Nobsound Little Bear Turntable Pre Amplifier Home Audio Review

I gave this little guy a try but was deeply disappointed. As previously mentioned, there is no gain with this preamp. To listen at normal volume, my receiver volume was double normal volume. There was a bit of a fuss, I've read that others have opened up the chassis and provided better grounding, but it wasn't worth it. to bother me at all. Try your luck, I wasn't happy with the phono preamp as the aux line buffer was marked the same low gain. There may be better tubes out there than the ones…

I got my teeth on Macintosh, Marantz, Klipsch, JBL, Ampex. The lightbulbs were "it" then, they conjured up visions of warm, whole-body sounds. A plastic transistor radio with a busted speaker will be louder than these preamp cheaters. It may or may not work when you turn it on. Just don't unzip the plugin. Revain has a better selection for the same price. Look for a high-fidelity/low-noise preamp with gain, muted hum, variable gain, signal presence/switch indicators and switches. booming…

Advantages - no noise. He's really calm. Decent gain, low frequencies are quite acceptable. Cons: Worst sounding preamp I've ever heard. It makes my decent living room setup sound like an antique transistor. At first I did not waste time on Chinese factory lamps, I took the proposed GE lamps. That thing still sounds awful. I know it's just a tube buffer and op amps can handle the gain, but there's nothing "warm tube stuff" about this junk. Trust me I installed it in my rig which includes a…

Purchased mm cartridge mounted on a new belt drive turntable. Added sound "Little Bear Cub T7" which was awesome! However, after several hours of use in less than a week, the audio cut off. Can it be that the cartridge gives off a signal that is too strong after "running in"? Quiet passages sound good, but loud passages are cut off. I installed the NOS tubes unchanged. So I sent for a new LBT7 replacement. When it arrived the box was broken. The new block has the same sound. Marriage in…

OVERALL: I bought this as an "upgrade" to an old Realistic 42-2101A phono stage I bought at a garage sale for $10. It turns out the Little Bear T7 doesn't sound very good in comparison. CONS: I always check my audio system for changes with Miles Davis Kind of Blue. To my ears the dynamic range was compressed, there was no clarity up to high frequencies. The subtlety of the brushed snare drum was lost. Low frequencies were a dirty mess with no clarity. I found vertical bass difficult to…

He does what he has to do. The device is clearly budget, but I don't hear any particular problems. I find it really funny that they put LEDs in lamp holders so you think they're glowing. At least it looks cool. As with many other lamp devices, it takes a few minutes to warm up before it works properly. If this sounds dark/dirty to you, wait a while. I just turn it on about ten minutes before using it so I don't have to think about it. Keep in mind that at this price point, lamps are almost…

So I will give an abridged version of all reviews. What you need to know about this device is obviously that it takes time to warm up. about 10 minutes. for optimal sound quality. When I turn on this unit for the first time, you may hear a SMALL hum. like REALLY weak but the buzzing goes away after about 5-10 minutes. So. let him warm up. Peeps also suggested replacing the standard bulbs with GE bulbs, which I did, which sounds fantastic. I'm not sure how the standard tubes sound, but I kept…

I will make it short and simple with some professional tips.1. Read reviews and ignore criticism.2. Buy upgraded tubes. Don't worry about researching, Revain suggests you buy them in the "Frequently Bought Together" section.3. Before connecting this preamp to a turntable, flac player or standalone speakers, do the following: Loosen the front panel screws. Look inside and you will see a switch. This is the GAIN switch. It is set to HIGH. Use a screwdriver or something to gently pry it away from…

This is my first experience with preamps, let alone tube preamps, but I am completely satisfied with the look and sound of this little unit. It looks pretty with glow-in-the-dark tubes and is easy to set up. It also includes a ground wire with alligator clips on the ends - which was nice as it wasn't listed, and as I used it with a turntable it was perfect! My version has a red Boost button on top (not on the inside like other reviews have mentioned) but as others have suggested you don't need…