Once this preamp is connected to a good power amp, it is only then you will see what a great preamp P2000 truly is. I have had several solid state preamps and this one became the keeper for myself. It is very dynamic and transparent with full sounding vocals and the sound (midrange) is on par with some of the good tube preamps I have previously used but with a more solid bass and without the hassle of tube replacement.

The interior reveals a dual mono layout with quality parts and two transformers (one per channel), very clean and well thought out circuit. My advice is to get one if you see this preamp for sale. The longer this preamp is left on the better and more smooth and revealing it sounds. I have owned the Marsh tube preamp and can confirm the P2000 easily beats it in all areas.

Wonderful sounding preamp. A bit forward in the mids and highs (most likely due to the nasty sounding AudioCaps). Tons of imaging and detail. Very fast sounding. Tight, deep bass.

The remote activates servo motors on the preamp that actually turn the knobs. That's just dang slick. If you're looking at this, also consider a Balanced Audio Technology VK-3i Great openness in the mid to upper registers. Great sound from a great recording.

Long break in period, poor recording continue to sound poor.

There's something very important to know about this preamp, it takes about a month of regular use to break in. In the first week I thought," boy this is just not going to work out." But things got much better with time. It has an openness with vocals , percussion and well recorded source material that is a joy to listen to. The next item is that a poorly recorded CD will not sound better because of this preamp. If anything, the weaknesses become more apparent. If you have a problem or question, Marsh is a bit slow to respond, but once you have their attention, they are very helpful. If you are breaking out of mid-fi land, this is a great step up. Marsh recommends Monster M1000 interconnects with this unit. This is to be expected as the principals at Marsh work for Monster. A very open and musical preamp once broken in. It is also extremely neutral, which will bother people that like a 'bright' sound. There are no bass/treble controls on the unit. Lastly, this is a Class 'A' component and takes full advantage of the signal. Also , many feel this solid state version sounds better than Marsh's tube model of this preamp.

Price

Sound seems very limited.

I tried this pre-amp after several magazine reviews. I found it very disappointing compared to other preamps in this price range. Just sounded very boring.

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Many/ C-J, AR, Rogue, Cary, and more, all better.

It's very attractive. It has a remote which I consider essential, and most of all it lets you hear every up grade you make to your system and simply gets out of the way.

The remote could be better.

I can't believe there aren't more reviews of this pre-amp. It's a wonderful piece and for the price you can't beat it.

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Cary, Rogue Audio(grossly over rated) and B&K.

Sound quality is excellent, closer to preamp two or three times the price

Engineering and construction quality. More like cheap Japanese home theater gear

I purchased the Marsh p2000t hybrid amplifier new from a Marsh dealer January off 2003. This is a strait forward preamplifier with a tube input stage and transistor output stage. I was enthusiastic about this preamp when it arrived. The owner’s manual is very basic, covering what you will need to make your connections and operate the front panel controls. The manual does lack a more extensive troubleshooting guide. Marsh must have felt the need was not there. What a miss-calculation on their part! For the good stuff. The preamp needed about twenty hours of break-in time. The sound was a bit a-miss! Very flat and no dynamics. Very unusual considering the speakers. After about twenty hours the sound is excellent! Great detail, sound staging and depth. The p2000t was used to drive my two vintage McIntosh MC225 tube amplifiers that are connected in mono. These amps are connected to a pair of Innersound Eros mk3’s and are bi-amped with the Eros crossover/amp. Sound was three dimensional and with the Eros 3’s, made a perfect marriage. The p2000t brought the music more to the level you would expect at a live performance. Now for the not so good stuff. When I first opened the box to the p2000t and lifted it out of the box, the unit seemed very light and tinny. This particular unit has a control knob to have the signal in stereo, mono, or you can reverse the stereo signal. This control is really not needed and was the beginning of my problems with Marsh. If I even touched this control, I would get a static sound through the speakers and sometimes one of the channels would drop out. You would have to tinker with it until you received a clear signal. I just did not use this control at all. I was a little disappointed but was not worth my time to return the p2000t to California. I continued to enjoy the sound of the p2000t for six months, until one day I turned my system on only to find out I had no power to the preamp only. I proceeded to check the inline fuse and it was found to be good. The preamp was plugged into a power conditioner, so I tried different outlets including straight to the wall outlet to no avail. I tried a new fuse thinking that the inline fuse may be faulty, and still no power. I contacted Marsh at this point and Jean was very pleasant and took down all the information and said I would be contacted within two days to troubleshoot the problem with me. I was contacted on the forth day and was not home to troubleshoot that day. I contacted Marsh a few more times and still did not receive a call back. At this point, I was disgusted with the lack of product support and contacted the dealer I purchased the p2000t from. They agreed to take the p2000t back and apply the full purchase amount to a new preamplifier of my choice. Needless to say I chose a different brand with excellent history in product quality and support. Summary, Marsh needs to build a solid product and support the product completely. This is how companies like McIntosh and Audio Research have remained in business through the good and bad times. To say the least, these are not the best of times for high end audio manufactures.

Neutral, transparent, extended and powerful when called for.

None worth bring up.

The first thing I would say is that the P2000 is very dynamic; or, perhaps my previous preamps have been lacking in dynamic ability. It imparts much more life into whatever is going through it than any preamp I have previously owned. It does this without having an extroverted personality. I would liken its dynamic abilities to what I hear from tube equipment. It is very extended in the high frequencies and the bass is full, but “right” sounding; no overhang, no lumpiness, and also no lack of slam when the source provides it. The midrange is smooth and neutral. The sound can be very delicate when appropriate and can have lots of bite when the source dictates as in massed horns. According to my ears, it simply passes the signal along without modification. Transparency is first rate--low level detail is clear and easily identified. A violinist shifting his or her weight in a squeaky chair sounds exactly like a squeaky chair; way down in level from the performance. Unlike my previous preamp, background statements during a certain performance can be easily understood without straining to hear it. Imaging remains deep, wide and tall. Things that happen outside the general area of the speakers are well anchored to places all over my listening room and beyond. I can play SACD recordings that have saxophonists over by my front door (8 feet to the left of and 10 feet back from my left speaker). One recording has choral voices sounding like they are coming from 10 to 12 feet above me (I have an 8 foot ceiling). Another has a singer sounding like she is seated about 3 feet away. These are all exceptional recordings rather than the norm, but when the recording provides it, the soundfield spreads out in all directions with solid images. Summing up, except for the increased life to the sound that I noted when I put this preamp in my system, the sound of the P2000 strikes me like having no preamp at all. It is as neutral as I can imagine a preamp being. When installed in my system, which has been carefully assembled with synergistic pieces, the sound to my ears implies a much more expensive system.

Et all

None as yet, and it has been in my system for almost a year.

Stunning preamp....Built as well as anything I have ever used. Mates perfectly with my ATI 1502''s in a bi-amp config...and all Alpha Core wires. Makes my Dynaudio''s sing, if they really needed it.

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