Meng Yue X1 trial

[ksporry]

Today I finally got round to setting up a trial run with my Meng Yue.
I used a Yaqin MS-12B phono preamp, and a genie 1.3 turntable.
Speakers are B&W CDM 7NT.

About my setup, its not ideal. I found the Genie not that great actually. The motor is noisy (vibrations).
The CDM 7NTs are also not ideal. Although good speakers, they really need a bit more power to drive well.

For those who don't know: the Yaqin is a preamp with RIAA phono stage build in. The output can be chosen between 0.25V and 0.7V. You can also select between RIAA and CD, depending on what your source input is.

I also use a power regulator that is selectable between 220, 230 and 240 Vac. SInce the UK uses 240Vac, and the european models are delivered with a 230Vac power transformer (which is probably just the letters "230Vac" on a 220Vac transformer...). This normally gets the transformers running quite hot, with all the malfunctions that can come with that. It's also not great for the tubes to run a higher voltage.
So I started off with setting the regulator at 220Vac, to be on the safe side.
The Yaqin output I used 0.25V for, and of course with a turntable hooked up, I set it to RIAA.

As my choice of music, I selected a record of Stevie Ray Vaughan "couldn't stand the weather". Before playing, I dialed down the volume, so I had to crank it up a bit afterwards.
Now, the Yaqin and the Meng Yue both have volume control. SInce the sound through the CDM 7NTs was fairly soft, I had to put both volume controls quite high. I ended up with the yaqin about 3/4, and the Meng yue about 1/2 way round. For normal stereo's thats quite high actually (normal on my SS amp, I am about 1/4 round)

SOund wise I was quite surprised. the amount of detail was a bit overwhelming. Soo much detail came out! The highs and lows dominated slightly, but not excessively so. Lows were strong, detailed and controlled. Highs were very clear, clean and crisp, not scratchy sounds.When changing to the 0.7V output on the Yaqin, the sound became predictably louder. With that the mids came out stronger , but the lows seemed to loose some detail it seemed.
As for presence and spaciousness, I have to be honest, my Solid state system gives a much stronger presence when playing SACD. Mind you, the amp can deliver much more power, and the speakers are accompanied with a reference 1 subwoofer. is it possible this has something to do with that?
Also, I guess the fact my Solid state system is about 10 to 20 times more expensive than this analogue setup, may influence things.
In addition, this is the first evening I ran this setup. I probably have to burn in the tube amps a bit as well, and more sensitive speakers would help a lot!

My next attempt is to hook up the subwoofer to one of the Yaqin outputs. I have 2 outputs on the Yaqin that I could use at the same time I guess. The woofer is active, so perhaps I could use the 0.7V output for the woofer input (I'm not sure what a normal line output is, 0.25 or 0.7V).

All in all, at the moment I would prefer the 0.25V output on the yaqin, but I need better speakers for this setup, and probably a better turntable as well.
I also would like to try with an SACD player, see what that sounds like. I tried it once with a normal CD player, and it actually sounded like it had more presence (so it could be just the genie I have to get rid of).

Any tips/advice/comments, please share!

[ksporry]

One point I forgot about. The first 30-50monutes I had the units powered with the voltage regulator set to 220Vac. Then after I found that the ment only got mildly warm, and the yaqin stayed cold, I switched the power to 230Vac. At the end of the evening, some 2-3hours. Later, the yaqin was still running cool, but the ment was uncomfortably warm, I could smell the trading. So the meng must be set to no more than 220Vac I recon.

[ksporry]

More findings:

I noticed the unit seems to improve sonically, I guess it's getting burned in
I also have to say, that playing vinyl sounds massively better than playing regular CDs.
CDs still sounds a bit tinny compared to my normal solid state setup