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!!!
And what if there isn't - what happens in instances when that's not the case?
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: London, Canada
Posts: 189
I'm Blake.
Could not agree with you more.
It is essentially about the signal to noise ratio being compromised. I've run a phono stage with infinitely variable gain (as in fully adjustable within the entire gain range) between 55-75 dB for about 12 years now with various Moving Coil cartridges with outputs between .20 and 1.2 mV. Having that kind of control over gain is very different than having the ability to adjust in increments of 3-5 dB or more. It will show your ears truly how important gain optimization is in terms of realizing the full potential of a good cartridge.
As mentioned previously, a tube phono stage will be less prone to overload, or overload more gracefully than a solid state stage on average, all things being equal. But gain is gain with respect to optimizing the signal to noise ratio which will (at least in my experience) have a significant effect on sound.
I currently run two cartridges, one spec'd by the manufacturer at .35 mV (in reality it may output slightly more or less than that-this one was not individually tested with that data provided by the manufacturer-in my experience with data provided on most individually tested units they actually output more than manufacturer stated output) and the other spec'd at .18 mV but provided with test data on that specific cartridge that shows an actual output of .25 mV.
In my system, which is not particularly unusual (ie. no passive preamp, no ultra high efficiency speakers, etc.) even these cartridges have very different gain requirements to sound their best. For example, in this situation, I run the lower output cartridge with 5.25 dB more gain than the higher output cartridge. In theory and in a perfect world I should be running with a 3 dB difference; my gut feeling is that the .35 mV spec'd cartridge actually has a slightly higher output.
The stated output between the two cartridges mentioned here-the Denon and Ortofon-is huge. I've found (with infinitely adjustable gain) that the real sweet spot with low output MC's is very narrow: certainly within 1-2 dB and probably narrower than that at the risk of sounding heretical. But one will never know that unless they have the ability to adjust gain infinitely or in very tiny increments in any given system.
It is entirely about the signal to noise ratio. Move one way or the other (too much or too little gain) and it is not optimized and the noise is amplified more than the signal. When you start hearing more noise and less signal, you're not hearing the cartridge at its best. It cannot be avoided.
And, as i stated before, the gain requirements for these two cartridges are really vastly different.
All in my opinion (as I mentioned earlier) of course with the usual "your mileage may vary" disclaimer.
Location: London, Canada
Posts: 189
I'm Blake.
What I'm saying is that with fully adjustable gain it is apparent that there is a lot more to signal to noise than hiss being audible. That very small increases or decreases in gain result in qualitative differences in sound quality.
Think of it this way: there will be an optimal setting for gain. There has to be. Once you move away from that in either direction signal will be obscured by noise.
I'm not "measuring gain" per se. My phono preamp is an Aqvox Phono 2 CI with full range gain pots on the front of the phono stage. I can hear very clear changes in sound quality with adjustments of less than 1 dB with any of the cartridges I've used. Subjectively, one listener may prefer a different presentation than another in a situation like this but that's another can of worms.
Changing volume will change perceived sound quality though and we can detect down to 0.1 dB of difference; this doesn't just apply to phono stages but everything.
Current Lash Up:
TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.
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!!!
The "sweet spot" is simply the point where the optimum sound has been achieved, arrived at as a result of the optimal settings having been applied. It's no more complicated than that.
Think of it, in terms of the sound 'snapping into focus', rather like what happens with a cartridge, when you succeed in dialling in *just the right amount* of VTF. It's that type of effect, and in that respect, the difference between the sound 'snapping into focus' or not, could be as little as 0.01g.... It's the same with gain, and db levels.
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!!!