Classé Audio Delta Pre Preamplifier-DAC $9999 Review
April 27, 2021 Comments Off on Classé Audio Delta Pre Preamplifier-DAC $9999 Review
I’m not a big fan of tone controls, but I appreciated how the Delta Pre allowed me to select an inflection point, then apply up to 6dB of boost or cut. In my setup, this helped restore a bit of weight around my room’s 31Hz suckout. I then applied the PEQ’s maximum boost of 3dB. Having exercised enough restraint to ensure that the result didn’t sound artificially boosted, the cumulative effect was a moderately more fulsome-sounding bottom end. What really filled in that suckout was to turn off the Tone controls and add both subs. Adding them with no adjustment of PEQ yielded bloated, uncontrolled bass, and worsened two of my room’s bass modes. But after taking a few measurements, making independent PEQ settings for each subwoofer (using the Aux output to enable stereo subs), and fine-tuning the crossover slope for each sub, I could barely tell that they were on. The only clue was the only one that matters: I heard a smoother, punchier, more linear bottom end, especially below 40Hz. Providing this way of fine-tuning the sound and integrating one or two subwoofers into a system makes the Classé Delta Pre a dream component for listeners who need these features and this kind of flexibility.

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