Pearl Two

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Joined 2002
Paid Member
Well the Ono and Xono were not DIY projects. They were just cloned from service manuals. The Pearls are DIY and simpler to build not really a step backwards. These are less flexible than the commercial offerings in regard to loading balanced, outputs, drive capability etc. The perfomance also depends on the power supply and who is building it. A good build comes pretty close to an Xono but remember it has been discontinued for a few years and we have moved on. You can put together quite a good sounding system off of DIY if you have the time.
 
Well the Ono and Xono were not DIY projects. They were just cloned from service manuals. The Pearls are DIY and simpler to build not really a step backwards. These are less flexible than the commercial offerings in regard to loading balanced, outputs, drive capability etc. The perfomance also depends on the power supply and who is building it. A good build comes pretty close to an Xono but remember it has been discontinued for a few years and we have moved on. You can put together quite a good sounding system off of DIY if you have the time.
Thank you very much for your reply. At least two of the Pearl Two builders had also built outstanding version of Ono/Xono. I only wished to know sonic differences between them.
Having watched high res. photos of your XP-25 I saw that you went on complementary J-fets path instead of single ended designs. I also prefer fully complementary approach by Erno Borbely.
I have just finished assembly and testing of Xono PCB which I etched myself two years ago. It is only modular Xono I have ever seen, and practical to be combined with other modules of your choice. I wish to compare it with my Borbely phono stage , I will even use the same power supply all-Fet regulators.
 
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Siberia
The cartridges I have tried are the Accuphase AC 2 at .17mv, Fidelity Research FR-3f at .14 mv on the highest gain setting. My current and best MC is the Sao Win Jewel at I "think" is somewhere around .40 mv but is a guess.
I might even decrease the gain a little for that one considering my Audible Illusions 3a has a healthy line stage output

Regards
David
 

6L6

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Joined 2010
Paid Member
What is the lowest cartridge output recommendable for Pearl II? Tea-Bag found Denon 103R a bit too low, for example. It might be system dependant, but is there a value that would leave me on a safe side.

That is always going to be system dependent. If you have, say, 40db of gain in your preamp, or a power amp with .5v input to full output, you would find that even the lowest output cartridge would be fine.

But in reality it's going to come down to how much gain your preamp has. If you are using a buffer, you might need more gain with a really low output cart.
 
Some pictures
 

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