SEPTEMBER 2006
In early June, I was looking around Audiogon and came across a high-end
tube preamp that I had read a very positive review of but had never
expected to see for sale used. Its asking price wasn’t outrageous but also
wasn’t anywhere near what I could readily afford either.
Over the next few weeks, I checked on the ad occasionally and watched
while the price was reduced-- four hundred dollars. At this point, I asked
myself, is there any possible way that I could scrape together the money to
make an offer for it?
I still had the hundred dollars from selling the JBL L110s last spring and a
couple hundred from my birthday that I had held onto for just this sort of
occasion. I had also been making a list for some time of items that I would
sell when the opportunity came to leave Missouri. I consulted my list.
For the next six weeks, I ran ads on Craigslist, in the free ad section of the
newspaper, and even did a garage sale.
When all was said and done, I got together $1200--a LOT of money in my
economy.
At precisely this point, of course, the preamp sold. I still had not
accumulated quite enough dough to make a serious offer, although I was
close. I have to admit that I was disappointed. I could visualize the
preamp sitting in my equipment rack so clearly that it just seemed like its
arrival there was predestined.
I spent the next few weeks checking the preamp ads as they came onto
Audiogon but found nothing that was as interesting. It seems like there
are two types of preamps at this price point. You have the approximately
ten year old audiophile equipment--Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, and
others which sold new for anywhere from $2,000 to about $4,000 or you
have equipment like the Prima Luna and Jolida, which is a year old but sells
new for only about $1,500. I wanted something three or four years old,
which sold new for $5,000 but is now less than $1,000. Is that so
unreasonable?
Having found no interesting preamps for sale after looking for several
weeks, I began asking myself if I wasn’t perhaps going about this
enterprise the wrong way. My VTL amp is fifteen to sixteen years old and
my MG 10s are twelve years old. Maybe I should be looking for an amp
instead of a preamp. Maybe even speakers instead. Maybe I should look
for a somewhat more powerful amp that will give me more speaker
options. This led to a simple plan.
History is full of simple plans: Take soldiers to Waterloo, beat British, be
home in plenty of time for birthday. Get ship, dogs, supplies, sail to
Antarctic, sled to pole, put up flag, beat feet for home. Lie and mislead
public in order to invade Iraq, bask in resulting glory.
Mine was:
A) Buy like new used VTL ST-85 amp (or similar) for about $800, leaving
me $400, of my original $1200.
B) Sell VTL 50-50 for $500, giving me $900.
C) Buy pristine used MG 2.7s, or possibly 1.6s, for about $800-1000.
D) Sell MG 10s for $600, giving me...let’s see...
Like many other plans, mine didn’t go precisely as conceived but, unlike
many others, it can hardly be considered a disaster, at least to this point.
I couldn’t find a used VTL ST-85 in my price range but did find a Rogue
Stereo 90. It is only about one and one-half years old! The bad news, if
you can call it that, is that it took all of my money. I paid $1150 for it
delaying for now phases B through H of what I like to think of as: le grand
plan de le stereo upgrade. Trust me, though, the plan will return.
Buying the Rogue Stereo 90 does accomplish two worthwhile things: first
it’s virtually new. While the VTL 50-50 is working fine, it isn’t going to go
on forever without me having to eventually invest in some updating to keep
it that way. Second, the Rogue has about twice the power of the VTL. I’m
optimistic that this might allow me to use a speaker like the MG 1.6 in my
system. Should a good deal on a pair of these turn up, I would be very
tempted to try them (assuming that I had the money.) I would retain the
present biamped setup, which would relieve the Rogue 90 of having to
power frequencies below 50 or 60 Hz, which should further help.
I don’t have the Rogue 90 yet. I will be on the road next week taking my
younger daughter to college so I asked the seller to hold off on shipping it
until after Labor Day. It just didn’t work to get the amp here before we
left and I won’t have any time to mess with it anyway until I get back. I will
be writing about it just as quickly as I get a handle on its sound.
And that brings up the third thing buying this amp accomplishes—providing
a diversion, a new toy, something to look forward to--as I adapt to not
having a daughter around the house for the first time in over twenty-seven
years.
The Rogue has its work cut out for it.
Kent Johnson
August 26, 2006
In early June, I was looking around Audiogon and came across a high-end
tube preamp that I had read a very positive review of but had never
expected to see for sale used. Its asking price wasn’t outrageous but also
wasn’t anywhere near what I could readily afford either.
Over the next few weeks, I checked on the ad occasionally and watched
while the price was reduced-- four hundred dollars. At this point, I asked
myself, is there any possible way that I could scrape together the money to
make an offer for it?
I still had the hundred dollars from selling the JBL L110s last spring and a
couple hundred from my birthday that I had held onto for just this sort of
occasion. I had also been making a list for some time of items that I would
sell when the opportunity came to leave Missouri. I consulted my list.
For the next six weeks, I ran ads on Craigslist, in the free ad section of the
newspaper, and even did a garage sale.
When all was said and done, I got together $1200--a LOT of money in my
economy.
At precisely this point, of course, the preamp sold. I still had not
accumulated quite enough dough to make a serious offer, although I was
close. I have to admit that I was disappointed. I could visualize the
preamp sitting in my equipment rack so clearly that it just seemed like its
arrival there was predestined.
I spent the next few weeks checking the preamp ads as they came onto
Audiogon but found nothing that was as interesting. It seems like there
are two types of preamps at this price point. You have the approximately
ten year old audiophile equipment--Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, and
others which sold new for anywhere from $2,000 to about $4,000 or you
have equipment like the Prima Luna and Jolida, which is a year old but sells
new for only about $1,500. I wanted something three or four years old,
which sold new for $5,000 but is now less than $1,000. Is that so
unreasonable?
Having found no interesting preamps for sale after looking for several
weeks, I began asking myself if I wasn’t perhaps going about this
enterprise the wrong way. My VTL amp is fifteen to sixteen years old and
my MG 10s are twelve years old. Maybe I should be looking for an amp
instead of a preamp. Maybe even speakers instead. Maybe I should look
for a somewhat more powerful amp that will give me more speaker
options. This led to a simple plan.
History is full of simple plans: Take soldiers to Waterloo, beat British, be
home in plenty of time for birthday. Get ship, dogs, supplies, sail to
Antarctic, sled to pole, put up flag, beat feet for home. Lie and mislead
public in order to invade Iraq, bask in resulting glory.
Mine was:
A) Buy like new used VTL ST-85 amp (or similar) for about $800, leaving
me $400, of my original $1200.
B) Sell VTL 50-50 for $500, giving me $900.
C) Buy pristine used MG 2.7s, or possibly 1.6s, for about $800-1000.
D) Sell MG 10s for $600, giving me...let’s see...
Like many other plans, mine didn’t go precisely as conceived but, unlike
many others, it can hardly be considered a disaster, at least to this point.
I couldn’t find a used VTL ST-85 in my price range but did find a Rogue
Stereo 90. It is only about one and one-half years old! The bad news, if
you can call it that, is that it took all of my money. I paid $1150 for it
delaying for now phases B through H of what I like to think of as: le grand
plan de le stereo upgrade. Trust me, though, the plan will return.
Buying the Rogue Stereo 90 does accomplish two worthwhile things: first
it’s virtually new. While the VTL 50-50 is working fine, it isn’t going to go
on forever without me having to eventually invest in some updating to keep
it that way. Second, the Rogue has about twice the power of the VTL. I’m
optimistic that this might allow me to use a speaker like the MG 1.6 in my
system. Should a good deal on a pair of these turn up, I would be very
tempted to try them (assuming that I had the money.) I would retain the
present biamped setup, which would relieve the Rogue 90 of having to
power frequencies below 50 or 60 Hz, which should further help.
I don’t have the Rogue 90 yet. I will be on the road next week taking my
younger daughter to college so I asked the seller to hold off on shipping it
until after Labor Day. It just didn’t work to get the amp here before we
left and I won’t have any time to mess with it anyway until I get back. I will
be writing about it just as quickly as I get a handle on its sound.
And that brings up the third thing buying this amp accomplishes—providing
a diversion, a new toy, something to look forward to--as I adapt to not
having a daughter around the house for the first time in over twenty-seven
years.
The Rogue has its work cut out for it.
Kent Johnson
August 26, 2006
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