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CJ PV10A phono section: Repair or buy separate?

I have a Conrad Johnson PV10A that I like quite a bit with some effort invested in improving the caps, diode bridge and power connection to remedy the complaints against the stock PV10A. However Stereophiles complaint of phono section noise I could never fix and over the last year 1 channel is now badly noisy. Right now I can play LP's on the phono section of the Prima Luna integrated but that's unsatisfying compared to the CJ even with a noisy channel.

So my question is this; does it make sense to seek repair of the CJ phono section or would I be better off investing in something like the Vincent PHO-8? The cartridge I use is Grado reference platinum, may replace with a Dynavector high output MC.
128x128davide256
4 responses Add your response
phduncanson
73 posts
 
Maybe repair and upgrade! i have found that upgrades are cheaper and yield more satisfying results than spending thousands for minimal improvementsÂ…

http://www.audio-horizons.com/pages/preamp.html

peace.
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,521 posts
 
Since you like it you should get it repaired. Why take a chance and get something you might not like!
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
I concur with Microstrip. My PV11A is as satisfying as anything new I've heard up to several times what it's worth.

Other possible culprits include a dirty/worn tube socket or a bad solder joint. Start by swapping the phono stage tubes and see if the noise changes sides. If you're lucky...
microstrip
180 posts
 
IMHO you should repair the PV10 - it is an excellent sounding unit and noise should not be a problem with a high output cartridge. Since the problem only exists in one channel most probably it is due to tubes or a faulty resistor in the noisy channel - the power supply is shared between channels, if it was a power supply problem it would affect both channels. It should be easy to repair.
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