A sure fire future classic, this is an outstandingly good pre amp that preserves the tonal and spacial aspects of recordings. Quiet, well made and easy to accommodate as well as tweak, tremendous value given the sound on offer. A keeper !

This little preamplifier is a wonderfull piece of equipment, it has a beautifull look, solid construction, mine has four inputs and two outputs that let me connect a subwoofer and my Halcro power amplifier.

First impresions with NOS valves were good but not exceptional until y re-read the TNT review and changed the 12au7 over the selector for a Siemens E80CC and the other two valves ( 12AU7 and 6X4) for Westinhouses. The sound turned incredible. Wide, holographic, detailed, warm, with very good and detailed bass.

I had read 6moons reviews where they changed the central valve for a E80CC and tried that but the sound was similar than with 12AU7s. If you have one YOU HAVE TO READ AND TRY what the people of TNT wrote on their review.

I have used Valvo, Tungsol, Siemens and Wesinghouse ll NOS valves and as I said before my prefered ones are Siemens and Westinghouse.
It is connected to good quality Siltech and Silent Wire cables but the power cord is a cheap Supra and sounds unbeliale.

If you´re looking for a preamplifier try it, you won´t be disapointed

This small and cheap preamplifier sound nearly as good as the best preamplifier you can get in market such as Hovland HP-100 and HP-200. The build quality is so good so you will guess the product should cost more than it does. Some sound improvements can bee done with change to NOS tubes, but the originally tubes from Eastern Electric sound pretty good too. The gain control could in some cases bee too sensitive in combination with power-amp's less than 1V input sensitive. I have big gain at 8 o'clock, the only weak point?? This preamp is hardwired inside like old preamplifiers such as Marantz 7C and other high end from the 60'ties. No printed circuit means shorter wiring inside and better wire and shielding quality. This preamp is hand built. The paint quality is also of high order and the front panel is anodized in a nice silver finish. For this value approx. $1200 it's worth every cent !

Sound!Sound! Sound quality that I have not heard from a tube preamp at this price point! Three dimensional soundstage that is wide and deep! Build quality! Last tube preamp you may ever want or need!

You must be joking!

Wow, the Minimax preamp without reservations is a giant killer! It has all the sonic attributes you would expect from a high quality tube preamp but without the high price tag. It truly transformed my system from enjoyable to fantastic! The Minimax preamp has the uncanny ability to allow all types of music to sound equally great, no doubt this is contributed by its excellent dynamics & harmonic correctness, now I enjoy all types of music. If I could give this preamp 6 stars, I would. The Minimax preamp carries my strongest recommendation.

Similar Products Used:

ARC, Conrad Johnson, VTL, Audio Mirror, Quicksilver, and many more.

Impressive dynamics. Highly resolved yet smooth. Fast and accurate with a touch of warmth. Extremely musical and nuanced. Voluminous, voluptuous soundstage. Richly textured presentation. Layered, detailed vocals. Delicate sweet painless treble. Deep extended bass with slam when called for. Etc…(Note: this is with stock tubes) Quality build and design. Ten star value rating!!!

‘Where can I get a new pre-amp that sounds like a million for under a grand?’ Like to know? From Morningstaraudio.com who went direct last year due to a gun-shy retail sector. I wish them much success. Their decision has resulted in huge savings on their amazing products. I refer here to the Eastern Electric MiniMax vacuum tube stereo pre-amp, designed and built by Alex Yeung of Eastern Electric and distributed stateside by his partner Bill O’Connell of Morningstar Audio Imports. Mr. O’Connell’s enthusiasm for his prototype made him want to make it available here for music lovers in a tweaked and improved production model. Cosmetically it is no-frills-elegant, nicely finished and apparently well built. Sonically it is probably one of the best designs ever, capable of bringing any system to a higher level of musicality and opening up untapped potential within your other components. I have been fortunate in providentially stumbling upon some pieces that are the stuff of legend while never having to pay more than $800.00 per unit. Case in point: The MiniMax pre-amp that might well be the best of the lot. Others included: AR3a speakers, Rotel RCD 991AE dac/drive (see my review on this site), and APT 1 amp with Holman pre-amp. Tom Holman’s APT 1 amp is still going strong after 25 years of service). The Holman pre-amp had lost some of its sonic luster, so … Enter the MiniMax. Since migrating to digital, when it had finally come of age, I’d been mostly using only the volume and input controls on the Holman. That’s it! And that’s what you get up front on the Minimax, those and a power switch of course, all very silky and positive feeling with a blue LED indicator. The back has two GP outputs, a fuse holder, AC receptacle (cord included) and three GP inputs which can be stretched with a little inventiveness (In this case the Holman phono preamp feeds into my legacy cassette deck which is patched into AUX on the MiniMax. Toggling between phono / tape is accomplished through the tape decks’ selector button. Any rise in the noise floor in this chain is unnoticeable - That’s an extra input - plus the Holman still powers on/off the amp… “Yesterday’s pre-amp refuses to die”). The minimalist MiniMax has no trigger, however it does have a 30-second safety delay. Bill recommends about two minutes of warm-up before turning on your power amp. Driven by a 6X4 rectifier and (2) 12au7’s that protrude from the top beside the transformer, Minimax is the image of simple and functional beauty. Tubes are easy to swap. Inside is a choke filtered power supply, point to point wiring and direct coupling. FIRST LISTENING IMPRESSIONS AFTER 20 HOURS OF BURN-IN: The designer of this musical instrument seems to have endowed it with the uncanny ability to find the musical center of any program and hit the bullseye each and every time regardless of media or production variances. In this it is truly neutral, not in presenting all that is there, but rather all that is necessary, and offering a sound picture that is engrossing, deeply layered and life-like. Translate that as more detail with fewer artifacts. CD’s enjoy great bass extension, forward 3D mids, and sweet, softly clipped extended highs. Vinyl benefits as well with its punchy palpability. Its presentation is open, balanced, richly textured, with highly resolved transients, smooth dynamics and accurately defined imaging. Someone said “holographic”. That says it all! If you are ready for a new pre-amp, do yourself a big favor and before deciding on any unit, contact Mr. O’Connell, he is truly a gentleman with a nowadays rare business ethic: He wants his customers to get incredible value per dollar in his products. By adding this one component into the signal path you will doubtless notch up your entire system quite a few steps into the rarefied realm of higher end. And if you have a number of decent quality pieces in place, the MiniMax pre-amp will make listening so enjoyable that your componentry will vanish in the beautifully warm and voluminous soundstage, leaving you with nothing but the music. And that’s why we buy this stuff, isn’t it?

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Current system array: Dual 701 TT w. Grado M2. Holman Pre-amp (phonostage). Denon DR-M3 Cassette deck Pedestrian GP interconnects. (AUX) Toshiba SD-V392SUA DVD/VHS, Toshiba 24AF44 TV, Stock GP interconnects. (TUNER) Rotel RCD991AE dac/drive, Monster interconnects. (CD) Eastern Electric MiniMax Pre-amp, Wireworld interconnects, APT 1 Amp, Monster Premium speaker cables, B&W DM 603 S3 speakers.

Very clean sounded No tube noise Three dimensional soundstage Conveys music with emotion Relatively small, fits into tight spaces

Change out the stock tubes! Three inputs Relatively small number of dealers

The Eastern Electric Minimax is a no nonsense linestage tube preamplifier designed by Alex Yeung and imported by Bill O'Connell of Morningstar Imports. It replaced an Audible Illusions M3A tube preamplifier in my two-channel system. The Minimax is simply one of the best components I've ever had in my system. Extremely naturally sounding, this diminutive preamp conveys a crystal clear deep, wide soundstage and very holographic imaging. Live recorded events sound "alive". Match some good low capacitance cables and change out the stock tubes with NOS tubes, you are guaranteed to transform your system. The great thing about the Minimax is its sound is easily transformed by tube selection. I've never heard a preamp that can sound so different, depending on the tube selection. This gives your great flexibility in getting the sound of your system "just right". Kudo's to Alex Yeung and Bill O'Connell for bringing such a great product to the U.S.A. Anyone looking for a new preamp is really doing them self a disservice if they don't give this one a listen. There are only three gold plated RCA inputs, so if you have more sources your plumb out of luck. It has an IEC, so you can select your own power cord. I have found the Minimax not to be very sensitive to power cord selection.

Similar Products Used:

Audible Illusions M3A Cary preamps (several) Audio Research preamps (several)

TRANSPARENCY, Timber, Neutral, Dynamics

None.

I'm very glad to see that the MiniMax components are finally listed for review on this site! Briefly, this is everything the first reviewer described and then some. I would add Transparency to the list of adjectives. Having ALSO owned the ELAD, this is certainly a big step up. At the price don't even think twice!

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Cary, NAD, Anthem, ELAD

Clarity, Presence, 3-Dimensionality, Texture, Mid-Range Bloom, Price!!!

Would LOVE to see a Phono Input added!

At 56 years old, I've probably been at this 'Hobby' (which my wife accurately describes as more of an 'addiction') a bit too long. It seems I've seen it all come and go---from Tubed to Solid State to Digital components. Buying mostly from the used market has enabled me to sample some rather pricey items without losing my shirt. And I mean 'sample': As each highly touted 'Holy Grail' turns out not to be thus, I can usually sell the items at a 'break-even' point and, in some cases, even make a dollar or two. Occasionally, however, I'll treat myself to a brand 'new' product which has been extremely well reviewed in these pages---which are far more valuable than most folks realize! The 'AH! Tjoeb' CD Player, Morrison ELAD Preamp, HSU Subwoofer, and Jolida Tubed Integrated I purchased were all MORE than advertized and were, indeed, 'Giant Killers'. And the Most Impressive aspect of the purchase procedure with these products was the communication with the company's Owners/Designers via phone calls and emails. These gentlemen---Don Morrison, Kevin Deal who imports AH!, Klaus at Odyssey, Mike Allen at Jolida, et al, were genuinely more interested in how MY system sounded (and suggestions for bettering it) than they were in trying to 'sell' me something. Class acts all! And now into that group I must place Bill O'Connell of Eastern Electric. At a little over a thousand dollars he has marketed a Tubed Linestage Preamp that is hands-down better than anything I've had in my home (and I've had hundreds!) for under $3,500.00! A simple design, using a 6X4 as a Rectifier, a 12AU7 in the Buffer Stage, and a 12AU7 in the Output Stage, this has, with the proper tubes, as much Clarity & Spaciousness as any Pre at any price! After a call to Bill, I settled on some Telefunken 12AU7's I already had in my collection, with a Tungsol 6X4, and the results were magic. As sources I switched between my AH! 4000 CD Player and Eastern's own MiniMax Tubed CD Player, and my reference Tubed Tuner. Power was supplied by yet another Eastern product---their MiniMax Tubed Power Amp (more on the other Eastern products in another review!). Speakers were either vintage Sonab's or more recent a/d/s models. Though I doubted I would ever be caught dead using some of the descriptive adjectives I've seen on this and other sites & magazines, no others are appropriate here: Lush, EXTREMELY Detailed, Intoxicating, Enveloping, Palpable, unheard of Soundstage Depth, Incredibly resolved Bass, Precise, yet not etched, Imaging, and on, and on, and on....... I thought the ELAD was extraordinary---and it is---but take an ELAD, give it 3 Line Inputs (Gold Plated RCA's) and 2 Sets of Outputs(!), and add the Magic of Tubes, and your immagination can only partly conjur up the reality. Yes, it is THAT good! This little wonder has been out there in a few dealerships for a bit over a year now (from what I understand) and has had a Marvelous review in 'Soundstage' and some other knowledgeable magazines. But, it is still a 'sleeper', as it seems that only those of us who have purchased it (or those fortunate to have one for review) know its true capabilities. Where is 'Stereophile' when you need them! In closing I'd like to mention that I've been a daily reader of the site since its inception in the 90's---and this is the First and ONLY product I've ever felt compelled to review. Do yourself a favor---give Bill a call at 847-255-1150, or visit the website at www.eeaudio.com. and, be prepared---you're in for a treat the likes of which you didn't think existed any longer!

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Far too many--Audio research, Counterpoint (excellent stuff BTW), Conrad Johnson, Sonic Frontiers, etc....