Pearl 3 Burning Amp 2023

And one other thought. If the R27 value has to be adjusted for most builds why not replace it with a trim resistor with an appropriate range? Set it to 220 to start then adjust the value after the pcb has settled in.
Why? You would still have to measure the pot at whatever setting it is at, put it in circuit, measure voltage through it, do the math to determine how much additional resistance to add. You won't see the voltage suddenly be correct as you turn the pot or however you increase the resistance. I had the same thought, until I put in correct resistor value and saw voltage not correct ...it won't be, but current is.
 
A question I have is why are we concerned about the RCA panel mount not touching the chassis, only to basically connect them to the chassis through the chassis via the ground on the board. With the ground post disconnected from the "ground to chassis" for both boards, there's no continuity from ground post on RCA to chassis. The moment I hook up the ground post to the boards, there is of course continuity between RCA grounds and the ground post. We go to the trouble of keeping the RCA panel mounts from not "shorting to ground", only to intentionally short them to ground through the PCB ground. I don't understand that. Crude drawing below describes the words above.

Very simply, so audio ground only touches the chassis at one single location, which is what eliminates ground loops in the audio path.
 
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@Toys4Boys
two observations:
step 27 is not step 25

The JFET-resistor combination is a constant current source. the resistor is chosen to set the current you want. A long time ago in the Audio Amateur Richard Marsh specified particular diodes to do this kind of thing... pick the diode according to the current. i.e 1N5314. But these are expensive.
 
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Wait, hang on everybody… What LED are we talking about??

The panel lights are light bulbs only. The dropping resistors are on the PCB, R26 on the RIAA boards, R11 on the PSU. No additional dropping resistor required.

Step 25 shows adding wire to the LEDs so they reach the panel.

The red LED on the RIAA board (D1, pn# LTL-1CHE) is a diode voltage reference for the output stage that happens to light up. There is no resistor for the red LED.
 
Are the LED legs connected correctly? Here's an important snippet from the build document about this:


1718200511217.png
 
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It's been said multiple times but bears repeating, we are dealing with signals in the millivolt category. Any path for noise to enter, through signal cables, airbourne, and thru the power line is critical to be properly shielded, units to be located away from strong EMI fields, and grounded!
This is my first time ever dealing with an RIAA phono preamp. I had no clue how sensitive they are. When tapping gently on the input wire made an audible tapping in my speakers (sounds like when you tap on diaphragm of a stethoscope), I then began to understand how truly sensitive they are.

I guess in an ideal world we should use metal blanking plates for XLR holes and also perhaps covering up the cooling grate with fine steel mesh on top and bottom plate. Could help eliminate noise paths as those are certainly openings in chassis?

Are the Nuetrik XLR blank plates metal? I made some 3D printed plates, but obviously not gonna help with EMI.
 
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I thought that they lit up initially, is 20v too much for the LED's?

Measure the voltage across the LED once you connect to the right way round. 😎

I'm still curious as to why it was 120Hz vs 60Hz. Is there an obvious explanation?

It is extremely difficult to discern 120 vs 60 by ear. Show me a scope photo and we'll talk. Also because of the 60hz mains and the prevalence of lots of recited widgets plugged into the outputs all around you house ,he most obvious being LED light bulbs and CFL, the 120hz noise exists strongly as well.
 
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Although I am in the early stages, I have psu package from Randy, and waiting for the kits to be available in the store. While I was at a local hi-fi repair shop in our area and I came across an Ariston turntable that was the shop owners go to player until he bought a more recent TT with automated features.

As I do not plan to use the Pearl 3 exclusively for listening entertainment, I thought the fully manual Ariston (not a lot of bells and whistles) would be a nice starting point and do me well when I wanted to use it. I will have to buy a cartridge for it and the shop owner liked the Denon 103 MC he was using with it. Shop owner wants $800 Cdn, so I thought that was reasonable. Since I know little about TT, I did some research on Ariston/Linn heritage and it seems good quality. I welcome any comments on my upcoming purchase.

Thank you for your time.

MM