How to get good dynamics in phono stage

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JCX, do not say that the SSM2019 is only suitable for MC. Look at the Lehmann Black Cube; the TNT Solidphono that IC uses.
And if Lehmann uses it (now a substitute INA217), it will be something.
I have not been included in the question I have asked. Therefore I will not follow the thread.
Greetings.
(I do not want an expander or compressor as mentioned, I want my discs to sound as they should sound.) I agree with VSPS400 which is very good, with Solidphono TNT, with the preamp of Marantz PM6006 but with somewhat tiresome trebles, with Muffsy (CNC phono))
I have simply asked why some have better "blow" or "rise" or "dynamic" "more real" than others Greetings again.
 
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I get what you are talking about, it might be time to consider a good two stage passively equalized tube or discrete solid state phono stage.

Salas has several projects that have vanishingly small distortions, excellent SNR and are not too complicated. Boards are often available as part of a group buy.

Simplistic NJFET RIAA

Valve Itch phono

A simplified universal differential or single ended phono preamp

That last is one of Scott Wurcer's designs.

You can also search for some of my designs but they are more complicated and apparently much less diy friendly. The strain gauge design is popular, but sold out.. LOL
 
Find yourself a proper test signal and make some measurement. That would prove it is actually dynamics, and not distortion or some other factor. And recorded music will never sound live, it needs to be compressed for proper distribution and 99.9% of recorded music has had some compression. Unfortunately the loudness wars have taken the compression / limiting to obscene levels.
 
If your changing dynamics your changing gain with envelope level. This is not trivial to do and circuits don't just do this, except when clipping. Before DSP a good sounding compressor was very hard to design. I find it hard to believe any RIAA circuit automatically does this.
 
There are more ways to refer to ‚dynamic‘. Technically, it‘s the delta between the loudest and the faintest musical signal. But you could subjectivly mean ‚thereness‘, effortlessness‘, ‚attack‘ or speed.
I live in a street where marching bands walk through during our karneval season and no music reproduction system i ever heard could reproduce the transparency of the brass, nor the attack of the various drums they use. Let alone my hifi gear...
Even modern PA-Systems on a live-event never had that crispness and punchiness I hear there. So, yeah, there‘s still a difference and one might call it dynamic.

The phonoclone comes closer to that punchiness than other more refined sounding pres, btw.
 
We can only have a discussion if we use the same meaning for the word. And what it means in music is the difference in level between quiet and loud. And the only way to change this is with a compressor or expander. Compressors need proper attack and decay times or you get glaring artifacts like pumping. Where does a phono pre get these time constants?
 
crispness , dynamics etc can be rich deep bass and crisp highs. on a phono pre, rich bass requires a lot of open loop gain or a passive stage to recover punch without rumble noise.
i also made my ( MM ) preamp intentionally bright past 6 Khz. more like moving coil with lower noise.
 
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I also experienced through comparison, that a phono preamplifier built with operational amplifier sounded boring and lifeless. Changing it to a 3-transistor circuit brought the life. And trying a 2-stage tube circuit was the most realistic (apart from some hum and hiss). All three were measured flat and had low distortion. And it is not only the clipping behavior, they were different at lower level too.
 
"Boring and lifeless" is how some people describe genuine hi-fi. It is likely that a 3-transistor phono preamp will have more distortion and less accurate RIAA response than even a single opamp circuit. Clipping in any preamp will reduce 'dynamics' but clipping should only occur rarely in a good design with appropriate gain distribution and adequate rail voltage. Of course it is possible to design a bad opamp preamp, or a good discretes preamp, but you would have to be spectacularly incompetent (or very unlucky) to build one with a built-in compressor. What is more likely is that a simple preamp could accidentally include some gain expansion via the exponential characteristic of BJT or some valves - thus 'better dynamics' could be due to a departure from genuine hi-fi.
 
What were the topologies of the three circuits?
The opamp circuit had 2 stages, passive RIAA between them. The transistor circuit was a non-inverting circuit, the RIAA equalization in the negative feedback. The tube circuit was an SRPP "Anzai" with passive equalization between the stages.
But I know the actual components and power supply much determines the end result.
 
Traderbam, Thanks, I see that some have understood the concept.
My audio system is not Hi End (for other economic and that these places are very difficult to get), but I can realize when an amplifier, or a phono preamp has no life.
I've had boring systems, and you realize when you replace it with another of better quality.
It is something not to stop. You always want something better.
There is a concept that has been poured into this topic, and that is the expanders-compressors.
Never in my audio systems have I used that type of components, or equalizers, to the point that my listening is always with the amplifier with "direct source"
Greetings and I will see if I encourage you to build a passive pre-valvular phono as they have named.
 
There is a concept that has been poured into this topic, and that is the expanders-compressors.
Never in my audio systems have I used that type of components, or equalizers, to the point that my listening is always with the amplifier with "direct source"
Music comes full of life and emotion and is captivating. That's why we love it at all. What happens is that elements in the reproduction chain kill it. It isn't that music needs distortion added to it to make it enjoyable! This is nonsense.
It can be that music that has been mutilated can be partly bandaged by deliberately messing with it further but that's not what we are about. We want the reproduced music as close to the original as possible. :)
Greetings and I will see if I encourage you to build a passive pre-valvular phono as they have named.
I will watch with interest.
 
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music soothes the savage beast
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My approach in the past was to build as many riaa preamps, and have as many in for of commercial preamps as possible, and compare. That is the only way to select great sounding riaa preamp.
Great sound from turntable is complex process of selecting what cartridge works with that particular arm, and what preamp works with cart and so on...fun stuff.
I used to have about seven turntables, two dozens of cartridges and dozen of riaa preamps. After few moves I am down to three turntables, dozen cartridges, and only four preamps.
 
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