OK, that was interesting. I’m sure this is terrible practice, but I had several of the Silmic 22uF caps, so I combined two for each board to see what happened. And it worked to bring down the fluctuating voltage at P1 test point. (No pix, too gruesome to show.) Not Rick stable, but just a few mV either + or -.
I also decided I hadn’t removed enough anodized coating at grounds and really got after it, down to bare metal under the grip washers. Hum and hiss much improved.
Sound, well, it’s better but far from good. And the right channel, previously muted, is now only about half as loud as the left. That’s at 9 o’clock volume. More than that gets nasty, very fuzzy and staticky. Again, this is with a 5.5mV MM cartridge.
So thanks for the help. I’ll buy some better caps when I next make an order, but I’m not sure what to try next.
I also decided I hadn’t removed enough anodized coating at grounds and really got after it, down to bare metal under the grip washers. Hum and hiss much improved.
Sound, well, it’s better but far from good. And the right channel, previously muted, is now only about half as loud as the left. That’s at 9 o’clock volume. More than that gets nasty, very fuzzy and staticky. Again, this is with a 5.5mV MM cartridge.
So thanks for the help. I’ll buy some better caps when I next make an order, but I’m not sure what to try next.
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"No pix, too gruesome to show." Shame about the comma. ;-)
But seriously, I'm just getting back into building after a 35 year hiatus and one project I've been looking at building is a Pearl (1 not 2 as it turns out as I've had the boards for... a few years).
However, looking at the tiny soldering pads and reading about soldering difficulties here and there:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/354725-pearl-2-crackling-left-channel.html#post6211639
and realizing that the rosin core in my my multi-decade old Kester 44 has probably evaporated, I'm facing buying a new spool of solder and wondering if the newfangled concoctions are complicit in the troubles people are having.
My limited research -- part of today mostly -- has turned up recommendations for SN63 (eutectic) and Cardas Quad amongst lots of other opinions. I wonder if builders could share their success stories with these Pearl boards and recommendations for solder. It might benefit us all.
But seriously, I'm just getting back into building after a 35 year hiatus and one project I've been looking at building is a Pearl (1 not 2 as it turns out as I've had the boards for... a few years).
However, looking at the tiny soldering pads and reading about soldering difficulties here and there:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/354725-pearl-2-crackling-left-channel.html#post6211639
and realizing that the rosin core in my my multi-decade old Kester 44 has probably evaporated, I'm facing buying a new spool of solder and wondering if the newfangled concoctions are complicit in the troubles people are having.
My limited research -- part of today mostly -- has turned up recommendations for SN63 (eutectic) and Cardas Quad amongst lots of other opinions. I wonder if builders could share their success stories with these Pearl boards and recommendations for solder. It might benefit us all.
Correct.
It’s not hyperbole for me to say it’s the best I've ever used, it genuinely is. Cardas Quad, Ersin Multicore, WBT, Kester 44, Radio Shack silver-bearing, Welborne Labs silver bearing, this beats them all. Try it, I am absolutely sure you’ll agree.
It’s thin but not too thin, Eutectic, silver bearing, tip-saver (that’s what the copper is for), melts beautifully, has a pine based rosin, and reworks better than anything I have ever used, it’s significantly easier to unsolder with this than even the Cardas, which is quite nice.
It’s not hyperbole for me to say it’s the best I've ever used, it genuinely is. Cardas Quad, Ersin Multicore, WBT, Kester 44, Radio Shack silver-bearing, Welborne Labs silver bearing, this beats them all. Try it, I am absolutely sure you’ll agree.
It’s thin but not too thin, Eutectic, silver bearing, tip-saver (that’s what the copper is for), melts beautifully, has a pine based rosin, and reworks better than anything I have ever used, it’s significantly easier to unsolder with this than even the Cardas, which is quite nice.
I think I’m 90% plus of the way home with my build. I removed C7 from both boards and eliminated a staticky distortion. That was after replacing my twisted pair 24AWG input and output wires with 25AWG Mogami shielded cable, shields grounded to TT ground post, per advice from 6L6. (Thanks again!) Hum and hiss not audible more than a few inches from Magnepan .7s at full volume.
So what’s not to like? The Pearl 2 gets deeper into the music, but maybe a little brittle sounding at times compared to the phono stage in my Rogue Sphinx amp, especially on non-acoustic music (meaning pop and rock, I guess).
I’m using an Ortofon 2M Red on a debut Carbon TT through Audioquest Evergreen cables to the Pearl, and Blue Jeans LC-1 from Pearl to amp. (The Evergreens were on hand: I previously used the BJs from TT to amp.) So I have 5.5mV cartridge. Any fine tuning I might try on the Pearl? My Sphinx phono stage is 47K/150 pF impedance. I have the standard 47K/100pF in the Pearl.
Feel free to recommend cartridges as well. This is a good time to upgrade, I’d think. but I don’t see putting an MC on this TT. And thanks to everybody who offered assistance with my build. Cheers.
So what’s not to like? The Pearl 2 gets deeper into the music, but maybe a little brittle sounding at times compared to the phono stage in my Rogue Sphinx amp, especially on non-acoustic music (meaning pop and rock, I guess).
I’m using an Ortofon 2M Red on a debut Carbon TT through Audioquest Evergreen cables to the Pearl, and Blue Jeans LC-1 from Pearl to amp. (The Evergreens were on hand: I previously used the BJs from TT to amp.) So I have 5.5mV cartridge. Any fine tuning I might try on the Pearl? My Sphinx phono stage is 47K/150 pF impedance. I have the standard 47K/100pF in the Pearl.
Feel free to recommend cartridges as well. This is a good time to upgrade, I’d think. but I don’t see putting an MC on this TT. And thanks to everybody who offered assistance with my build. Cheers.
When dinosaurs ruled the earth I had a spool of Belden 8451 that I used in my Hafler DH-200.
https://catalog.belden.com/techdata/EN/8451_techdata.pdf
As I assemble parts for my Pearl (I) maybe I'll see if I have any left. Unless it's petrified by now.
https://catalog.belden.com/techdata/EN/8451_techdata.pdf
As I assemble parts for my Pearl (I) maybe I'll see if I have any left. Unless it's petrified by now.
I'm going to say I'm a pretty happy camper with my finished Pearl 2. I tweaked the final grounding scheme and went with 47uF Silmic capacitors in series with R14. I also think it's mellowing a bit as I run it, losing some of the sharpness I thought I heard at first. It's interesting comparing it to my Rogue Sphinx phono stage, which has a good reputation. The Rogue is pleasant. The Pearl 2 digs deeper into the music and draws out more depth of tone. Thanks to 6L6, McQuaide and others for their help. I ended up moving the power supply to the opposite side of my console from the Pearl 2, which is about five feet.
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Okay, so I spent the last couple of days making a chassis (boy did that not turn out the way I thought it would, aka learning as I go). I cleaned up the wiring. Pictures attached. I hooked it up and I get a loud buzzing sound, that I did not get before. Any ideas? It worked fine before.
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Was it quiet like that before? I recall taking ground from the center of each board to the TT post with my build and trying to isolate from chassis. That said, probably doesn’t matter at end of day.
Well, I feel stupid. The right output channel was cross-wired. I fixed it and it plays but it doesn't sound very good. It's really noisy and flat with no dimensional imaging. I attached the ground post to the chassis ground lug as suggested, but I might disconnect and see if the noise floor drops. I appreciate the assistance and I'll keep posting my progress. Here's more or less what it will look like when finished.
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I'll do that now. Are there any areas when checking voltages that I should be focused on?
I did disconnect the additional ground wire and that helped. Could it also be that my gain is too high? I opted for 65db because at the time I had a .12mv cartridge, but now I am using a .3mv.