Rogue Audio 66 Magnum Preamp w/ Phono (1 Viewer)

[Tim Baldwin]

Rogue 66 Magnum all tube preamp with phono stage. Magnum version features upgraded tubes, power supply, and parts (caps, resistors, wiring, sockets, etc). Excellent condition cosmetically and sonically. Good phono stage for MM or HO MC. Asking $695 + shipping.
Link to Rogue Audio
Link to Pictures of This Unit

 

[Kincade]

Tim,

Does this unit have the HT bypass?

 

[Tim Baldwin]

Kincade,
No, these do not have an HT bypass per se, though I HAVE used it in my HT. As with any preamp, you feed an auxilliary input from the receiver or prepro's L/R preouts, and calibrate your HT at a known specific setting on the preamp's volume control (I use 12 o'clock). Then whenever you are doing movies, you select 'AUX' and put the pre's volume at the 'reference' setting. No big deal.
Regards,
Tim

 

[Kincade]

Tim,

Rogue offers a HT bypass option on their Rogue models; this does not have it, correct?

What tubes are in the unit?

 

[Tim Baldwin]

Sorry, I'm not aware of any such option existing. I know you can bypass the preamp section of the Tempest integrated, although it involves physically changing some shunts inside the unit.

The 12AU7's are Penta (German) (and I have a spare set that are unlabeled ... ?), and the 6DJ8's are National (Russian).

 

[Kincade]

Tim; I believe it is an option they can install at the factory, but it sounds like this one does not have it. I wonder if they can add it after the fact?

 

[Tim Baldwin]

Kincade,
Turns out you are correct. Here is the response I got from Mark O'Brien:


I just calibrated at, and return the volume to, 12 o'clock. Not a big deal for me, but YMMV.
Regards,
Tim

 

[Kevin T]

kincade:

ht bypass isn't necessarily the "bee's knees" when using a tubed preamp. all the stereo preamps i've used (thus far) had ht bypass function, but i played around with them some and found that if you connect the preamp output of your receiver to any of the stereo preamps inputs and turn the stereo preamp to max volume (usually about 12 o'clock on the dial), it is indistinguishable from ht bypass mode. i've noticed you're searching for a tubed pre here and on other boards. there are some good ones out there, but don't limit yourself to units that have a specific ht bypass setting as this can be accomplished in other ways.

kevin t

 

[Kincade]

Kevin,

Wouldn't turning the volume all the way up only work for a passive; it seems like with an active preamp, that would be adding gain and possibly distortion.

Didn't you have a rogue?

 

[Tim Baldwin]

Kincade and Kevin,

Yes, an active preamp is adding gain, and the volume control (as with a passive) is attenuating the output signal. So you could say the active preamp's volume is 'adding' gain when you turn it up, because it is attenuating it less.

Therefore you don't just turn it all the way up, nor to an arbitrary setting. You can pick any arbitrary setting to start with, then you calibrate your speakers as you would normally - with your receiver or prepro and test signals from Video Essentials, Avia, or pink noise generator built in to the receiver/prepro. Then anytime you go back to movies (or any source for which you are using the receiver/prepro processing, you return the preamp's volume control to that previous predetermined position (so your calibration is accurate again). You then adjust overall volume of the program with the receiver/prepro (you ignore the presence of the preamp).

We're really making this a lot more complicated than it is.

 

[Kevin T]

sorry to hi-jack your listing, tim.

kincade,

i never owned a rogue audio (thought about it though). i had an audio research sp-16l. then i bought a pass labs x2.5. both of which i have since sold. i placed an order for a supratek chardonnay and am patiently awaiting it's build and arrival. i can't speak for adding gain or distortion, all i know is i didn't have any problem turning the volume all the way up and using the preamp outputs of my receiver. i couldn't tell the difference between doing it this way or the ht bypass mode. of course, i did calibrate all my speakers once i configured the system like this. naturally, your mileage my vary. just my experience with the issue.

kevin t

 

[Kincade]

Tim,

Sorry to hijack too; I should have PM'd offline. I'll do that now.

 

[Tim Baldwin]

No problem at all on the discussion guys. I like to talk about this stuff, and this is as good a thread as any.

Kevin, that last little bit of your last post now makes it all make sense: I would totally agree with you. On a quiet preamp, the little bit of extra noise which may be created by allowing for all the gain, and then attenuating it via your speaker calibration should be negligible compared to a unity gain/bypass (or at least perhaps most systems/ears won't be revealing/sensitive enough to hear the difference that may be there.

Again, absolutely no problem with carrying on discussion here.