I've heard older versions years ago and was impressed.Got this on my radar along with a couple of other candidates.Any opinions/experience from the SHF braintrust?
never heard it but it is a nice looking piece, love the backlit dials, triode operation is also nice. outboard power supply is good. it uses a semi rare tube, 6823eb (russian) so tube options might be limited. 30db gain is huge, a minor red flag. i have been searching for a used bargain 6sn7 tube based preamp for months just to play around with and have noticed used audible illusion preamps come up very frequently on ag and usam. they do seem to have a good rep though.
I had an AI3 very briefly years ago. Between the aggravating dual volume controls and the bleedover on the inputs there was no reason to keep it.
i was looking at the modwi any time rogue makes solid, refined, dynamic preamps. The RH5 headphone amp line stage is an excellent value and has a neutral dynamic sound, it also has adjustable gain and the base model deletes the phono stage. If you want a more neutral, dynamic sound this is the one to get. It also has balanced connections should you upgrade your amp. The RP5 is more polished, slightly more warm and less dynamic, very smooth refined sound. 4 tubes let you customize the sound better vs the RH5 which uses 2 tubes. A very nice sounding preamp. does come w phono that you do not need, also no balanced connections. The RP7 is my current preamp, it is slightly more refined than the RP5 and slightly more warm and less transparent. It has balanced connections and no phono stage. If your amp is on the warm side of neutral it might be too much of a good thing. All of the above are excellent sounding preamps and mate well with solid state amps. If your amp leans neutral as do the Harbies, the RP7 or 5 would be the best bets.
I have an Audible Illusions Modulus 3B. I started with a 3A and upgraded. I love the dual volume controls. I can easily adjust the balance of recordings that need it. I have never noticed "bleedover on the inputs." I've have the preamps for a total of 30 years and never had a though about "upgrading."
I've heard that before and it's not true in my case. I bought this Modulus 2D used probably 15 years ago (maybe more) and I've changed the tubes exactly twice in that time. And it's literally on more than it's off. Sounds as good as the day I bought it with none of the issues I've seen mentioned here.
I’ve used a m3b? It was a really sublime sounding preamp and especially phono stage. It did voraciously consume tubes
Thats good to hear......i take any "problems" i read about on the internet with a very large grain of salt.
Sent in my L3A blackgate for trade and waiting for my new L3B blackgate and temp on Audio Valve Eclipse from friend who received his Audio Valve Conductor. L3A always sounds excellent for all genres and recordings while Eclipse can sound great and mediocre. Eclipse sounds great with timbre where some audiophile recording stands out .. the L3A cannot. Hope my L3B improves on timbre and it will then be perfect Cheers.
Hi All, I just received the L3B yesterday in Singapore .. hurray ! Without AI's recommended 40 hrs power up operation or 7 days complete burn in as well as my own thinking of 500 hrs due to blackgate version bought, I already know this not inexpensive upgrade is the right thing for me. L3B is quite a lot better than the L3A ...very clear aka blackness, dynamic with tuneful lows and palpable mids .. relistening to old fav music files is one indication and especially midrange simply soars and does not sound as conjested nor bright/shrill when female vocal hits the high notes loudly. Only one caveat for me is that I prefer previous look without golden "Audible Illusion" print nor the profile lines that makes it look even more shallow .. black plastic switches to me were fine. Cheers. Richard PS: mobo and even capacitors of L3B looks different from L3A
Whats the best sounding tubes for the L3-B preamp? I found the stock-tubes taht provide somewhat dry and uninvolving Would Genalex Gold Lion 6922 sounding livelier ?
How about a Benchmark LA4? A friend and I struggled to hear much difference between it and his Marantz Model 7 preamp.
A friend also has an Audible Illusions preamp right now that is being repaired at Audible Illusions. The good: I heard it in his system with a Pass power amp and it sounds great. In particular, it conveys really nice tonal colors. The sound is very rich and full. The bad: He's not quite sure when he's going to get his preamp back from Audible Illusions. It's been perhaps 2 months already? Not sure about the new ones, but the older Audible Illusions preamps are apparently known for eating tubes. He's considering getting a Modwright right now for if the Audible Illusions preamp never gets repaired or if the Modwright sounds even better.
Hi, Sorry for the long delay response ... it has to be stock russian Voskhod 6h23n-eb. Not cheap for a match pair but at least tested and proven by AI themselves and they ard not ignorant of how hard these tubes are driven. No one component determine the tonality or "dryness" and try to play around with cables if possible but yes, it will never be euphoric like Audio Valves pre but it will also never sound bad. Cheers.
Hi, think best always to go via gcaudio who somehow has great relationship with AI to get things going fast ... gcaudio had been nothing but a delight to work with. Btw, pls inform your friend not to be afraid to turn up the balance pots and have master volume controller only adjusted a little bit from mute, it will sound obviously better .. at least in my case where the balance control is only 1 click from max. Cheers.
Indeed and they have to ... only primarily preamp and nothing else to focus and make $ to survive in this cut throat audio business especially for smaller boutique audio mfgrs that I am glad exists and continues to improve their products with passion and not only PnL for mgmt reporting .. lol !
Completely agree with @PCM7027. I have had 2 AI preamps since 1999 - an M3A (with a no longer available but awesome looking 23k gold faceplate), and my current 2009 L2B (essentially an L3 but without the switch on the power supply which was added when they changed the designation to L3. The M3A was definitely a tube eater - although the 6h23-eb tubes lasted forever, nothing else lasted mote than a few months, and sometimes only days. The L2B. however, is an entirely different kettle of fish, and I have run it with many NOS tubes and zero problems. I cannot say if that is due to the newer pre being a linestage as opposed to a full function preamp or not, but "AI3" is meaningless = L3, A or B?, M3A? M3B?? My personal favorites are a set of Audio Research labeled W. German tubes (the ones that used to come standard in the vaunted SP10 - AI says they are Amperex, but I'm inclined to think they are Siemens), which only slightly edge out the splendid and much vaunted Bugle Boys (mine are hp branded, with yellow painted tips). The stock 6h23-eb are fine but, for me, they don't quite have the air and space around the musicians that can be achieved, in my experience, only with NOS tubes. But, importantly, this is a subtle difference, noticeable only side by side - I think you could live very nicely with this preamp and the stock Russian tubes. NB - while they are available elsewhere, I think the ones you get from AI are actually the best of the 6h23-eb. The ones from Upscale are good, and Kevin will tell you that he used to supply them to Art, but I've tried both and the ones supplied by AI are just that much more refined, closer to NOS western European tubes. As far as 'bleedover' - I call BS. I have a very revealing system, and I NEVER heard any bleedover with either preamp, even with Wilsons, Quads, Totems and other very revealing speakers. Maybe you had a problem with your unit? Also, IMHO, complaining about the dual volume controls is like complaining about a manual transmission in your Porsche 911 - if it's a problem for you, you're either more interested in convenience than performance, or simply missed the point of owning and using a piece of high performance, perfectionist audio gear. Especially if you use mono amps, the ability to control the volume separately is a plus, not a minus, and it keeps the signal path dual mono throughout. I've seen this 'complaint' before, and I simply don't get it. Maybe a Sansui receiver would be more your speed. I would be intrigued to know if anyone has gone from an L2B (or L3) to the latest L3B. Certainly, the aesthetics have been somewhat improved, but was is a noticeable sonic upgrade? Anyway, don't let the naysayers and crybabies dissuade you - paired with the right amp (I'm currently using a 34 year old S-120, with some factory upgrades, but I have also found it to mate extraordinarily well with VTL ST-150 and VTL MB-125 monoblocs before I decided I was done with tube power amps for reliability reasons), these preamps are second to none, or at least none that I've heard with an under 5 fugure price tag. The only legitimate complaint, which I have experienced myself and which I notice others have mentioned in this thread and many others is that customer service can be virtually non-existent. I know it's a small company with only 2 or 3 employees, and Art must be 99 years old by now, but there really is no excuse for the delays in turning around repairs and, in some cases, deliveing brand new equipment when promised. Indeed, you can't even get a response to an e-mail, or keep them on the phone long enough to get an answer to a question. Nevertheless, my units have all been trouble free for decades, so I'd recommend it highly, despite the lousy CS (a problem which could likely be avoided by dealing with one of their dealers instead of going factory direct).
I have the same unit as you have and for about the same amount of time. It works fine and sounds really nice. No issues at all. They seem to be priced used below other high-end tube pre-amps. The phono stage is great as well - no bleeding - like the 2 Vol. knobs.
