There's also the Valve Itch.
jeff
I had a counterpoint preamp some time ago and it had a great phono section. Enough gain for a HOMC. Tubes are not out of the question, but may be an odd match with the DCB1. I would be inclined to go tube buffer as well if I do a tube phono.
I am doing the minimal components/purity of sound route, so yeah I am kind of allergic.
I am moving and will sell off all of my speakers and amps. At the other end I will get a pair of Audio Nirvana 12" alnico's. 97dB. I plan on building an F5 to drive them. I think I have enough gain, if not I can do an F5 turbo or a Hypex NC400. I am told a B1 and an F5 are a good match.
On the tube side, Audio Nirvana sells a 300B SE integrated that could also do the trick. It's only $1500, but then I am not building my own.
Boozehound has a separate board for MC, which is convenient, as I could have an input for MC and MM if I ever change to a Grado or something, but it sounds like the Pearl 2 or Salas is closer to what I am used to (Allan Wright's jlti). I'll look into the Paradise.
I tried a lightspeed passive with a Musical Fidelity A3 (130w/ch) and I know what you mean by drive. It was flat, especially the phono. That's why I am building a DCB1.
For a low output MC like your Shelter, you can't go wrong with the His Master's Noise or the Pearl 2. (Or the Salas folded...)
I've built the Pearl 2. Love it.
The HMN and Salas are both in process on my bench.
Let us know your impressions. I probably won't be building this for 6 months so you may have a conclusion by then. At this point I am trying to decide whether to sell my jlti or hang on to it. If I can settle on a comparable DIY approach, I will sell the jlti now and start planning a DCB1 + phono build in one case.
Mike:
I believe most of these stages run at over 18V (your B1 PS supply voltage) except the phono clone. I think it runs at 15V. Maybe enough voltage in your raw B1 PSU to power both the B1 and the phono clone. But I believe the B1 is a single supply, right (not bipolar) but I think the DC coupled "mesmerize" B1's are bipolar. Correct?
The salas is a single supply, The pearl and phono clone are bipolar I believe.
The phono clone is based on the 47 labs phono stage...I haven't heard it but it's well respected. Might be possible to use the same supply for a DCB1 to feed the regs on the phono clone. You would have to check to see how much dropout the phono clone regs need.
Regardless, running the B1 and a phono stage off the same supply is probably not the ideal way to do this but I understand your intentions.
I believe most of these stages run at over 18V (your B1 PS supply voltage) except the phono clone. I think it runs at 15V. Maybe enough voltage in your raw B1 PSU to power both the B1 and the phono clone. But I believe the B1 is a single supply, right (not bipolar) but I think the DC coupled "mesmerize" B1's are bipolar. Correct?
The salas is a single supply, The pearl and phono clone are bipolar I believe.
The phono clone is based on the 47 labs phono stage...I haven't heard it but it's well respected. Might be possible to use the same supply for a DCB1 to feed the regs on the phono clone. You would have to check to see how much dropout the phono clone regs need.
Regardless, running the B1 and a phono stage off the same supply is probably not the ideal way to do this but I understand your intentions.
I use the second best kit from tubes4hifi.ph14, their new kit has dual power supplies and dual output cathode followers.
tubes are buggle boys of special selection rare german version, output is japanese tube gold pins
I highly recommend the phono stage as overkill for vinyl requirements. CD's are two leagues behind in terms of resolution listening same recordings.
My kit has a battery bias modification, couple caps upgrades and coupling caps are dynamicap and copper in oil 1uf output (outch $$). I did versus listening and it is very accurate versus a solid state phono.
I have a third phono with pure transistors and no feedback and no capacitors (servo) and I am still very puzzling about how it sounds: crazy transients (you literally jump off your chair) but a close sound stage with no air at all and a super thin bass line.
tubes are buggle boys of special selection rare german version, output is japanese tube gold pins
I highly recommend the phono stage as overkill for vinyl requirements. CD's are two leagues behind in terms of resolution listening same recordings.
My kit has a battery bias modification, couple caps upgrades and coupling caps are dynamicap and copper in oil 1uf output (outch $$). I did versus listening and it is very accurate versus a solid state phono.
I have a third phono with pure transistors and no feedback and no capacitors (servo) and I am still very puzzling about how it sounds: crazy transients (you literally jump off your chair) but a close sound stage with no air at all and a super thin bass line.
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My apologies! For an introduction to these ideas, you might read the His Master's Noise article in the Articles section of this website.
Hikari1,
Thanks for your post regarding power supplies. I wasn't thinking it all the way through and you brought a lot of factors to my attention. I think trying to have a common PSU for the line and phono stages isn't really worth worrying about and for the small additional expense separate supplies will yield better sound.
Thanks for your post regarding power supplies. I wasn't thinking it all the way through and you brought a lot of factors to my attention. I think trying to have a common PSU for the line and phono stages isn't really worth worrying about and for the small additional expense separate supplies will yield better sound.
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Gabdx,
Thanks for the suggestion of Vacuum Tube Audio (tubes4hifi.com). I thought I had visited every audiophile equipment site in the English world and a few foreign language ones as well. This was a new one to me.
Very interesting site with lots of options and very reasonable prices. There are some high quality designs here.
Thanks for the suggestion of Vacuum Tube Audio (tubes4hifi.com). I thought I had visited every audiophile equipment site in the English world and a few foreign language ones as well. This was a new one to me.
Very interesting site with lots of options and very reasonable prices. There are some high quality designs here.
I have seen some of the product and support from that site.
I strongly suggest sticking with some of the other designs already mentioned.
With sources of strong output and speakers of high sensitivity, yes.
But many people have need of more system gain. Luckily, (and if required,) there are a few places to tweak it in your planned system.
I strongly suggest sticking with some of the other designs already mentioned.
With sources of strong output and speakers of high sensitivity, yes.
But many people have need of more system gain. Luckily, (and if required,) there are a few places to tweak it in your planned system.
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Because it makes too much sense.
The real answer is installed base: turntable manufacturers would all have to supply turntables wired that way, which would then be incompatible with decades' worth of electronics. Most TTs now are used with unbalanced electronics, and users are not going to be pleased about having to change everything at once, especially the vast majority of users, who are NOT audio geeks and are using integrated electronics.
The other issue is SUTs. That can provide a balanced input, but they are almost never optimized for the source and the load. An inexpensive SUT with the load set up properly will outperform an expensive unit that isn't optimized but just has whatever cartridge plugged in and is then plugged in to whatever preamp. There's a guy who sells various transformers in a box who exhibits at high end shows. I spent some time with him last year at Axpona explaining how to do this; after all, if someone is going to drop a grand on one of his boxes, shouldn't it be set up properly? He was not receptive to the idea, to say the least- "I can't expect people to change the loading every time they change cartridges or preamps, and I'm not going to spend time customizing the loading for customers." Any wonder why SUTs are sometimes considered a second-best solution?
I find that hard to believe. Don't you mean it has a 3dB advantage?
On the subject of matching, it seems a bit complicated. Because I am building a minimalist system with as little electronics as possible, having an SUT over an active amplification stage is the way to go. But it will be a pain to buy new transformers every time I change my cartridge. That said, I am really happy with my 901, it is the most expensive cartridge I have ever owned, and I would probably opt for a retip vs. a new purchase.
Depends on how you achieve balance and how you do the math to get that number. So, as a general rule, that's not true.
Let me give an example. Say you have a MM cartridge with a DCR of 1k (for ease of calculation, I'm going to ignore the inductance, but including that makes this argument even stronger) and a nominal output of 5mV. The ENR of a single ended input is, say, 100R. Then the balanced circuit will have an ENR of 200R. So, there's the 3dB. But wait- the S/N of the cartridge alone is 79dB, and thus with the single ended circuit, it's 78.5dB. With the balanced circuit, it's 78.2dB. So there's only a penalty of 0.3dB for this situation. The 3dB figure often cited is only correct when the noise is dominated by the preamp- which means that you have the wrong preamp.
What about MCs, with lower DCR? It's not trivial finding preamps with ENRs below 2 ohms, for sure. That's where transformers shine, giving a balanced input with high CMR and almost no Johnson noise penalty.
The Paradise, is too overwhelming for me as I am just new to DIY electronics. It also looks pretty far from minimalist.
The Salas doesn't look quite as complicated and has excellent support here on DIYA. I am also building the DCB1, so I am familiar with Sala's attention to details.
Perhaps a Salas or Pearl 2 with a well matched SUT would be a good solution?
The Salas doesn't look quite as complicated and has excellent support here on DIYA. I am also building the DCB1, so I am familiar with Sala's attention to details.
Perhaps a Salas or Pearl 2 with a well matched SUT would be a good solution?
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