Review: Backert Labs, Rhumba 1.2 Preamplifier

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by mds, Feb 22, 2018.

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  1. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I just purchased a Backert Labs Rhumba 1.2 Preamplifier and right out of the box realize that this is an exceptional piece of equipment and want to share my experience with others.

    First I need to say this review will evolve over the next few weeks due to the fact that I know the capacitors used will need some hours of music play for them to settle in and smooth out. The preamplifier I am replacing is a Conrad Johnson and it had the upgraded Teflon capacitors which took a good fifty hours to stabilize and sound their best. For this reason I am anticipating something similar to happen with this unit, but hoping it happens sooner than fifty hours of play time.

    The associated euipment I am using are;
    CD Player - Consonance Forbidden City Turandot
    Amplifier - Consonance Cyber 800SE
    Speakers - KEF Reference 3

    Room size - 12' wide x 15' long
    Speakers positioned off the front short wall 53" out into the room and 33" out from the side walls
    The room is treated with front corner bass traps, sound absorbing panels side and back walls and (2) diffuser panels behind each speaker on the front wall.

    Back to the preamplier. The packaging was adequate and as expected but nothing unusual which to make note of. The unit itself has some real weight to it and I purchased the upgrade paint finish in blue. The blue has a pearlized appearnce with shading which gives it a really special look. The front face plate is very attractive in a brushed silver finish. There is a mute toggle to the far left, a nice sized selector knob next, going to the right, then a larger volume knob centered followed by a balance knob, which is a nice feature however I doubt I would ever use it since the speakers are equal distance from the side walls free floating with no furniture interfering with the speaker and the listening position. Then finally an on/off toggle to the far right hand side. All the knobs and toggles create an attractive front face plate mirrored on the center volume knob. The rear has (1) XLR and (3) RCA inputs. The following are the outputs; (1) record out, (1) Home Theater Pass Through, (2) RCA outputs to connect to amplifiers or amplifier and subwoofer and finally (1) XLR output. On the top of the unit there is a clear transparent window which looks into the 12au7 tube compartment. This is accessed by removing (2) thumb screws, so tube rolling is encouraged. Volume is controlled by both the volume knob on the center of the face plate and a simple but elegant remote. The remote is extremely simple in design. It is long thin black with silver ends. It feels great in the hand, with some weight and rounded sides, two ball bearing looking buttons that when pushed blinks a blue light indicating the volume is being adjusted. Simple, functional and attractive with good feel.

    Once hooked into the system I turned it on. The mute light is lite initially not allowing music to play. It stays on for a very short moment allowing the tubes to warm sufficiently prior to sound. The light goes off and you are ready to send music to your speakers. Before I hit the play button I was curious how quiet the unit was since I had heard there had been some hiss at the speakers with the previous 1.1 Rhumba. I can confirm that there is a slight hum at the tweeter, however you need to be right up to the tweeter to hear it. I previously stated it was dead silent, however I checked it again and this time I was able to hear a very faint hum.

    I went back to my listening seat and put a disk in the player and begin my first listening session. The music was clean, dynamic, and detailed. There was real kick to the drums, shimmer to the cymbals and detail and realisim with all instruments and voices. The sound stage was deep, wide and with pin point accuracy to the location of instruments and the performers. The sound stage seemed appropriate in height.

    I am going to focus on listening to a variety of music and report back in detail on what I hear concerning positives and negatives. At this point I haven't heard anything that jumps out that would be a negative but I haven't spent much time with the unit and do not want to jump the gun. In a day or two I will report on my listening sessions. For now it was unpackaging, setting the unit in my equipment rack and listening to a couple discs to make sure all was well and good.

    I hope this will be interesting to some people and feel free to ask any questions concerning the unit.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2018
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  2. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Day Two:
    There has only been a short evenings worth of music played through the Rhumba. It is only beginning to be broken in, however it is sounding wonderful.

    My morning selection is by Keith Jarrett, Changeless, a live recording. This is a wonderful album and includes Gary Peacock on upright bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. It is a straight Digital recording on the ECM label. I thought this would be a great album to highlight dynamics and the complexity of the piano, bass and drum kit. It is also a great piece to wake up to or listen in the late evening hours, one of my favorite Jazz piano performances. The first thing that becomes apparant is how dynamic this recording is from whisper quiet passages to extreme jumps created by the piano keys being hit or smacks on the drum kit. The drumming and bass playing are as important in these compositions as is the piano and the Backert really allows those instruments to breath and come alive. The shimmer of the cymbals are so delicate as they dance across the room to my ears and are contrasted by the sticks stricking the drum skins or a hard hit on the cymbal. You can hear the differences in sound and texture due to where the sticks are stricking. The music is very clean, detailed and textural. The dynamics are fantastic. One moment you are lolled into a dream state by the whisper quiet and dream like playing and then abruptly awaken by a loud smack to the drum or the hit on the piano keys. The bass is extremely textural between hearing his fingers slide along the strings to the strings actually vibrating and resonating into the body of the bass. I am able to hear deeper into the music than before. I am hearing some small cymbal sounds that almost sound like thumb cymbals something I had missed in the past. It may not be that I did not hear this much detail before but it never was this clean and well defined. Any vail that might have been over some of the music has been lifted. The bass is a multi note instrument and I can hear this clearly. So often on a system you hear the bass but not the range of sound it produces it just a thump, thump, thump. The album sounds new and fresh to my ears with so much more information to take in. The speakers are standing tall in the room however no sound is coming from them, all the sound is behind, and from the left to right and deep. The sound stage on this album does not extend past the speaker just behind and between.

    The down side is a slight hum coming from the speakers which can be heard between tracks when your ear is by the speakers and if your seated position is in the 6 foot or closer range. At six feet where I am typing this it is barely audible but if you know its there and listen for it you can just barely hear it. The hum can only be heard between tracks. When I sit back in my normal listening spot, which is about eight feet from each speaker I cannot hear the hum. Is it interfering with the music, I would say no. Is it interfering with my enjoyment, maybe, I just would have perferred the tweeters to be dead silent and they are not. Now is dead silent possible with an all tube system, I suppose so, however when I had my Conrad Johnson in the system that produced a much louder hum so this is a definate improvement. I am going to be monitoring this to see if as things break in the hum subsides, stays the same or worsens. At this point it is such a minor issue that I am not concerned particularly since I cannot hear it from my normal listening position. I am using XLR interconnects from the CD player to the Pre and RCA from the Pre to the Amps due to no XLR plugs on the Amps. I will try RCAs every where to see if this makes a difference.

    Next up in the player is McDonald and Giles S/T album. This is the UK Virgin remastered in 2002 HDCD disc. My CD player does not have the ability to us the HDCD layer however it still sounds incredible, better than I remember it ever sounding. That may also be that when I originally bought the LP in 1970 I had far from a high end hifi rig.

    What can I say about this recording, first it is my favorite of this type of early prog rock. I like this better than the King Crimsons of the era and I loved them. There is something so beautiful and playful with this album it hits all the right spots with me and doesn't get too chaotic or extreme in its moments of wild jazz fusion. I will say Track 2, Flight of Ibis brings back great memories and is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

    I do not want to repeat everything I said about the preamp that was said about the sound of the Keith Jarrett review but its all stands true; dynamic, detailed, textured, clean. The difference is many of these sounds are beautiful but not whisper dreamy like passages in Changes and the music is so much more complex and full of many different instrument, particularly brass and woodwind.. The Backert really allows the beauty in the compositions to shine through. The album just sounds drop dead gorgeous, the pre just gets out of the way and lets these complex compositions just bloom. The detail and razer sharp edges the preamp allows had me concerned that parts of this album might end up being too razer sharp leaning on fatigue or bleeding ears particularly when the horns come on full speed, this did NOT happen. The unit is fast and clean and just allowed the horns to be horns with clean dynamic sound, no strain on the ears. Track 4, Tomorrow's People has tons of dynamic instruments such as flute, sax, cow bells and much more. These instruments are all playing at the same time and the sounds could become cluttered. Not the case. You could listen into the music and hear clearly at which ever instrument you wanted to focus on. Again I can not over emphasize how dynamic and detailed the drum kit sounds. Certainly Giles drumming is of another caliber and the pre just shows his abilities off like I never heard them before. For a preamplifier to have so few hours on it and sound this good is impressive, maybe it supports those who say electronics do not need hours to be broken in and what you hear is your ear adjusting to the sound and becoming totally familar and comfortable with the new sounds a new piece inparts on the system as a whole. In either case yes equipment needs to break in or its just your ears I am looking forward to the weeks ahead.

    Concerning the hum. Still not an issue but I believe it is probably still there, not hearing it as I am listening now nor between tracks however when I had gotten up to change discs and put this one in I passed close to the speaker and heard it. We are on the morning of day two. I will continue with the review tomorrow.

    I hope I am making sense and giving a clear idea of the strengths of this preamplifier. So far the only weakness I can hear is the slight hum when I was hoping for dead silence.
     
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  3. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    You say the hum is coming from your speakers so that means it is not just a mechanical buzzing. That sounds like a problem to me. I just checked the Beckett Labs website and didn’t see any specs for the Rhumba 1.2 but the noise level for their Rhythm preamp is 90 dB below a 1v output, which is excellent. I would be quite surprised if your model was significantly worse than that. There should be no audible hum at all. If I were you, I would complain to your dealer or the mfr.

    If the Rhumba 1.2 has any V-Cap capacitors, you will need far more than 50 hours for them to break in. (As I recall the Rhythm model has V-Caps). The TFTF V-Cap sounds very good at first, then not so good, until around 450-500 hours after which it sounds great.
     
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  4. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I switched out the XLR connector from the CD player to pre with a matching RCA and the noise went 99% away. No noise from the tweeter unless you put your ear right up to it and then just a hint of hum now. It's almost negligible it is so faint. I will be discussing the issue.
     
  5. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I believe many of the caps in the Rhumba are similar to the Rhythm, however I am not noticing a burn-in issue although I believe the unit will sound better over time. It is sounding amazing out of the box and I guess as the caps settle in they might shift in sound but at three days in they just sound solid and amazing. The hum issue seems to be resolved by going to the RCA input connection. I'm not sure why the XLR was producing an audible hum and am going to invetigate next week. I am sure it will be an easy fix and report back on what I discover. I am going to connect them one more time just to verify the issue still exists or if it was a flook.

    I am listening to the first Hot Tuna live album, remastered version, and am being balled over by how dynamic, deep, accurate and powerful the electric bass playing is. After each note the reverb keeps going and slowly dissapates. A warm wonder and powerful sound. If you ever wondered how good Cassidy is as a bass player this is a wonderful album to judge his talent by. The guitar playing is crystal clear just right of centered, anchored and tight, the bass is far left, just past the speakers outer edge, and is played with such snap when the strings are plucked, harmonica left of center and so mournful. This is a great album and the Backert takes you right into the room about one table back from the stage. The image size is perfect, very life like. The audience chatter adds a lot to the mood and really helps to involve you and feel more connected to the performance. Just a beautiful recording and the Rhumba helps to bring it to life.
     
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  6. Chris Malone

    Chris Malone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    The Backert Labs preamps look really interesting to me. I'm keen to try one out and enjoying reading the thoughts on this thread.
     
  7. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Sunday Morning Impressions:
    The first thing I wanted to do before settling in was to go back to the XLR interconnets and see if the hum was still present. I pulled off the RCA interconnects from the CD player and pre. Very carefully plugged in the XLR interconnects. I took extreme care to make sure they went in straight and snapped into place at the pre and were snug at the CD player. I verified that they were correctly installed Positive to Positive and Negative to Negative. Once in I went over them again to make sure everything was snug and correctly wired and no cables making contact with others except for the power cables which are all to long to lay out with no overlapping of cables crossing over or touching others. I also, per Andy Tebbe's recommendation plugged the power cable for the pre directly into the wall receptacle. I was farely sure everything previously was connected correctly except for the power cable but this time I took my time, checked and rechecked. Convinced all was set up correctly I turned each component on making sure the preamplifiers mute switch was engaged. I then walked away and had breakfast waiting for all the tubes to warm up. I came back forty minutes later and flipped the mute switch off with fingers crossed...quiet, wow. I walked over to the speaker and listened still quiet. I then bent and put my ear by the tweeter and yes there was a faint hum. It was a little louder than what I remembered to the RCA to be but it was still very quietly there but nothing to be concened about. I think it is common and acceptable for there to be a faint hum at the tweeter if you have tube pre and tube power amplifiers. Speak up if you disagree but at the levels of hum I was hearing it was of no concern to me. When I stood up at the speakers it was not noticeable only when my ear was right at the tweeter. Satisified I put Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall 1971 on walked by the speaker, still silent sat down and pushed the play button.

    Typically I do not enjoy solo acoustic guitar songs but love Neil so decided when I saw this disc at $2.00 to buy and glad I did. This is a great CD, the songs are a great selection from his best period in my opinion and performed so sincerely and in such a delicate way. There are also a lot of songs I was not familiar with. Never hearing this through any other pre I can't say the Backert is improving on the sound but I am amazed at how cystal clear and detailed the songs are coming through the speakers. Inner detail is abundent. I can hear each individual string engage as his strums or plucks and it sounds as though I can hear his other hand compress the string as he holds the string to the neck. I am not sure it is even possible to hear this but it sure sounds that way. Almost like a delicate piano key hammer hitting a piano string but its his finger hitting the string. Typically I have heard fingers slide up down the neck on the string but I am not hearing this it sounds more like a light tapping. His guitar playing is extremely clean maybe I am just mistaking a light pluck on the guitar string for his finger compressing the string on the neck. Not being a player or being at this performance I am relying on my ears. I guess what I am saying is the Backert is able to bring a great deal of detail to the speaker and I am hearing it all very distinctly which is engaging me even more in the music. The piano is coming across very delicately with not as much dynamics as I typically hear from this instument. It sounds in many songs as if he is floating across the keys. I am hearing a lot of body and warmth coming from the piano. The guitar and voice center stage, piano right stage about a foot or two from the voice. The performance is in line right behind the speakers and the audiance is in line with the face of the speakers. The songs where piano is the instrument it is accompaning Neil's voice. The voice is the important instument and the paino is backing it up in a very delicate way making his voice that much more vulnerable. The Backert I believe is really allowing the beauty of this album to come through in full glory and is very much stepping out of the way and imparting nothing of itself on the performance.

    Next up Leonard Cohen"s last album You Want It Darker.
    Very different from the last album although a few more instruments still a very intimate recording. What hits you right off the bat is the choral in the background supporting the deep chesty voice rumbling out of Leonard Cohen's chest. Talk about texture, you could almost reach out and grab the gurgle coming from his throat. The first track is done in a beautifully minimal fashion, the choral, main voice the steady click and drum driving the song song forward. The choral comes in and blooms to a full sound stage extending slightly past both speakers. Then the bass steps in with a click track driving the song song forward and then finally the rumble of the main voice. Incredibly spiritial. I have listened to this track many tmes and with the Backert I am hearing more texture and drive. The music is being pushed with such power out from the speakers and filling the room. I feel like I am in a great dark spiritial hall.

    Still the XLR interconnects are as quiet as I would have believed they should have been the other day. Why there was so much hum then and not now I do not know, but glad it seems to have resolved itself. I am going to keep these interconnects in to see that all continues to be well.
     
  8. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Quick imprssion - Bruce Cocburn: Nothing But A Burning Light

    Incredible drive, pace, rythm and clarity. Sound fills the rooms with such quick and forceful sound. Sharp sounding when it is suppose to be sharp, textural when required and always pin point accurate in its sound staging. Music has the ability to start on a dime as well as pivot and stop with precision.
     
  9. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Below are my final comments on the Backert Labs Rhumba 1.2 preamplifier. I am coming from a Conrad Johnson Classic SE. The SE has the upgraded capacitors and a few other upgrades that I added such as a high end volume potentiometer. Speakers are KEF Reference 3, Amplifiers are Consonance Cyber 800 SE Mono-blocks, CD player is a Consonance Turandot.

    The Backert is officially broken in and sounding much smoother. I just dropped the CJ back in to make a finally and fair comparison. After living with the Backert for a month I can clearly hear that a vail has been lifted that I can now clearly hear on the CJ. The CJ is a bit warmer and not as sharp in the upper frequencies. The CJ is a polite and "musical" preamplifier, for its price point a great buy. The Backert however kills the CJ in air, pin point accuracy, sound stage, and dynamics. The Backert plays equally well at all volume levels from very quiet to loud. It does not loose it detail, air, or sound stage during low level listening sessions. The Backert is more flexible in customizing the sound with tube rolling. The Backert build quality seems more robust however there is, in my opinion, a loose knob that should not wiggle, but does. I was told it was designed that way for ease of rotation. Convenience, the Backert kills just because of the volume remote alone (the CJ has no volume remote) not to mention the ease of tube replacement. Basically the CJ only uses M-8080 tubes, which are not that available and get a little noisy after a year or so of use. The Backert has a very easily removable clear top plate that uses thumb screws to gain access to the two tubes in the well below the top cover. The Backert is more flexible with cabling and system flexibility; (1) pair of XLR ins, (3) RCA ins (1) XLR out (2) RCA outs, (1) Home Theater Bi-Pass, (1) Tape In-Put, mute switch. The Backert, at its price point, would be A++ with speakers that do not incorporate metal dome tweeters and are not overly dry and detailed. I would rate them A- with speaker that might be on the flat, dryer and overly detailed spectrum and incorporate metal dome tweeters. My KEFs are very flat, detailed and have metal drivers and were affected during the long break in period to a slightly aggressive and sharp high end during those high trumpet notes or sudden attacks on the higher register of the piano keys. This only occurred when the dB level was above 80 dB, and the attacks were reaching toward the 90 dB level, so at fairly loud volumes. This quality however mellowed as the capacitors broke in and I am very satisfied now, but see this as something to keep an eye on to make sure your speakers will match well with the unit if they incorporate a metal tweeters, and are extremely detailed and dynamic and tend toward a bright, forward, and aggressive sound. This really is my only concern with the preamplifier, which isn't a big concern after break-in, and in my opinion not a fault of the preamplifier. The preamplifier is extremely neutral and will only bring out the faults or strengths of your other equipment. That about wraps up my review from a very satisfied Backert Labs Rhumba 1.2 owner. I do recommend this preamplifier to anyone in the market for a tube preamplifier in the $3,400 range (price as listed on the Backert Web Site). It is priced well below it's build and sound (or lack of) quality.
     
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  10. Ralph Karsten

    Ralph Karsten Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Paul MN
    @mds Were you aware that this preamp is actually single-ended, that the XLR output isn't balanced?
     
  11. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Yes. Except for long runs I do not think XLR really make that much of a difference other than a better connection. My runs are very short.
     
  12. Ralph Karsten

    Ralph Karsten Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Paul MN
    The advantage of balanced operation has nothing to do directly with cable length- the benefit is there even if the cable is 6". The reason to go balanced is cable immunity (if you've ever heard differences between cables you know what I mean), but you won't hear that unless the cable is actually driven balanced.
     
  13. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I am not concerned with this issue considering the majority of situations that most people are in call for just short runs and with a quality cable "cable immunity" should not be a concern. This issue becomes, in my mind, more of a concern with long runs and professional installations where the cable take abuse and are more prone to issues of electrical/radio interference.

    The Backert not being a "true" balanced connection, which I agree it is not, was brought to my attention by the dealer when I was looking to purchase the unit. In addition not having any balanced cables at that time made the issue even less of a concern. It just so happens that I did upgrade my cables and one of them, from my CD player to the Backert, is a balanced cable. The reason I bought an XLR cable was due to it being used and at a fantastic price. The other cable I had to buy new and I purchased it in an RCA design, same brand and model. In the end I was very happy that Backert Labs decided to provide the balanced option otherwise I would not have been able to have gotten such a great buy on one of the cables.
     
  14. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Mds, you now have an opportunity to compare the RCA and the XLR cables in a fair A/B manner. Just use your old cable on the preamp output and alternate between the RCA and XLR cables on your input. Same cable, just different connections. Each time I have done this, I preferred the sound of the cable with RCA connectors.
     
  15. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    The issue concerning "True" balanced XLR inputs had me very curious and confused so I reached out to Backerts Labs to put this to rest. I wanted to know for sure if the input was or was not balanced and their reasoning. The following is their response.

    "Hi Michael,

    Actually they *are* true balanced connections.

    Both the XLR input and the output provide fully balanced connections for your cables, allowing you to use very long runs of cable. As always, the noise-rejecting property of the balanced format will be noticeable if you have very long runs. If you are using normal lengths of cable, our experience is that there is no difference in sonic quality between balanced XLR vs. RCA connectors.

    The confusion may arise because our first Rhumba (the 1.1) did not have fully balanced connections - they were simply XLR connectors that we provided as a convenience.

    What is not fully balanced in your unit is the circuitry inside — the connections from place to place inside the unit are single ended. Why is that. In order for them to be balanced we would have to double the circuitry in the preamp So, 4 tubes instead of 2... and a doubling of wire, capacitors, as well as switches and volume controls twice as big, etc. This gets expensive for our customers and we don’t feel that it is justified sonically. We carefully compared the Rhumba 1.2 to preamps that use balanced topology inside, to be sure..."

    So when I was told that the XLR wasn't balanced the dealer must have been still referring to the 1.1 or maybe the circuitry and I just misunderstood. What I purchased was the 1.2 version, which according to the manufacturer is a "True" balanced input connection. I still stand by my belief that XLR and RCA are equal when it comes to audio rejection for short runs in the sense that the XLR is overkill in it's design for most home audio systems. I do love how solid the XLR connection is and therefore for me this is where the true benefit lies for me, besides the flexibility of being able to use either style of interconnect.
     
  16. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I did something similar when comparing my old RCA cable to the proposed new cable that was XLR. I kept switching back and forth to determine if I heard a difference and which cable I preferred. It was more difficult than just switching the knob from channel 1 to 2 due to the difference in volume between the two types of inputs. The XLR had a volume boost. In the end I felt I liked the Audioquest interconnect more than the Van Den Hul so I switched over to Audioquest and have the XLR between the CD player and Preamplifier and the RCA between the Preamplifier and the Amplifiers. This arrangement is working out nicely and I truly do not believe in my system with my short runs and the fact that no cable comes in contact with another that there is any advantage in terms of sound between the two types of connections.
     
  17. Ralph Karsten

    Ralph Karsten Forum Resident

    Location:
    St. Paul MN
    Interesting. The 1.2 does not appear on their site other than in passing. The actual information page is for the 1.1, and in it one can clearly see in the interior photo that the XLR is just tied to the RCA. I have to assume that they are using an output transformer since no extra tubes are added, unless solid state is employed. The idea that to do balanced internally requires doubling the parts however is a common myth. Clearly its more than single-ended, but its less than doubled, unless non-differential circuits are employed.

    If your amplifier accepts a balanced input, it will likely have superior performance if provided with a balanced source. This will vary from amp to amp depending on the CMRR (Common Mode Rejection Ratio) of its input section. For this reason, even when CMRR is in the high 90s, the improvement can be audible. Another thing to keep in mind is that many high end audio manufacturers don't support the balanced line standard, also known as AES File 48. One of the most difficult aspects of this is that the balanced signal ignores ground, which is only used for shielding. IOW if the signal references ground and there are ground return currents, the construction of the cable will start to make a difference, and you may thus prefer a more expensive cable. IME, if balanced line is set up properly, you won't hear differences between cables, cost being unimportant.
     
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  18. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    I agree the web site is confusing in terms of finding the 1.2, however if you hit the tab "Products", "Rhumba" and then "Sound Quality" you will go to the 1.2, follow link below if you want to see where this leads:

    Sound Quality | Backert Labs

    For me the bottom line is the Rhumba 1.2 was a very noticeable step up from my previous preamplifier which was an entry Conrad Johnson Classic SE, which did have the upgrade capacitors and I had a number of the internals upgraded by Bob Backert including the volume pot. This was all had been performed to my CJ prior to any of the Backert Lab preamplifiers going on the market. I will say that I loved my CJ for many years but now love the Rhumba much more. The build quality on the Rhumba also is noticeably better than on my CJ at least to my hands and eyes. It seems much more substantial, greater flexibility on the rear and best of all it sounds better and comes with a volume remote.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2018
  19. mds

    mds Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    PA
    Long term update on the Backert Labs Rhumba 1.2 Line Stage, along with additional information on the companies Rhumba 1.3 Extreme.

    The Rhumba 1.2 took a long time to break in, however once broken in this unit was a dream to use and listen through. I can only speak to the synergy that developed between my components and this line stage. The increase in dynamics was noticeable immediately, even without break in. You could not listen to music without tapping your foot, you really were involved in the music you were listening to. Sound stage was wonderful, when the music was not mixed as a wall of sound the instruments / musicians were highly defined in that sound stage and rock solid in their places. It truly felt like the musicians were visiting your room on certain recordings and I really appreciate this type of magic that certain systems can bring out, so that ability was very important to me. This unit also is a tube rollers dream. It really showed off differences in various tubes, and accessing the tubes was extremely easy due to the access panel on the top of the unit. Two thumb screws and you have access to the two tubes. I first used the stock tubes, then tried NOS Mullards, which is what I am presently using. Very musical mid range and great sound stage abilities particularly in depth. I also had tried a pair of Psvane tubes but went back to the NOS Mullards. I really was in heaven with my system and felt that it was my end of life setup. I'm 66, retired and on a fixed income now so going out and buying new pieces of equipment is a big deal and luckily I feel no need but still have curiosity.

    I did have an opportunity to try a high end pair of solid state mono-blocks and preferred my tube mono-blocks over them even though my tube mono-blocks have a fraction of the power the solid state units had. The bass was more authoritative with the additional power but there was the loss of that tube magic in the mid and upper frequency ranges so it was apparent moving to a more powerful solid state unit was going to make any improvement I was interested in all though the additional bass authority was nice. For this reason I tried a pair of subwoofers and that was the ticket. I was back to the no more changes, end of life set up.

    Well that may now not be the case. I was very fortunate to be able to try Backert Labs Rhumba 1.3 Extreme for an extended time and this did make a difference that most definitely improved the sound in terms of hearing deeper into the music and an increased sense of authority and dynamics. There was more detail to hear and I was actually hearing more music than I had with the 1.2. This difference was subtle, but I definitely noticed it as I listened to more and more music and the unit stayed in my system for a number of days. During this time I switched back and forth a few times between the 1.2 and the Extreme to find out how much of a difference there was between the two units. When the 1.2 was reinserted I was aware of the difference at first, but as the day moved forward listening through the 1.2 I became less concerned with the difference between the two only due to how amazing the 1.2 was. Fortunate or unfortunate once I put the Extreme back in things opened up enough that I again said "wow" all this information was in that file or disc and I just hadn't heard it.

    This has created a dilemma, which I am currently trying to figure out, is it worth abandoning the 1.2, which was not inexpensive to purchase, for the Extreme? The Extreme is a step up, there will always be a step up, but is this step worth trying to figure out how to scrape up the money to afford a new line stage, in addition how do I justify this expense other than I am incrementally upgrading because the 1.2 does sound so wonderful in my system, but is this large investment worth it? I could alway move the 1.2 to my home theater setup since it has a home theater bypass which should make 2 channel in that room sound so much better or I could put the 1.2 on the market and sell it to help offset the cost of the Extreme? There certainly are much more important things in my life to solve than this, so for the moment I am going to let the Extreme go and continue to enjoy my 1.2 and if for some reason I come into a little landfall of extra cash I might just squirrel it away for that day I can afford the Extremen 1.3 or whatever other wonderful model that might come after the Extreme in the stable of Backert Labs line stages.

    What is nice and really unusual is that at Backert I am confident they are improving their products constantly and really stand behind them. If you have an issue it is easy to reach them and they are responsive. This is really another important aspect of buying Backert Labs. I have no issue with the 1.2 and can confidently say the 1.3 Extreme is a better unit. If you are in the market for a line stage, no phonestage built in, then I highly recommend you try their line stages and if you can afford their higher end line stages they are worth the extra expense, but if you can't and only can afford their entry point, which still in not inexpensive, it is well worth the investment and very close to their more expensive models in terms of sound. I first came in contact with this company when I had a Conrad Johnson line stage that I wanted to upgrade. Through the internet I discovered Bob Backert was a wiz at these types of modifications and he modified my Conrad Johnson to my great satisfaction and this carried me through many other component upgrades within my systems until it was time to upgrade the line stage again and luckily for me their Rhumba 1.2 was on the market.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2019
    Raiderdave and timind like this.
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