Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: Halifax, UK
Posts: 1,399
I'm Nick.
I would remind you of the phrase "all a valve knows are the voltages and currents on its pins". As to if the signal is on the grid or the cathode, it all depends where you are standing, all the valve knows is the voltage between the grid and cathode changes. Either the grid waves up and down, or the cathode waves down and up.My theory at the moment is that the difference is probably down to the input valve being driven via its cathode in the cascode circuit as opposed to the grid in a standard MM circuit. Anyone have any ideas on this or experience with experimentation?
Nick.
Thanks Nick, I'll put that thought to bed then
Hi Nick,
Glad you've jumped in here... Any theories/ideas as to why, certainly in my experience so far, providing that an MC head amp or SUT is of suitable quality, and optimally matches the partnering MC cartridge, sonically and electrically, the signal always seems to sound better amplified that way, than directly via an MC input, no matter whether the phono stage in question is valve or SS?
To my ears, the sound always has a certain 'magic' with a quality head amp or SUT 'at the helm', as it were, which otherwise is lacking... I also note that many expensive/specialist commercial phono stages feature built-in and adjustable SUTs, so I guess that there must be something in it.
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: Halifax, UK
Posts: 1,399
I'm Nick.
Well, I do have a theory. Not everyone will agree, but thats not my problem :-).
Phono stages are very hard things to make well, Making a good MM phono stage on its own is a hard thing to do well, but if thats the goal, thats the bit thats done well. Making a step up transformer is also hard if done well, and so is making a head amp. Stages that combine the head amp and the mm stage, tend not to have twice the work going into them, so there are more compromises. The jfet front end idea is a good way of combining valve with MC levels of noise, but its not perfect. I make them myself, but after two years of work making a MM input stage, I can hear the jfet in a jfet input. Its almost inaudible, but its still there and you can tell if you get everything else right. SS Head amps have more to them than a simple jfet, so they can often do a better job, and being standalone, the designer is more focused. SS only is so much simpler, so simple the designer generally doesnt work hard enough, and that suffers again from that. Its just about possible to get a pentode front end quiet enough for a cartridge like a 103, using that its possible to hear what both the head amps and step ups are getting wrong. With good ones its very slight, but you can tell when its not there. Lots of other parts of a phono matter just as much as the front end, but thats another rant or two.
Then again, some folk have their own preferences in the sound, that may mean that one or the other approach is a better match for their ears and or system. Thats all good as well.
Nick.
I really enjoyed your system Marco, I didn't say on the day but when we moved to vinyl I got the same feeling that I always do. With any system of reasonable quality vinyl always gives that better 'organic' feel and yours was no exception.
The brilliant thing is with such a sorted system that you know so well is that you can recognise and pinpoint the variations with different kit and I thank you for that.
I guess the spaciousness of the mid range on the copper amp in comparison is down to the copper being class A. Of course the benefit of going down the hybrid route is not requiring the expense of the quality iron needed in an all valve power amp.
I didn't quite realise your spend on the Rpi so that explains why it was so close behind the others sources
As an aside I shall be bringing out a phono only pre, you both saw the chosen enclosure for the Vivant.
Thanks for that insight, Nick, and explaining it a way that a 'layman' can just about understand!
I agree essentially with what you're saying, and in some ways is best summed up as: 'choose your trade-offs/compromises carefully', because in audio, there is rarely a 'free lunch'. However, I like how you've looked at it here:
Hadn't thought of it like that before, in terms of how "focussed" the designer is or isn't, when his or her attention is also being diverted towards other areas of a product. I definitely do think that's relevant.
Yup, as indeed is the case when, simply through not much more than luck (or perhaps educated judgement), one hits upon a symbiotic combination of SUT/head amp and cartridge, where for no particular technical reason, sonic and musical synergy is achieved.Then again, some folk have their own preferences in the sound, that may mean that one or the other approach is a better match for their ears and or system. Thats all good as well.
It can be a funny, and rather unpredictable game sometimes, this hi-fi malarkey!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Excellent post Nick and I definitely agree.
Oh, just one further thought, Nick...
Would you consider that there's any mileage in the notion that because, with say, a quality head amp in the equation, being supplied from its own dedicated linear PSU (as is the case with my Paul Hynes), that this reduces noise in the signal path, or that the integrity of the signal is somehow else better preserved, than when going through a standalone MC stage, where the whole circuit shares the same PSU?
Almost like you're regulating the circuit better, with the signal amplification stage (head amp) having its own dedicated power supply? Experience tells me that individually regulating different parts of a circuit like that can have a significant influence on the performance of any piece of audio equipment.
Or am I talking bollocks?
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!