rogue metis preamp

Are any of you familiar with the Rogue Metis preamp (or Perseus)? I recently spent some time auditioning different preamps at various stores while I was on the road. I came across Rogue's entry level tube preamp and was blown away by the sound of the unit.

I really liked the combination of the Metis preamp and a Bryston solid state amp. To me that was a very smooth, yet detailed and powerful combination. I didn’t care for most of the tube amp gear, but I really liked tube pre’s with solid amps.

I listened to several solid state preamps in the same price range and was greatly underwhelmed. Solid state preamps of a higher price were nice, but I still preferred the metis. Higher price tube gear was very nice, but not as dramatically different as i thought it would be.

Do any of you have any experience with the entry level rogue preamp gear, either Metis or Perseus? They pop up on the used/demo market from time to time at some very good prices. I thought one of these could make a nice addition for me when combined with a solid state amp.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on build quality, durability, sonics, etc. I'm not too familiar with Rogue products, so I would appreciate your input.
Brett

I've not used the 2 entry level preamps from Rogue, only the Ninety-Nine. The Ninety-Nine is regularly available used under $1500 and is a good investment in that price range, imo. Also, finding one with the Magnum upgrade is desirable. A good friend used a Ninety-Nine Magnum with a Odyssey Audio Stratos Plus solid state amp and had a very nice set-up for under $2500. Good quality 6sn7s (and they make a difference) are getting pretty expensive these days. A consideration. Is the Perseus 12au7 based? Not sure if the Metis has the remote you require.

Rusty,

I am completely new to the tube pre/amp thing. I know next to nothing on what to look for.

To answer your questions, the perseus is a 12au7, four tube configuration, although I have no idea if thats good or bad. The metis is a two tube, 6sn7s system. again, no clue if that's good or bad. I've heard both, and thought they both sounded great. They were in a shop that had BAT for other tube gear, and frankly they were pretty darn close sonically, but worlds apart in price. The perseus used, is likely still to high for my budget, but I've seen one or two get close to my limit. Both have remotes available.

I saw the rogue 99 units, but I had never heard one. Reviews were always good on them though. The 99 was still a bit outside of my range right now. I also saw the 66, which is in my price range. Do you have any experience with that unit?

Overall, is it safe to assume that rogue build quality is generally pretty good?

Brett

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Originally Posted by brett_s

Rusty,

To answer your questions, the perseus is a 12au7, four tube configuration, although I have no idea if thats good or bad......

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12AU7 is just fine. Slightly different sound from 6SN7.

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I saw the rogue 99 units, but I had never heard one. Reviews were always good on them though. The 99 was still a bit outside of my range right now. I also saw the 66, which is in my price range. Do you have any experience with that unit?

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No experience with the 66, only the 99 Magnum.

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Overall, is it safe to assume that rogue build quality is generally pretty good?

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From only my experience with a friends system, I'd say yes. The preamp looked to be well built. When he bought a higher end preamp 4 years after buying the 99, he got most of his money back on resale. He had purchased it used, also. I like the idea of a basic model that can be upgraded at a later date, for those of us that can't build/tweak/mod our equipment. The value is in upgraded models on the used market.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brett_s

Are any of you familiar with the Rogue Metis preamp (or Perseus)? I recently spent some time auditioning different preamps at various stores while I was on the road. I came across Rogue's entry level tube preamp and was blown away by the sound of the unit.

I really liked the combination of the Metis preamp and a Bryston solid state amp. To me that was a very smooth, yet detailed and powerful combination. I didn’t care for most of the tube amp gear, but I really liked tube pre’s with solid amps.

I listened to several solid state preamps in the same price range and was greatly underwhelmed. Solid state preamps of a higher price were nice, but I still preferred the metis. Higher price tube gear was very nice, but not as dramatically different as i thought it would be.

Do any of you have any experience with the entry level rogue preamp gear, either Metis or Perseus? They pop up on the used/demo market from time to time at some very good prices. I thought one of these could make a nice addition for me when combined with a solid state amp.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on build quality, durability, sonics, etc. I'm not too familiar with Rogue products, so I would appreciate your input.
Brett

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Hi Brett,

No experience with tube pre-amps but I have been using a Grant Fidelity tube buffer recently. I am just getting into tube's and have been wondering if a tube preamp will do the same job as a buffer. Do you have any experience with tube buffers? Thanks for offering your insight on Rogue.

Well, i picked up a Rogue 66 magnum off of audiogon. The price was right and the unit looked absolutley spotless in the photos.

The unit arrived via fed ex. I unpacked it from the box, which wasn't packed the best, and inspected it. Absolutely flawless on the outside. I plugged it in only to find out that somewhere along the way something broke on the inside. Couldn't figure it out, but I'd get very little volume from it. Tried everything, including talking to the folks at Rogue, no dice.:(

The person I bought it from took it back and gave me a full refund, so at least it turned out ok. But the quest continues.

Brett

Just noticed this one on Audiogon.

looks like I missed that one. Oh well, there are always more!
Thanks for helping me out with it, should have been a hair faster.

Brett

Just listed this morning. No affiliation. http://app.audiogon.com/listings/rog...ice-reduced--2

thanks for pointing that one out. I had not seen it yet.

Of course, the "improved" Audiogon is having all sorts of problems with the make offer function.......we'll see what happens.