SAS Audio Labs TM Preamplifier Reviews
Where Music Comes Alive TM
SAS Audio Labs 10A Preamplifier.
"I have had the 10A for about 2 weeks now hooked to my EA ZR-1600 amplifier. Steve Sammit came by 2 weeks ago and left it with me to try with my amplifiers. The 10A is a rather simple looking black rack mountable preamplifier that looks no better than the ZR-1600 in appearance, which is to say it won't win any beauty contest. It has dual Noble pot volume controls and thus two large volume control knobs which are not indented. These controls are centered. There is one other input selection control knob to the left side. There is also two lever switches on each side of the preamp. On the left side is a monitor switch and on the right side is the power switch. There is also an AC polarity switch on the back. The 10A comes with 5 line inputs, 1 tapeloop, and 2 sets of outputs for biamping or active subwoofer. The 10A uses JJ6922 tubes with an output up to 20 volts rms. The gain is set at 23db."
"I used the 10A with the EA ZR-1600, Maggie MG1.6QR, Sony SCD-CE775, and Wasatch Cableworks cables."
"The 10A is .........transparent. It adds no coloration of its own. It completely gets out of the way of the music. I 've read reviews that described this preamp as liquidty and smooth. I'm not quite sure I agree with those descriptions. If by liquidty and smooth you mean clean I would agree. On the other hand, if you mean that it adds a smoothness or liquidness flavor to the music, I disagree. This preamp doesn't seem to impart tangible weight or textures to the sound. It goes about its job as if it wasn't there. It holds back nothing. Details come through an open window. In this regard it doesn't seem like a tube preamp at all. I expected some bloom and weight to the sound using this preamp. Not so. It has a openess that seems lively and palpable. It outlines every sonic attribute in the music for you to hear clearly with invincible hands. You know its there but you can't tell its there. There is no background noise to speak of. Bass performance is very good. My Maggies are not known for great bass performance, but with the EA ZR-1600 and the 10A, I was not missing bass performance. Steve Sammit commented about how good the bass sounded on my Maggies with the above equipment. Steve believes that his preamp is extremely close to a straight wire with gain. I agree that he is probably very close but is just a smidgen to the right of neutral."
"This preamp gets my high recommendation because it does what a preamp is suppose to do. It gets completely out of the way of the music and imparts no coloration to the sound. It does this in a most transparent way. Great job Steve! My preamp search has ended."