Audible Illusions Modulus 3aThe Audible Illusions Modulus 3a is, as far as I know, the ONLY product made by Audible Illusions. Imagine a company with one product!
Well, it better be good if you are to sustain a business. It is.
The 3a is a minimalist tube pre-amp design. It has been in production for a number of years progressing from earlier designs. It has inputs for
sources (tape, CD, AUX) and phono. There are two large knobs on the face plate for selecting the input and the record path, and separate
Left/Right stepped volume controls.
I had been using a McCormick TLC-1 passive pre-amp with an outboard power supply. It is an outstanding design that was clear and
accurate, allowing great detail to come through. I had auditioned a number of pre-amps (mostly line drives) including some wonderful designs
from Audio Research. When I first heard the 3a, it seemed that the music was bigger. More alive. When I tested the 3a in my home system,
I was shocked. The difference was apparent, even to my non-audiophile wife who asked what changes I had made.
How was it different? Bigger. More dynamic. This seems to be a “feature” when you compare active to passive designs, but in this case, the
amount of difference was unexpected. I am sure that the tubes work their magic as well adding warmth and detail in a way that I had not
heard in my system before. In my review of the Von Schwiekert VR4 speakers, I said that they do bass. Well, the 3a must be a synergistic
match. It opened up the bass in a way I could not believe! With the 3a, the VR4s went deeper and bigger with terrific control. The acoustic
bass on Dave Alvin’s wonderful 1994 release “The King of California” was an unexpected delight, especially on the cuts where it’s slapped.
As an acoustic guitarist, who’s played with stand-up bass players for years, I had never heard a more realistic slapped bass. It jumps out of
the speakers!
At $2,000 for the base model (add about $200 for low-powered MC phono input), this is a bargain. Recommended.

I've had my Mod 3 for about 5 years now, and will probably keep it for several more years. I haven't gotten around to doing the 3A upgrades yet - haven't felt that much of a need to.

However, I did replace the original tubes with Ediswan's (phono) and Tungsram's (line), which made a positive difference.

There's not much I can add to the other reviews below, because just about everything has already been said concerning the A.I.'s, except to say:

The greatest compliment I can give an audio product is the fact that it's been part of my system for this long. If there is any aspect of a component's performance that doesn't fulfill my standards/expectations of what a 2-channel audio system ought to sound like - then down the road it goes.

My (evolving) system:

•Mesa Baron power amp (5881 version).
•VPI HW 19 Mk III 'table w. PLC.
•Well-Tempered Classic tonearm w. mods.
•Sumiko Blue Point Special & Van den Hul Frog cartridges.
•Theta DS Pro Basic II D/A converter.
•Rotel RCD-865BX CD player, (used as transport only).
•Sony TC-K679ES cassette deck.
•Mitsubishi HS-U770 S-VHS VCR.
•Adcom ACE-515.
•Various cabling from Audio Research, Audioquest, HAVE/Canare, MIT, Monster Cable.
•B&W Nautilus 803's (in Natural Cherry - 'natch!)

Similar Products Used:

•Several other pre-amps.