Tracknotes
Electrical Audio EApreq 500
READ MORE @ ELECTRICAL AUDIOGreg is the Lead Technical Engineer at Electrical Audio, the legendary Chicago studio founded by Steve Albini. The EApreq500 is his brainchild—an all-discrete, transformer-balanced preamp, fully designed and built in-house at EA. When he asked if we’d like to try one, we were all ears. There’s something undeniably fun about seeing the person who designed and built a piece of high-end gear slot it into your rack.
In the last month we ran our Mojave MA-1000 tube mic through it and instantly knew it was something special. Vocals came alive—present and musical, but never harsh. Acoustic guitars felt wide and detailed, still the tube in the MA-1000 in concert with the Lundahl transformer equipped EApreq 500 gave us that NE Ohio gerth that we live here for.
It’s the kind of preamp that disappears into the workflow—quiet, warm, and full of headroom—but somehow leaves you with tracks that are easier to mix, richer in tone, and more confident from the start.
So yes, we pushed the "Buy" button.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
± .5dB from 7 Hz to 102 kHz (3dB down @120kHz)
MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL=
+27dBu Balanced 10kΩ Termination (typical modern equipment inputs)
+26.5dBu Balanced 600Ω Termination (“vintage” input impedance standard)
+21dBu Unbalanced 10kΩ Termination
NOISE AND DISTORTION
THD+N (1kHz, 35dB gain) ≤ .003%
THD+N (30Hz, 35dB gain) ≤ .012%
IMD (50Hz/7KHz) ≤ .0015%
Noise floor (22- 22kHz unweighted, lowest gain setting) ≤ -99dBu
Noise floor (22- 22kHz unweighted, EQ engaged) ≤ -86dBu
Equivalent Input Noise = (44dB gain, 150Ω input source, no EQ) ≤ -128dB
Power Consumption is typically < 50mA per 16 volt rail, and < 100mA per rail in the extreme (1kHz sine wave @26dBu into a 600Ω load, all relays on).
READ MORE @ ELECTRICAL AUDIO
https://electrical-audio-1166.myshopify.com/products/eapreq500Inside look at the guts of the EQpreq 500 showing off that juicy Lundahl transformer.
