A while ago I purchased a Soundsmith Zephyr MK III cartridge used on Ebay instead of sending my Denon 103R to Soundsmith for an upgrade. What I didn't realize was that the Seduction preamp does not have enough gain for the Zephyr which is a Moving Iron cartridge and requires 38 - 44 dB of gain.
I do love the sound of the cartridge and am looking to keep it in my system.
I purchased a Schiit Mani as a temporary - possibly permanent solution, but after listening to it the first day I think I may need to go back to a tube preamp. I am willing to build one from a kit as I did that with the foreplay. The new phono preamp from Bottlehead the Eros starts at $750. I was hoping to get the kind of performance I want for less than that but if it is the best option I might be willing to spend the money.
I am looking for some guidance and suggestions from the community before I make a decision.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I do love the sound of the cartridge and am looking to keep it in my system.
I purchased a Schiit Mani as a temporary - possibly permanent solution, but after listening to it the first day I think I may need to go back to a tube preamp. I am willing to build one from a kit as I did that with the foreplay. The new phono preamp from Bottlehead the Eros starts at $750. I was hoping to get the kind of performance I want for less than that but if it is the best option I might be willing to spend the money.
I am looking for some guidance and suggestions from the community before I make a decision.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A good circuit to try is RJM's Phonoclone (a clone of the 47 Laboratories 4712 Phonocube). Have a look here: RJM Audio - The Phonoclone Phono Preamplifier
It's cheap and easy to build, and a damn fine MC stage in its own right. Hopefully it'll help you clarify whether you still want to go tube or if solid state is suitable.
It's cheap and easy to build, and a damn fine MC stage in its own right. Hopefully it'll help you clarify whether you still want to go tube or if solid state is suitable.
The seduction with c4s is 40db. You could just have noisy tubes and some low noise selected tubes would clean that up if it gets loud enough and is just noisy. But you may need a higher gain stage if the gain of the rest of your gear is not enough. Looks like the mani is likely set to 48db. You may just not have much gain in the rest of your gear and need to look for something in the 46-50 db range to match that cartridge to the rest of your gear.
I had the Mani and it sounded fine for the ~$100 I paid. I then built an RJM Emerald MM/MC phonostage and the Mani went in the drawer. There was simply no comparison between the two. I'll probably give the Mani to a friend one of these days. There are PCBs and lots of documentation and help for all of the RJM projects.
Thanks
Yes the Schiit Mani is pretty amazing after 2 days of break in but it still doesn't approach the Bottlehead seduction. I found a used Soundsmith MMP3 Soundsmith MMP3 Phono Preamp | Soundsmith for sale and purchased it. If it doesn't work for me I can sell it once I have built the preamp I desire ( probably tube based).
Yes the Schiit Mani is pretty amazing after 2 days of break in but it still doesn't approach the Bottlehead seduction. I found a used Soundsmith MMP3 Soundsmith MMP3 Phono Preamp | Soundsmith for sale and purchased it. If it doesn't work for me I can sell it once I have built the preamp I desire ( probably tube based).
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