In his book, Allen describes in particular two designs, one not too complex and one a more all-out assault on the S.O.T.A. (You may also find my name mentioned a few times as well). It so happens that the less ambitious design got a lot more ambitious, a lot more. Please read on:

This design, code-named FVP since it is a Four Valve Pre-Amp, was originally made for Tara Labs (yes, the famous cable people) a company run by an ex-patriot Australian living in America, a certain Matthew Bond (no relation to James).

Matthew/Tara Labs imported in from us in Australia the electronics (the guts) of the FVP design and installed it in a box design of their own design and called this the Tara Labs Passage Pre-Amp.

As Allen has pointed out emphatically in his book, this is not the same Line Stage only pre-amp that was reviewed by Stereophile (it didn't do so well, its line stage circuit was a design that had been tried and rejected by us for exactly the sonic reasons set out in Stereophile. And they were not able to use our copyrighted power supply (oh why did you do it Matthew?).


Matthew wanted us to supply a Line Stage only pre-amp, but....

I was asked to cost a Line Stage only FVP and since the costs are basically in the major parts that still has to be there even if the Phono Stage was not, the costing did not turn out to be that significantly lower, less than 20% when he was looking at an unrealistic 30% plus. So Tara Labs dropped ours and designed their own.


If you come across a Tara Labs Passage Pre-Amp, you will be able to determine whether it is the original superior design by one of two ways:

A) The original has a genuine Moving Coil capable Phono Stage.

B) The PCB will have one of two notations on the underside:

FVP2-rev1 (c) 1989 Allen Wright Australia

or

VSE FVP2 (c) 1989 VSE AUSTRALIA

But the FVP design with its Phono Stage in tact is not dead. Over a period of time it has been honed to a degree that it is vastly superior to the original FVP/Passage pre-amp. And it is now available at a very reasonable cost.

Some optional features dictate the final price at the time the order is negotiated and placed. Select the type of Volume Control and one of two versions of the Phono Stage.

This is a lot of pre-amp that can be compared or put into any system of any cost and still surprise.

One friend took his to his friend's place and inserted his FVP into a system replacing a top of the line U.S. made pre-amp costing more than five times as much and came away from that evening with a big smile on his face. He realised that he had saved a bundle!

Another dealer well known around here in Sydney sold his expensive ARC valve pre-amp and got his hand on an up-to-date FVP, pocketed the not insignificant difference and reckons he has a much better sounding system. Nice to be able to upgrade and make money on it at the same time. Doesn't happen too often.