Moving Coil Cartridge loading

[RothwellAudio]

The NE5532 is a dual op-amp. If you use one half per channel you only have one op-amp to give you all the gain you need for a LOMC - and there isn't really enough to give you that much gain and do the RIAA curve and have some gain left for feedback. On top of that, NE5532s are too noisy for an LOMC.

[Firebottle]

Excellent post #59 Andrew.

^
I've used a similar board as a donor pcb for a head amp circuit but (of course) with op-amp and circuit value changes.

Too right about the noise, sorry did I say noise

[RothwellAudio]

I've used a similar board as a donor pcb for a head amp circuit but (of course) with op-amp and circuit value changes.

Too right about the noise, sorry did I say noise

Yes. The NE5532 has been around since the 1970s and if it was so easy to use one for LOMC duties it would have become the norm back then. However, as Alan says, it's too noisy for an LOMC. Many designers grappled with the problem of getting a good signal-to-noise ratio from discrete transistor circuits and many audiophiles stuck to using step-up transformers. Nobody used an NE5532 and achieved satisfactory performance. Certainly nobody was daft enough to try to do a whole LOMC phonostage with just one opamp. Yes, it would work - but it certainly wouldn't be high fidelity.

[Bigman80]

Bit of further information. That board I recommended has a different Opamp and is modded to accommodate the new opamp. Not a straight forward as I thought.



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[steve-z]

I’ve just had an email from a friend of mine who has virtually the same vinyl setup as myself MP110/Mani/Rega, his Rega though is the RP6 as opposed to my Planar 3. In fact he has 2 RP6s so is very able to do direct cartridge comparisons. He has just fitted a MC to one of his decks, a fairly well used Dynavector Karat Ruby 23R. In the email he states that although the setup sounds good it does not beat the MP110 and he considers the combination with the 23R to be a little lacking, he didn’t say in what way so I’ll need to question him further for more details and perhaps get him to post his findings on this thread.


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[Phil Bishop]

I’ve just had an email from a friend of mine who has virtually the same vinyl setup as myself MP110/Mani/Rega, his Rega though is the RP6 as opposed to my Planar 3. In fact he has 2 RP6s so is very able to do direct cartridge comparisons. He has just fitted a MC to one of his decks, a fairly well used Dynavector Karat Ruby 23R. In the email he states that although the setup sounds good it does not beat the MP110 and he considers the combination with the 23R to be a little lacking, he didn’t say in what way so I’ll need to question him further for more details and perhaps get him to post his findings on this thread.


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Not quite Steve :-)

Firstly, I don't know the use on the DV but it has a Weiss re-tip and came from a friend who ditched vinyl a long time ago so for all I know it may have very low hours. At 1.4 g or so it tracks perfectly throughout a demanding record side where I often get IGD - not with this, so I can only assume it's still pretty good



It sounds FANTASTIC to be honest through the Schiit but given the gain settings required there is a fair amount of background hiss in my system, only noticeable when one is not playing records.

The question is how good would it sound with a dedicated MC or different MM/MC phono stage? As you know, I have a NJC phono stage which I love but it only does MM. So, I'm thinking seriously of buying NJC's SUT.

All this is not to detract from the Nagaoka MP-110 which I have on my other RP6 which I consider outstanding for the price through either phono stage.

I love all the discussion you get on Forums about cartridges as ultimately it all boils down to personal taste. I have tried all the usual AT, Rega, Ortofon, etc reasonably priced MM staples, some several times, and with the exception of the humble Rega Carbon have never really bonded with any of them. The Nag-110 seems to tick all the boxes for little money.

Personally, I think if you do decide the go the MC route you might soon start wondering if the Schiit is holding you back?

Hope that makes sense?

Cheers

Phil

[Firebottle]

... if you do decide the go the MC route you might soon start wondering if the Schiit is holding you back?

Although the Mani is very good for the money I think this will be the case.

[steve-z]

I get the feeling that if I’m seriously going to go the MC route I may need to bite the bullet and start saving up my pennies for a Rothwell Rialto :-). I don’t suppose they do a “try before you buy” scheme like Graham Slee does ?


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[Barry]

I get the feeling that if I’m seriously going to go the MC route I may need to bite the bullet and start saving up my pennies for a Rothwell Rialto :-). I don’t suppose they do a “try before you buy” scheme like Graham Slee does ?

Perhaps you could ask Rothwell Audio via a PM.

Anyway to whet your appetite, here is a favourable review of the Rothwell 'Rialto' phonostage by HFN in 2014: http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/artic...ound;380/20338

[steve-z]

Perhaps you could ask Rothwell Audio via a PM.

Anyway to whet your appetite, here is a favourable review of the Rothwell 'Rialto' phonostage by HFN in 2014: http://www.hifinews.co.uk/news/artic...ound;380/20338

Thanks for that Barry but when I did a search earlier that was one of the ones that came up, all of the ones I’ve read up on are all very positive.
I think I’ve got a bit of a plan formulated, first sell on my spare cartridge, a very low hours AT120EB which should fetch me about £50-£60 on ebay and put the money towards an ATF2 or ATF7, see how the Mani suits it, if it’s as good as or better than the Nagaoka MP110, sell on the Nag and stick with that combination for a while and then try and save up for a Rialto, may take quite a while though.


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