To what phono stage are you listening at the moment Stefanoo that you prefer over the Paradise ?
Yes, the Paradise can be bettered but then it gets expensive and more complex.
I will publish some pictures plus explanation of one of my commercial stages, the Opus Magnum. Retail of that stage is around 25.000,-€ depending a bit ob the casework.
I do not think that the average DIYer can build this out of a lot of reasons.
How much better does the Opus Magnum sound against the Paradise ?
That is hard to tell and depends on how the Paradise is build.
My experience is that the Paradise, build like in Heseners guide, is good enough to compete with commercial stages up to 5000,-€.
I think it is one of the finer DIY stages out there and very good value.
Yes, the Paradise can be bettered but then it gets expensive and more complex.
I will publish some pictures plus explanation of one of my commercial stages, the Opus Magnum. Retail of that stage is around 25.000,-€ depending a bit ob the casework.
I do not think that the average DIYer can build this out of a lot of reasons.
How much better does the Opus Magnum sound against the Paradise ?
That is hard to tell and depends on how the Paradise is build.
My experience is that the Paradise, build like in Heseners guide, is good enough to compete with commercial stages up to 5000,-€.
I think it is one of the finer DIY stages out there and very good value.
Good news.... Hope that trend extends to the rest of Europe
Do you know if they also sell riaa preamps ?
After visiting some fairs, I know the importance of the riaa stage is somehow obscured by the dealers. My friend Rui that builds high mass turntables also tends to sell the turntables and hide the riaa importance.
Yes, RIAA stages sell well too. Also Headphone amp and Headphones.
That is called " Personal Audio" now.
My 19 year old son listens 90% to headphones so i build him a headphone amp.
He also listens to vinyl on a Rega table with Lyra Helicon.
He is digitizing though with a Julia sound card.
I build him a phono stage that has the optimum dynamic range to feed his A/D converter.
He digitizes because he is listening to music while he is surfing or doing other stuff on the PC.
The digitizing of the vinyl also has the advantage that he plays the record only ones so he does not have to keep a big storage.
I do not know if he ever bought a CD. I think CD is dead with the young guys.
That is called " Personal Audio" now.
My 19 year old son listens 90% to headphones so i build him a headphone amp.
He also listens to vinyl on a Rega table with Lyra Helicon.
He is digitizing though with a Julia sound card.
I build him a phono stage that has the optimum dynamic range to feed his A/D converter.
He digitizes because he is listening to music while he is surfing or doing other stuff on the PC.
The digitizing of the vinyl also has the advantage that he plays the record only ones so he does not have to keep a big storage.
I do not know if he ever bought a CD. I think CD is dead with the young guys.
Couple questions. I thought polystyrene was better suites for the RIAA filter becuase it is more stable and will give more consistent riaa response. Also, i am looking fir some quality small signal smd bjt's. I was gonna take alook at Joachims latest riaa stage but did not realize that Stefanoo had started another brewha. Joachim, what post is the latest ciecuit in, i looked quite afew pages back. Perhaps i missed it.
Stefanoo is convinced the the Teflon-copper V-caps are superior to anything else.
I can not commend on this. I simply have not tried them.
There is one person i trust, Hesener, that also bought a set of V-Caps so i await his response.
buzzford there is no new schematic that i am aware of. I started to work on a single ended Hybrid ( Fet, BJT, Tube ) phono coined Cro Magnon but i will not proceed with that project.
Where i am working on is a balanced input for the Paradise. That is in the beta stage.
Maybe today i will finish basic input stage. If i can get it work satisfactory i will explore
the option to fit it into the Paradise.
Stefanoo has opened a tread called " Masterpiece" in an attempt to better the Paradise.
Unfortunately he did not come up with a schematic so far. What he did instead was asking for help and schematics from me, MIIB and others. We gave him some hints and circuits but nothing seem to satisfy him. Also i do not feel obliged to make him a circuit.
That resulted in his comment that the contribution of MIIB was useless.
Fortunately he did not attack me directly so i am still willing to contribute on the Masterpiece thread. I am just not willing to do all the design work.
Stefanoo claims that he has a superior sound system and extremely good ears.
He said the Paradise is ill difined in the bass, sounds tired and does not resolve well in the treble.
He does not tell what recordings he uses plus what the alternative, better sounding phono stage is. He likes the big Audio Research Ref and the Boulder but i have no idea if he has them home.
SMD transistors : i think Zetex makes very good ones. Some posts ago i have mentined a pair that is low noise and high Hfe. I just can not remember the names.
I can not commend on this. I simply have not tried them.
There is one person i trust, Hesener, that also bought a set of V-Caps so i await his response.
buzzford there is no new schematic that i am aware of. I started to work on a single ended Hybrid ( Fet, BJT, Tube ) phono coined Cro Magnon but i will not proceed with that project.
Where i am working on is a balanced input for the Paradise. That is in the beta stage.
Maybe today i will finish basic input stage. If i can get it work satisfactory i will explore
the option to fit it into the Paradise.
Stefanoo has opened a tread called " Masterpiece" in an attempt to better the Paradise.
Unfortunately he did not come up with a schematic so far. What he did instead was asking for help and schematics from me, MIIB and others. We gave him some hints and circuits but nothing seem to satisfy him. Also i do not feel obliged to make him a circuit.
That resulted in his comment that the contribution of MIIB was useless.
Fortunately he did not attack me directly so i am still willing to contribute on the Masterpiece thread. I am just not willing to do all the design work.
Stefanoo claims that he has a superior sound system and extremely good ears.
He said the Paradise is ill difined in the bass, sounds tired and does not resolve well in the treble.
He does not tell what recordings he uses plus what the alternative, better sounding phono stage is. He likes the big Audio Research Ref and the Boulder but i have no idea if he has them home.
SMD transistors : i think Zetex makes very good ones. Some posts ago i have mentined a pair that is low noise and high Hfe. I just can not remember the names.
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I use Polystyren caps in my RIAAs sometimes bypassed with teflon trimmers.
I also use Roederstein P-P and Mundorf silver-gold-oil.
Also RIFA PHE426 and RIFA PPS SMD.
All of this caps have very low distortion, sure under -120dB so when the V-Caps sound better it must be another reason.
I do not think that it is dielectric absorption or ERS.
In the Paradise the RIAA caps are driven by a high impedance constant current source ( the mirrors). That swaps any small parasitic there will be.
I also use Roederstein P-P and Mundorf silver-gold-oil.
Also RIFA PHE426 and RIFA PPS SMD.
All of this caps have very low distortion, sure under -120dB so when the V-Caps sound better it must be another reason.
I do not think that it is dielectric absorption or ERS.
In the Paradise the RIAA caps are driven by a high impedance constant current source ( the mirrors). That swaps any small parasitic there will be.
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Hi buzz... are you planning to build the paradise with SMD trannies ?
PS: styroflex are quite stable but difficult to handle due to it's sensivity to heat.
Teflon is even more stable but the "nice" ones are very expensive.
I am now building a rig with russian NOS teflons (inexpensive but bulky) and report back.
I allready experimented with teflon in the riaa circuit and found very good extension but somehow lacking in "body".
Untill now, my preference is with polystyrene and tin foil. These are full bodied, sweet sounding with ultra minute detail.
Plain styroflex (polystyrene on alu foil) can sound dry.
Micas are really speedy and provide loads of detail but can sound edgy.
PS: styroflex are quite stable but difficult to handle due to it's sensivity to heat.
Teflon is even more stable but the "nice" ones are very expensive.
I am now building a rig with russian NOS teflons (inexpensive but bulky) and report back.
I allready experimented with teflon in the riaa circuit and found very good extension but somehow lacking in "body".
Untill now, my preference is with polystyrene and tin foil. These are full bodied, sweet sounding with ultra minute detail.
Plain styroflex (polystyrene on alu foil) can sound dry.
Micas are really speedy and provide loads of detail but can sound edgy.
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Funny, that is the exact opposite description that i have hard from everyone else. Anyhow. It must have been the balanced version i saw. I have been looking at this also, not because of superiority, just fun. I have folded simplsitic now, and haev your Paradise in the batters box. Thanks about the recommendations. I looking at NOS polystyrenes recommended by Jacco. He is a walking part catalogue. Ill give a look at the ones you mentioned.
I purchased some of the old FT series teflon, as you did. Haven't tried them yet. SpaceEggCorp tesetd some of the older teflons and showed they were not so well suited for RIAA, but i forget which ones he tried. I am really digging this SMD thing. Its all about fun, you just get the byproduct of amazing performance. Vishay PLT have ppm of 5. WHAT! I may try some form of SMD RIAA, but not for a while. I was asking about low noise bjt's for output stage of balanced pre.
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here :
FMMT618 Datasheet pdf - NPN Low Sat Transistor - Zetex Semiconductors
I also find that Stefanoos description of the Paradise sound is wrong.
I find it sounds very dynanic and open.
FMMT618 Datasheet pdf - NPN Low Sat Transistor - Zetex Semiconductors
I also find that Stefanoos description of the Paradise sound is wrong.
I find it sounds very dynanic and open.
I've deleted a couple of posts. I've also Suggested to Stefanoo that he has made his opinion known and should move on. For that to be successful I would appreciate it if no one else takes him to task over his statements.
I use RIFA PPS SMD all the time.
I think they have " no sound ".
That was also the opinion of Allen Wright ( RIP ) of Vacuum State.
I can tell you that guy was a tweak master.
His Real Time Preamp landed several times in the reference class. There are some that think that this is the best Preamp ever made.
The only problem with the PPS SMDs is that they are not easy to get at better then 5% tolerance. I found in praxis that they match better then this.
I select and measure all of my RIAA caps anyway.
I think they have " no sound ".
That was also the opinion of Allen Wright ( RIP ) of Vacuum State.
I can tell you that guy was a tweak master.
His Real Time Preamp landed several times in the reference class. There are some that think that this is the best Preamp ever made.
The only problem with the PPS SMDs is that they are not easy to get at better then 5% tolerance. I found in praxis that they match better then this.
I select and measure all of my RIAA caps anyway.
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