing to build well.Any man and his dog can make a decent power amp but good preamps are much tougher.The budget rotel preamps are junk imo and a better pre will give a good improvement.

 

[Anonymous]

Ask Naim !

A quality pre is undoubtedly the most important part of the chain - you can have the best source and the best amplifier or speakers, but if the element joining those things together is robbing or affecting the signal, all is lost..... A bit like good interconnects, the best pre-amps aim to be asÿtransparentÿas possible, taking nothing away from the source signal. A look inside a Naim 552 shows it's an awful lot more complicated than a volume dial !

 

[john dolan]

Just a volume pot in a box can work very well and be made cheaply if you want a easy diy job.Just a alps blue in a box would make a decent passive preamp and sound better than the rotel.My brother says ive got a preamp fetish cos ive got about 14 of them many simple passives and some exotic ones with dact stepped pot and even a very good tvc preamp.Depends what you want from your preamp how many imputs and if you want remote control and a phono stage ect.