Bigbottle Phonostage Builders thread.

Hello. i think this is for Vivant.
I have now measured the voltages of the tube holders.V2 There are 6N2P and the jumper is in this position.V1 and V2 are 6N23P. currents are measured from 1 to 9
the results are.
V1 : 73 : 0 : 1.49 : 59.3 : 52 : 81.1 : 0 : 1.8 : 0
V2 :117.2 :-4.3To-1.2mV : 0.8 : 58.3 : 52.5 : 115 : -4.6To-0.8mV : 0.8 : 52.1
V3 : 209 : 114.8 : 120.6 : 59.4 : 52.5 : 209.8 : 112.7 : 118.4 : 0
HV is 167 ac LV is 17.7 ac
Where is the fault. or is there a fault anywhere. :)

All voltages within expected results, should be working OK.
 
PCC88 Telefunken, NOS NIB ready to play.
 

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Out of curiosity, if say I wanted to easily be able to change the input impedance of this phono stage, since the load inputs are in parallel with the onboard resistors, could I just leave those resistors out?

I think it's R1L & R1R for MC, and R3L & R3R for MM right? So if I just didn't install those, and always required the plugs to be installed I could just use the exact resistance I want in the plugs right? Or are there any implications to not installing the load resistors onboard?

Main reason I'm asking is because some of the mid to higher gain MC carts I've looked at in the past prefer a higher than 1K load as far as I can tell. So I'm just thinking it gives me a bit more versatility, since I can't increase the 1K load resistance if those 1K resistors are installed on board.
 
Out of curiosity, if say I wanted to easily be able to change the input impedance of this phono stage, since the load inputs are in parallel with the onboard resistors, could I just leave those resistors out?

I think it's R1L & R1R for MC, and R3L & R3R for MM right? So if I just didn't install those, and always required the plugs to be installed I could just use the exact resistance I want in the plugs right? Or are there any implications to not installing the load resistors onboard?

Main reason I'm asking is because some of the mid to higher gain MC carts I've looked at in the past prefer a higher than 1K load as far as I can tell. So I'm just thinking it gives me a bit more versatility, since I can't increase the 1K load resistance if those 1K resistors are installed on board.
Yep.

Don't see why not. But you always have to have a plug in.
 
Out of curiosity, if say I wanted to easily be able to change the input impedance of this phono stage, since the load inputs are in parallel with the onboard resistors, could I just leave those resistors out?

I think it's R1L & R1R for MC, and R3L & R3R for MM right? So if I just didn't install those, and always required the plugs to be installed I could just use the exact resistance I want in the plugs right? Or are there any implications to not installing the load resistors onboard?

Main reason I'm asking is because some of the mid to higher gain MC carts I've looked at in the past prefer a higher than 1K load as far as I can tell. So I'm just thinking it gives me a bit more versatility, since I can't increase the 1K load resistance if those 1K resistors are installed on board.

This may seem a little counter intuitive but the resistors R1 and
R3 have other functions to permit simple switching between MC and MM using only a dual pole relay in each channel.
The design is using valve and Fet technology so the switching is a clever part of combining the two.
Without an R1 fitted you couldn't use the stage in MM mode and without R3 fitted the linearity of the Fet stage would be compromised in MC mode.

You could fit lets say up to 10K for R1 but the the HF performance on MM may suffer.
Most high output MC cartridges will work very well into an MM input at 47K. Adding a loading plug will bring this impedance down if needed.
 
This may seem a little counter intuitive but the resistors R1 and

R3 have other functions to permit simple switching between MC and MM using only a dual pole relay in each channel.

The design is using valve and Fet technology so the switching is a clever part of combining the two.

Without an R1 fitted you couldn't use the stage in MM mode and without R3 fitted the linearity of the Fet stage would be compromised in MC mode.



You could fit lets say up to 10K for R1 but the the HF performance on MM may suffer.

Most high output MC cartridges will work very well into an MM input at 47K. Adding a loading plug will bring this impedance down if needed.
I didn't think about that.....that's why you are the guru lol
 
This may seem a little counter intuitive but the resistors R1 and
R3 have other functions to permit simple switching between MC and MM using only a dual pole relay in each channel.
The design is using valve and Fet technology so the switching is a clever part of combining the two.
Without an R1 fitted you couldn't use the stage in MM mode and without R3 fitted the linearity of the Fet stage would be compromised in MC mode.

You could fit lets say up to 10K for R1 but the the HF performance on MM may suffer.
Most high output MC cartridges will work very well into an MM input at 47K. Adding a loading plug will bring this impedance down if needed.

Okay, thanks for the info.
Part of the issue for me, is that my preamp / amp combo needs a fairly large signal to reach full power output. I built the whole thing, and frankly the preamp/drive could be a bit beefier.

I need at an absolute minimum 0.5V input to the amp, so with 40db gain when the phono is set to MM I need at least 5mV output from the cartridge. With 60db of gain when set to MC, I need at least 0.5mV from the cartridge.
This means I can't really use a low output MC cartridge, as they're usually around 0.25mV, and high output MC cartridges which are in the 2 - 3mV range also won't work for me. But there are a few MC cartridges which operate between 0.5mV and 1mV, but most of the ones I've looked at do appear to want a load resistance more in the 1K - 2K range.

I can definitely just use 47K resistors for R3, as I wouldn't ever need a resistance higher than that, but if I were to use 2K resistors for R1 positions, would everything operate okay?
 
I'm looking at MM cartridge loading and would like to raise to 75K. But parallel resistors only lower total resistance. So my question is: can I swap the 47K for 100K and use the loading plugs to the desired value without any unforeseen side effects? My goal is to raise the top end a bit. Thanks, Vincent