IF cost was no objective what phonostage would you own?

[YNWaN]

OK, I have had a response from my 'circuit board guru' (Si) and he has confirmed (as I thought) that I have series 2 boards. The difference is four Wima film caps. In my case these are soldered to the back of the board directly to the legs of the components. The series 3 boards have these on the top surface but inevitably they are less close to the components they relate to - the series 3 boards also have a ground plane error so a track has to be cut to resolve this. So it is swings and roundabouts and ultimately the differences are entirely academic.

I would caution against the idea of intruding boutique components for the sake of it though! Every aspect of this build, from the circuit design to the component choice, has been carefully considered and no corners have been cut.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I would caution against the idea of intruding boutique components for the sake of it though! Every aspect of this build, from the circuit design to the component choice, has been carefully considered and no corners have been cut.

Yeah I'm afraid I'm guilty of stuff like that (very naughty) but I have come to the conclusion that "I DONT KNOW BEST" and the designers do! The only thing that I might consider doing is hard wiring power leads and interconnects to minimise the number of RCA's and removing the IEC's. Not only does this make things a little cheaper but I'm also a great believer in simplfying the chain. I'm sure I'll be flamed for saying that but hey-ho!

[YNWaN]

Yeah I'm afraid I'm guilty of stuff like that

It is quite understandable, but at the same time it is rather akin to making your car go faster by adding 'go faster' bits -yes they make a difference and sometimes this is an improvement - but much, much greater gains are to be had within the actual circuit/engine/chassis.

I wouldn't flame you for saying so but I would say that I am not unaware of these issues when I built my stage all, and I mean all, of these issues were considered and weighed up - absolutely everything has been decided on after due consideration of the pros and cons (as is the case when I design or build anything). For example, the input sockets match the output plugs from the arm and the same goes for the output RCA's, the signal wiring is Teflon insulated silver plated coaxial and even the gauge of the internal power cabling has been considered. However, these are all extremely minor issues compared to many of those considered within the design as a whole (they are just easy to see).

[sq225917]

Here's the total list of things you can change from the standard build.

1. Toshiba transistors on the shunt, they tend to be closer matched than the alternatives.
2. Replace the j310 with J113, slightly lower nose.
3. Replace the J107 with 2sk170, if you can find genuine parts.
4. Fancy resistors for cart loading.
5. Some fancy bits for the RIAA stage, any resistors and almost any caps. 18k2, 147k, 11n and 33.3n. But bear in mind they need to be matched down to 0.1% so forget anything like boutique film caps, you'll simply never get them to match closely enough. Stick to styrenes and small film foils, larger film foils unless counter wound will add inductance.

The v2 and v3 are to all intents and purposes the same boards, there's no difference to sound.

You can go to town on the PSU if you like. I'm not saying there would be an audible difference between using £6 common mode chokes and having Lundahl wind you some in silver foil to the tune of £300 each but you could do it if you wanted. One area where you can improve it is the earth arrangement. It's quiet in stock form with no earth lifts but if you fancy you can link up every chassis/common contact point with a DDRC so you leave just one unbroken earth path through the whole thing. it sounds fine without it, but there's always the tweaking.

And of course there is a new output buffer board the Calvin buffer which is intended to make it a better driver of long cables or into low input impedance amps down the line.

[Wakefield Turntables]

To, Simon & Mark,

Guys, many thanks for the help, especially the info and what can and can't be done to the board, I have a feeling I have just saved myself having to trawl through several thousand posts. I need to hear the thing first and then decide if anything needs doing to it, and more importantly if it can live in my system.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Could my quest nearly be over....?