SUMO Electra Plus Preamplifier -

This is my SUMO Electra Plus preamplifier designed by James Bongiorno of Hadley, S.A.E, Great American Sound, and here SUMO fame.  The Electra Plus is a very revealing preamp.  

This truly is one of those preamps where you will be hearing instruments and subtleties in the mix that you hadn’t noticed before.  I wouldn’t call this a forward sounding preamp, the way the Phase Linear 4000 is.  This is far more neutral sounding, but very dynamic.  Not surprisingly, this amp reminded me of the Great American Sound Thalia preamp.  

This is truly a high end piece, leaving nothing hidden.  The soundstage is wide and deep, the imaging is excellent.  The tone controls are gentle and work on a well balanced curve that doesn’t color the program material.  They simply compensate for the compromised room acoustics.  

I was expecting a first rate phono stage, and here the Electra Plus delivered.  The phone section was smooth, dynamic, dead silent and non fatiguing.  Precisely what you would want.  The build quality is first rate with an excellent well designed layout.  

This is a preamp that most anyone can live.  Out classing any of the vintage McIntosh, Marantz and Citation preamps that I have had.  Phase Linear’s 4000, though revealing and dynamic is a headache waiting to happened.  Here the SUMO has weight and authority, but also finesse.  

I highly recommend this preamp.  It works especially well with any of the superb SUMO amplifiers.  It of course was a perfect match for my SUMO Andromeda but I also used this with my Phase Linear 400, Nikko ALPHA ONE, and Crown XIL 1500 and Citation 16A with great success.  Hard to find, built in small numbers, but worth looking for.  More to come.