Pearl MC Pre-Preamp

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promitheus said:

cHoc can you please notify me and give me your name and the way you paid. I can´t find your payment but I may be looking for the wrong name or payment method.

Promitheus, I have send you an email from my tweakdsl account, with that email I already had contact with you in Februari this year.
In the email there is all the info you asked for.
 
I've just finished installing the MC boards onto my Pearl and having a listen (it's 11:40pm but I can't resist, if I'm quiet I'm sure the kids won't wake). ':devilr:'

Everything seems to be working fine but on the louder pieces of music I seem to have a little too much gain (both jumpers are in place), and am over driving my pre. My cartridge has an output of 0.4mV (Benz ace low output) which I'm assuming is a little high for a low output MC cartridge, as I had a similar problem with my phonoclone.

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions for lowering the gain a little (total gain for the MC board of say 10db instead of 22)? My initial thoughts are to reduce the value of R21 or R16, would this be the best way?

Any help would be appreciated (kids still asleep but the hard word has just come from the Wife).':sorry:'

Paul
 
As a simple solution to my gain problem I have installed a 221R resistor between the two stages and a 332R resistor in the cartridge loading location on the Pearl.

The alternative which I tried later was to just put a 221R resistor in the cartridge loading location on the Pearl with no resistor in between (I may go a little lower still, say 200R).

Both seem to achieve the same objective, now it's time for some more listening although I think having a 221R resistor in line sounds a little better (no idea why).
 
Woo hoo! I have ordered my HiFi2000 cases - that French website had the best postage rates

I am a little confused about the earthing and would really appreciate comments from the collective wisdom..

This is my interpretation of how it should go together:

Chassis Grounds:

Chassis of the PSU case will be grounded to mains earth. This earth will be carried along the cord to the Pearl case and then connected to the Pearl chassis earth.

Signal Ground:

Each input and output will be grounded via the respective PCB connection points. Of course, each phono socket will be insulated from the chassis.

The point of connection between signal ground and chassis ground will be a star earth that connects the chassis to the earth point in the centre of each Pearl PCB.

Does that make sense, and is that the correct way to do it? My rationale is to keep the signal and chassis earths isolated until one central point, to keep the potential of earth loops and hum at a minimum...
 
Acidbrain,

I have used both the MC boards and a pair of Lundahl step up transformers. I prefer the transformers, though the MC boards are very quite and excellent sounding. The step up/Pearl combo will give you more than enough gain for just about any cartridge. I use a Zu cable modified Dennon 103.

Best of luck!

Nate

Also for Pengboon: My loading works out to be less than 100 Ohms if memory serves.... i will have to check the loading table that came with my step ups-
 
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