The Phonoclone and VSPS PCB Help Desk

[woodturner-fran]

another...

[woodturner-fran]

and yet another

[pupsik46]

Attached picture of my VSPS, more pics are http://www.foto24.ee/album/7826. Sounds nice and building was very easy.
Thanks rjm for schematics.

[stevodude]

pupsik46, wouldn't that standard transformer create a bucket load of eltromagnitism/noise in your phono stage?...

[pupsik46]

Originally posted by stevodude
pupsik46, wouldn't that standard transformer create a bucket load of eltromagnitism/noise in your phono stage?...

Maybe, I'm currently using quite noisy tube amplifier so little extra noise don't matter. Anyway I'll change this temporary PSU (7812&7912, noname electrolytics caps, polyester caps) to decent PSU (new transformer, M5230 as a vreg, low esr caps, polypropylene caps etc).

[barossi]

Hi,

i thought about building a nice VSPS. I will use a Denon DL103 catridge with it. I also have a nice pair of Lundahl's:
LL1681 and LL9206.

I would like to builld a VSPS together with the 1:10 step up.

Which version should i build?

I wonder why one could not buy pcb's?

Best Regards

Barossi

[woodturner-fran]

You might want to check out the phonoclone, AFAIK it is designed especially for the DL103. You'll find details of it in this forum if you search about a bit.

That said, I built my VSPS using some PCBs - I used separate PSU, dual mono design, blackgate/elna/wima fkp caps. Use of the best components is well rewarded! Also read the entire thread here!


Fran

[Franz G]

Hauke, sorry, I mean Barossi

You better try the phonoclone with zero input impedance, together with the DL103.

A really great solution. I use it for more than one year.

You can save the Lundahls, for this purpose.

Kind regards
Franz

[franksmith]

Having tried the zero impedance of the phonoclone and been a fan of the vividness and dynamic that the dl-103 (original version) loaded at 1kohms is able I was deceived by the phonoclone sound. It was too soft, muffled for my taste.

Last weekend I tried to load the cartridge at 1k instead of zero ohms and what a difference ! specialy with r2 removed. You can play with it from 400 to 1k ohms but in a appropriate toneamr/tt combo 1k won't give you harsh treble. This mounting can give something near the vividness that only the decca was able but without it's nasty sides.

Having said that, I know this sound is not for everyone so it's just to give you an way of tweaking the sound to your taste. To find an appropriate balance, why not using a temporary 1k potentiometer and search for the appropriate point ?

Is it possible that the zero ohms loading damp too much the cartridge and kill it's vividness ?

I will now try to find more neutral op-amp than the opa627 (ordered a pair of ad811 and one of ad797 to try) because I find them a little bit too much on the sweet side.

I also want to build the recommanded phono amp from the lm4562 pdf, I've got some nice metal can version as samples

[rjm]

Remove R2, the feedback resistor? Surely not. I assume you meant the resistor on the noninverting input, R1?

What do you mean exactly when you "load the cartridge with 1k"?

The correct way to do this is add 1k in series with the DL103 and set R1 to 1k to balance. R2 would have to increase to 30kohms to maintain a gain of 30.

OR you could reconfigure the input opamp to run noninverting, in which case R1 is 1k, R2 is 1.5k ohms and an additional resistor on the inverting input is 50 ohms.

.....

It is true that the DL103 seems to have more top end as the load impedance increases. 1k load sounds a lot more sparkly than the usual recommended loading of 100 ohms. Its also true that you can tune this balance equally effectively by adjusting the tonearm height... as I discovered recently, the DL103's character changes significantly over a small height range (2mm).

I remember enjoying the LD103 with 1k on the VSPS. However I think the phonoclone, with the cartridge adjusted properly, gives a more refined, balanced performance.

/rjm