Anyone out there with a bunch of different vintage and modern cartridges?
Ever swap an MM for an MC and then realized you have to unplug and rearrange everything again to attach the step up?
Ever wonder if your dislike of a given cartridge you are trying out is more a question of incorrect loading rather than a shortcoming of your cartridge?
Ever go to adjust a rear dipswitch and find there are no instructions on the backplate and you have no idea where to find a manual?
Then perhaps you understand where I'm going here.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a chassis which could accommodate the controls to dial in the vast majority of cartridges out there, and then you could populate the case with your preamp, step up or what have you of choice?
That's what I was thinking!
I'm trying to determine if others have interest if I were to design it and make it available at no cost for other DIYers. I would appreciate any feedback or assistance.
So, the question is: what would be the attributes of a phono preamp control layout that you think would cover the largest spread of cartridges, mm and mc vintage and modern?
Forget for a moment what you have, what is "just fine" for you, but think more "what is most useful for the most people". I'll run a poll to see what we everyone thinks.
The idea would be to use rotary switches mounted at the chassis rear with extension rods, to shorten signal path and it could be reused by swapping out the phono boards and power supply should you choose to change preamp circuits- so, versatility with a variety of builds is key.
I think the 2U Pesante chassis would be a good choice. Seems pretty versatile and will hold most phono builds. For example I think it could fit the Pearl or Salas Folded along with the control sets just fine.
Some background:
It seems rare to find a phono preamp that has MC and MM adjustments, gain adjustment for lower output MC, and a range of capacitive and Resistive load adjustments. It's even rarer to find one with those controls easily adjustable on the front faceplate. When you find that, the likelihood is that they are quite expensive. Two that comes to mind which fulfill my needs, which are kind of the inspiration for my idea is the Luxman EQ-500 and the Pass Labs XP-25 (see photos in attachments)
Why no dipswitch? For those who have their equipment in enclosed shelves or cabinets, this can be very aggravating. I find the dipswitch solution also defeats the purpose of being able to A/B on the fly to dial in a cartridge just so. I would rather use extension rods. I also don't want to use a variety of different boxes for adjustments piggybacked to each other- would like an elegant solution that fits in one enclosure.
So, what I came up with is attached as "Phono Faceplate".
Or see it here: Phono Preamp Test Faceplate - Album on Imgur
Perhaps a mono feature would be useful. Aside from that, what is missing? I used the capacitive and resistive values from the XP-25 as a starting point. I chose to not list db in gain settings as they may vary with step-ups, etc.
Curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
Ever swap an MM for an MC and then realized you have to unplug and rearrange everything again to attach the step up?
Ever wonder if your dislike of a given cartridge you are trying out is more a question of incorrect loading rather than a shortcoming of your cartridge?
Ever go to adjust a rear dipswitch and find there are no instructions on the backplate and you have no idea where to find a manual?
Then perhaps you understand where I'm going here.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a chassis which could accommodate the controls to dial in the vast majority of cartridges out there, and then you could populate the case with your preamp, step up or what have you of choice?
That's what I was thinking!
I'm trying to determine if others have interest if I were to design it and make it available at no cost for other DIYers. I would appreciate any feedback or assistance.
So, the question is: what would be the attributes of a phono preamp control layout that you think would cover the largest spread of cartridges, mm and mc vintage and modern?
Forget for a moment what you have, what is "just fine" for you, but think more "what is most useful for the most people". I'll run a poll to see what we everyone thinks.
The idea would be to use rotary switches mounted at the chassis rear with extension rods, to shorten signal path and it could be reused by swapping out the phono boards and power supply should you choose to change preamp circuits- so, versatility with a variety of builds is key.
I think the 2U Pesante chassis would be a good choice. Seems pretty versatile and will hold most phono builds. For example I think it could fit the Pearl or Salas Folded along with the control sets just fine.
Some background:
It seems rare to find a phono preamp that has MC and MM adjustments, gain adjustment for lower output MC, and a range of capacitive and Resistive load adjustments. It's even rarer to find one with those controls easily adjustable on the front faceplate. When you find that, the likelihood is that they are quite expensive. Two that comes to mind which fulfill my needs, which are kind of the inspiration for my idea is the Luxman EQ-500 and the Pass Labs XP-25 (see photos in attachments)
Why no dipswitch? For those who have their equipment in enclosed shelves or cabinets, this can be very aggravating. I find the dipswitch solution also defeats the purpose of being able to A/B on the fly to dial in a cartridge just so. I would rather use extension rods. I also don't want to use a variety of different boxes for adjustments piggybacked to each other- would like an elegant solution that fits in one enclosure.
So, what I came up with is attached as "Phono Faceplate".
Or see it here: Phono Preamp Test Faceplate - Album on Imgur
Perhaps a mono feature would be useful. Aside from that, what is missing? I used the capacitive and resistive values from the XP-25 as a starting point. I chose to not list db in gain settings as they may vary with step-ups, etc.
Curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
Attachments
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