GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Expressive Technologies Model 1 preamp

Post Subject: An interesting breed.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 6/17/2014

Paul Costa wrote:
Romy do you know anything about their preamp. This unit looks massive. Very little info available on it. The one description I found sounds like some of the typical American over done foolishness.

Back in 90s there was a now extinct magazine "Ultimate Audio" that I think published a review about it. I had it somewhere and it was kind of strange reviews as I remember where the revere was fighting with some kind of imaginary wind mills and more review the company then the preamp.... I have seen and hear this Expressive Technologies Model 1 preamp in the home of the Expressive Technologies owner, I do not remember his name now, the chemical guy. I do not even remember what I was listening as to hear anything was not my objective then and I was stoking the guy with begging him to make for me his Expressive Technologies SU2 transformer. He has a listening room with that Expressive Technologies preamp that I think used 6 or 8 6SN7. The preamp was huge, super heavy and I need to report in really was not as ugly as it was on the picture. It is not photogenic preamp but seeing it I need to admit that it has own grace.

About looking massive, it was and I need to admit that pretty much anything that the guy did in his room was super massive. He had I if I remember correctly full range electrostatic that he was driving directly from plates of his amps unit absolutely enormous side transformers. I do not remember if the electrostatic were 6 feet tall of it was the transformers 6 feet tall. It was VERY ambitious.

About the typical American over done foolishness. Unlikely, I did not read the guy as somebody who care too much to build something "over done" and then sell it, he did not live from his audio income as far as I could tell, good for him. The most important why I would extend some trust to him was of course the absolutely astonishing performance of Expressive Technologies SU2 transformer that I eventually suck out from him. I am going to tell you: knowing that his SUT goes compare to anything else I have seen out there would trust to him with ANY transformer project. Well, if it would be a " transformer project" then why shall I presume that his preamp would be " typical American over done foolishness"?

The said story is that Expressive Technologies prams were in play good 15 years back and nowadays it is very hard to correlate what I fell about preamps today and what I was thinking 15 years back. If you asking then you most likely has it within your reach, and if so then I would defiantly give it a try as I feel that Expressive Technologies were very interesting firm.

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