Comments on the Rhumba 1.1 by Terry London

We received the following from reviewer Terry “Teajay” London:

“Just about a year ago I had the great pleasure of reviewing for HomeTheaterReview.com the Backert Labs reference Rhythm 1.1 preamplifier. The 1.1 rivaled the performance of my personal reference, the Concert Fidelity-080 which retails for $24,000, in all sonic parameters. I thought then the 1.1 was one of the great “unknown” bargains at its $7,500 retail price.

Well, a short while ago I got a phone call from Andy Tebbe who was very excited about their new “baby” preamp, the Rhumba, which he believed delivered a big whopping dosage of the sonic performance of the Rhythm 1.1. In the last few weeks, in three different systems, I compared the performance of the “baby” preamp to five solid state and tube based preamplifiers. The least expensive of these cost 7K and the most expensive was 24K. Not only did it hold its own in comparison to these highly regarded and much more costly line stages, it was quite better than three of them, and was on the same level as the best of the overall group. When I write the formal review for HTR I’ll give all the details regarding the specifics of why this new Backert Labs preamp knocked my sonic socks off across the board. If the Rhythm 1.1 is one of the greatest bargains of high-end audio, it is not hyperbole to say the new “baby” preamp might be the best deal in high-end gear of the 21st century!”