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Free Shipping to the lower 48 if you Buy It Now!!! The PS Audio 5.5 was an extremely rare build, so much so it caused the President of PS Audio to include a personal letter in the Manual which is below: A VERY SPECIAL PREAMPLIFIER From the very beginning, my personal goal was to build the finest sounding preamplifier we knew how to build. To create a no holds barred product that truly reflects our love of music and audio. In the end, it took 10 times the parts, and 100 times the technology, not to mention all the combined talents of myself, Bob Odell, and Rick Cullen to execute what is, in my opinion, the best sounding preamplifier I have ever heard. In fact, a very special note appreciation is due Dr. Bob as he is affectionately known around here. Bob Odell is one of the finest audio designers in the world, bar none, and the preamp you now own would never have sounded as good without the hundreds of hours he contributed to the effort. But, for all this effort, when you look: inside the preamp, can you see our work? Well, yes and no. After all there is no part (with the possible exception of the revolutionary new MOSFETs we use) that has not been in other designs. So, is that to say the 5.5 is not unique. Of course not. Your look inside will show you cone the most complex pieces of audio gear ever built. So, what makes this preamplifier special? The fact that it has four regulators • Dual mono • DC coupled? No, all these choices are available to other designers. What makes the 5.5 a truly special preamplifier is the human engineering. Why is that unique ? Because this type of engineering is rare indeed. In point of fact, there are only a very small group of designers that create product as we do. By listening. We all use the same basic components, we all adhere to recognized engineering principals, but we design with our ears and our hearts. This philosophy of design can best be shown through contrast with the art of wine making. I use this example frequently when I give seminars, and it seems to be an effective one. All winemakers use grapes. All Wine makers adhere to certain basic principles of wine making. But the products they produce are as varied as peoples tastes. By blending just, the right amount of this, and just the right amount of that, the creative vintner can produce a wine that is considered among all that sample it to be a masterpiece. He does this by constantly evaluating every step. An evaluation that possibly only he understands, because it is a product of his years of experience and his passion to create such a masterpiece. So, it is for PS Audio designs. A constant blending of our skills and experience are utilized to improve what we hear. Like the wine maker who judges and modifies according to taste, aroma, delicacy and magic, we blend together just the right amount of depth, air, clarity, bloom and ambience in order to musical masterpiece. This requires that every parameter of the PS Audio 5.5 be listened to, evaluated, changed and re—evaluated until all aspects are perfectly balanced. And then, and only then, does the ever-elusive magic appear. The magic that separates merely a good component from one that reflects the passion in a designer’s heart. This is not an easy task. I am sure that is why we are among an incredib.lv small handful designers that still practice this art and I am confident you will find a great joy in the results. Rest assured that any products we produce will be direct reflection of our dedication to the art of audio design. Enjoy! Paul McGowan President PS Audio Here are a bunch of the actual specifications and features from the Manual as well. When you buy it, either through auction or BIN I will include a copy of the Manual. The technical specifications are as follows:PS 5.5 is a full-function stereo preamplifier. It has multiple levels of phono cartridge load-ins. It features a straightwire line amp bypass switch. It has moving coil and moving magnet capabilities for the phono cartridge. It has complete tape dubbing and recording controls. It has a precision stepped balance control and a master volume control. It has a remote power supply. The M-500 It uses precision laser-trimmed 1% metal film resistors. It has a CNC machined 1/4 solid aluminum faceplate. It uses polypropylene capacitors with copper leads. It has dual laser-matched FET input phono stages. Phono section input impedance is variable with 100,000 ohms as standard. Input capacitance is 150pF. Input overload MM is 160mV, MC is 10mV. Maximum output is 18V rms. Phase is not inverted. THD/IM at 1 Vrms is 0.1% or better. S/N ratio MM is 80dB, MC is equal. RIAA accuracy is 0.1 dB or better. Auxiliary inputs impedance is 10,000 ohms. It has four pushbuttons for phono gain control. It has resistive loading control for the phono cartridge. It has inputs for CD, tuner, tape 1, and tape 2.It has a high-level function for when more volume is needed.It has a source control for selecting the listening source.It has a tape feed control for selecting what to record.It has a precision 12-step discrete switched balance control.It uses a high-quality metal film multi-wiper Noble volume control. MSRP in 2002 was $1200 for the Preamplifier and $500 for the M-500 power supply. None of this technology is outdated as this is meant to be a fully analogue preamplifier as the specifications show. This would translate to almost 3,000 in 2024 dollars. At this price you are getting an absolute Audiophile Quality piece at a retail store brand price. I would invite you to go check out other pricing, but you cant. No one sells them once they have them. The closest you will find is a 4.6 with the upgraded Power supply...this is a significantly superior piece and was the PS Audio TOTL when released. Per eBays rules the following terms are disclosed in the Description and are Binding to both parties: Both Parties agree this is a vintage piece of audio equipment and while every measure has been taken to promise long uninterrupted use, no warranties or promises are made or given for the long term functionality. Refunds will be issued when the item is fully returned and only in the case of damage during shipping. As you can see in the pictures this has been meticulously packaged. Any issues will require a picture of the damaged box PRIOR TO OPENING, Pictures of the damaged item, and a list of lost functionality. All of these are necessary for insurance to cover the damage. NO REFUNDS ISSUED without this information.
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