Feature rich, very flexible programming, clean sound, quality-made in U.S.A construction

confusing remote, weak instructions

I am very happy with this B&K preamp for my two channel system that includes the B&K ST2140 amp, a pair of JMLab 807's and a Sony (cringe) DVD/CD player. The sound is clean, perhaps a little bright on the high end but overall an excellent piece of equipment at a fantastic value. B&K stands by their products and everything is made right here in Upstate NY. The feature set on this preamp is IMHO unmatched.

it has most of features.

I have tested the following pre/amp or receiver
for my study room with $1000-$1500 budget.
1. B&K PT3II & ST2430. ( $ 1250 )
2. PrimareA20 ( $ 1250 )
3. Carry AE-3/AE-25 SuperAmp.( tube pre/amp, $1800)
4. Poineer VSX-29TX ( $1150 )
5. Yamaha 2095 ( $1000 )

The B&K combined just can not compete with others on the
sound qualities. Their sound qualites have a little of everything. They are clean but not clean enough, and warm but not warm enough, .... From the price/performance, I will
not buy the B&K combined at this price level.


My other equipments:
speakers: B&W CC604, CC602-S2, CC6, DM302, M&K 125THX sub.
DH T-14 biwire speaker cable
DH B1 interconect cable
Denon DCD-425 CD player.
Pioneer Elite DV-09 DVD player.

Similar Products Used:

PrimareA20, Yamaha2095

Transparent sound, lots of remote features

Loudness button has too much bass boost.

After purchaseing fairly decent equipment: Bryston 4BST, Joseph Audio RM22si speakers and good XLO cables & interconnects, I was willing to spend up to $1,500 to match my unit with a more expensive preamp. However, the PT3 at ~$600 sounds just as good as other preamps costing twice as much with less features. Like the Bryston preamps, it offers a very clean sound that impresses even my audiophile friends. Excellent value & performance. There is a funny popping sound when it turns on, but I have not had any problems described by the first reviewer. Don't let one person's bad experience keep you away from a great performer!

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Bryston preamps

great interface, terrific uncluttered sound, quiet and solid.attractive styling.

no balance

the P-T3 is the first new piece of equipment I've bought in many years and owning it has rekindeled my love of audio. Along with the b&k 1400-11 and quality interconnects I was moved emotionally by the music as I never was before. I think B&k products are a solid way to get the best sound for the money. I felt gratitude toward the people that steered me to this equipment.

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mitsu dap10

Better than receiver I was using as a pre-amp

Poor instruction manual

I was using a Denon AVR 981 receiver as my pre-amp to a Rotel RB 1090 amp. I felt something was missing so I went with a dedicated pre-amp. It made a big difference. The sound I get is deeper, more full than using the receiver. The menus are a bit confusing however and the manual does not help matters. The problem that everyone is having with the bass from using the 'loudness' button can be corrected. Just lower your setting for the bass output and all will fall into place. The remote isn't bad except that you can't program it. All in all a useful pre-amp for not a lot of money.

High pass output and subwoofer output, allows flexibility
for using a subwoofer. build quality is good, good remote.

tuner is not as accurate as a pre-amp tuner should be, still
way better than any reciever. loudness button makes bass a little heavy for my taste.

This is a good unit for $500-700 dollars. If you are
looking for a good stereo pre-amp and don't have thousands
to spend I highly recommend this pre-amp. It is quite
capable of pulling some clean power out of a good amp
without adding too many colorations of the sound.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GTP-450 pre-amp/tuner

Gorgeous sound (especially low-frequency damping), good tuner, design, matching high- and low-pass filters

Confusing & ugly remote, bad front-panel interface, no option to completely turn display off (although there is a good dimmer)

When the power amp section of my Sony STR-GX800ES receiver went south (after 7 years) I decided to upgrade my amplification, and bought a B&K ST1400II amp. Well, that turned out to be a long story (see my other review for details). But Magnolia offered me a fantastic deal if I purchased the PT-3 as well, so I decided to compare it to the preamp/tuner sections of the Sony receiver. The rest of my system is as follows, and, yes, it is a little unorthodox:

Sony CDP-CA8ES CD player
Monster interconnects and speaker wires
Infinity BU-120 12" 150w powered subwoofer, barely turned on
B&K ST2140 power amp (the eventual replacement for the 1400)
Infinity Kappa 7.1 speakers

I emphatically did not have the same experience that Chris did; my B&K power amp is not at all restricted by the PT-3. B&K may be using an inaccurate attenuation scale. I find that I need to turn it up to -16 to -12, surprisingly high, to get the power amp to wail. But once I turn it up, I get plenty of clear, detailed, open sound.

In my A/B testing, I found that both preamps performed generally well, but that the B&K had three advantages that were enough to justify its purchase.

First, its matching high- and low-pass filters work great. The Sony has a similar feature, but I was never able to get the sub to reinforce the big speakers quite right. Bass was either overdone and boomy between 60hz and 100hz or completely inaudible below 60hz, even after trying every possible combination of settings with the sub's crossover and level control. With the B&K, I was able to let the preamp do the crossover work, turn off the low-pass filter of the sub completely, turn the level way down, and it was like the speakers were suddenly going down to 25hz. This crossover alone justified adding the B&K to my setup.

Second (and this could be related to my problems getting the Sony and sub to sound OK), the B&K has much better damping of frequencies between about 60hz and 200hz. The difference is quite noticeable without the sub, through the Infinitys or even cheap Sony MDR-V600 headphones. Cello and string bass parts come through much more clearly. Bass drums and timpani sound less boomy. Low-frequency sound events (like singers walking around on an opera stage) are much more believable.

Third, the tuner in the B&K is very good. I inherited this old Marantz tuner (!) when a friend upgraded his system some time ago, and of course found it to be a huge improvement over generic Sony tuners for classical radio listening. The B&K eliminates the need for this separate tuner. Its tuner is not as good as the Marantz; it requires more precise adjustment of the antenna for the signal to come through clearly, and it is still possible to hear more artifacts. But the differences are very minor. With the B&K I don't feel like I need a separate tuner any longer, and I listen to the radio a lot.

With all this praise, my 3-star rating may seem strange. But the PT-3 has a severe weakness: its user interface is, frankly, terrible. Sony does remotes and front-panel interfaces better than most makers, so I may be spoiled by my STR-GX800ES (and the pioneering if odd VisionTouch STR-G1ES I used to own). But the remote that comes with the B&K is counterintuitive. Volume controls are midway up the remote, on the left, not in the lower right where they should be. The "Menu" button is nowhere near the actual menu controls. Setting a tuner preset involves a 6-step song and dance. Finally, the remote looks like it belongs with a cheaper product. Buttons are in Different (clashing) Brilliant Colors, and the whole thing is shaped like something you might see on Star Trek.

The front panel, while beautiful to look at, is no panacea either. Accessing menu controls (which contain frequently used items like display dimming and headphone mode) is very difficult from the front panel. The old-style digital character display looks out-of-place on this class of product. The volume knob on the front panel is way too sensitive. Finally, it is impossible to turn off the display all the way, which in the age of video is a very nice feature.

In spite of these cosmetic issues, I am quite happy with my purchase. I would recommend the PT-3 to anyone looking for a good value in a two-channel preamp -- as long as (s)he is willing to master interface arcana. Finally, if you have a subwoofer in a two-channel system, you will LOVE this preamp.

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Honestly, no other separate preamps. A/B'd it with a Sony STR-GX800ES with a broken power amp pretending to be a preamp (in "power swap" mode).
Early '90s Marantz tuner (don't have model number on hand)

No potentiometers to degrade and make that scratchy sound. Looks as clean as something that may cost many times more.
Nice, simple display.

No direct access to the display dimmer, you must run through its menu and you cannot turn the display off completely. The only real weakness is the lack of a switched outlet. Loudness is so exaggerated, it makes that feature useless.

Despite everything, it's probably a great value because I don't think you can come close to anything like that, sound and feature wise in that price range. Sound is smooth and detailed. Overall, a good value. You can get by not using the loudness, because the treble itself amplifies twelve decibels, which is the usual maximum for most equipment anyway, with loudness on and treble at maximum and there's plenty of bass without using the loudness.

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Harman Kardon preamp

Is it an honor to be the 1st reviewer of this product? Unfortunately NOT! IF YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THIS REVIEW, understand that purchasing B&K was a really bad experience for me which suggests that B&K has some serious quality control issues!
Here's my story: after reading about the problems several consumers have had with the AVR-202, I chose to ignore the stated problems, chalked it up to some flukes encountered with a fairly new product and went out and purchased B&K anyway. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I encountered some of the same issues with this 2 chanel pre-amp (I WAS warned)!

Anyway, I had it hooked up for all of 20 minutes before a loud, speaker- threatening "pop" accompanied by buzzing was encountered (between -18 and -20 dbs). After checking and re-checking my hook-ups I didn't mess around: the unit went back in its box, back to the dealer and the money back in my wallet (where it will stay until I can find a more reliable product). Sorry, no malice here, no axe to grind just the plain ugly truth!!!

Options for sub, high pass , Great Looks , Good sound!!

Weak instructions

I was looking for something to add more punch to my Aegis Ones just purchased a month ago. A Harmon/Kardon 6100 Intergrated was the underpowered problem. Welcome the B&K preamp and 2140 amp, this really cleaned up the whole system! I purchased online at soundcity for $1100 out the door. I had listened to the Rega cursa, and Adcom but it just was not worth the cash!! The B&k style is clean and non-japan looking!! For the Money I couldnt find anything that compares!!

Similar Products Used:

REGA, Adcom, Harmon/Kardon