2. analog
  3. 125723-119

Do they make a quiet great sounding phono pre amp??

Hi, I have purchased and listened to 3 phono preamps which are: A musical surroundings phonomena, musical surroundings Nova II, and a Manley labs Chinook. The Manely labs Chinook is by far bettter sounding then the first two (double the cost too). But, All three have given me nothing but trouble (noise,noise,noise even terrible clipped signals!), and 2 of them basically failed on me. So before I go DIGITAL, can someone please tell me who makes a phono preamp in the $2,000-$3,000 range (tube or solid state) that I can rely on, and sounds as good or better than the Chinook?? Thanks.


Matt M                                             
mattmiller

Showing 2 responses by cleeds

cleeds
6,067 posts
 
mattmiller
I was able to place two 3to2 adapters on all components EXCEPT the main amplifier, I think by doing this the system is now funneling the grounds down to the one outlet, and now its quiet as a mouse!!
Do you mean that you've used adapters on all of your components other than one amplifier to defeat their AC safety grounds? If so, how do you think those disconnected grounds get "funneled" to one outlet?
cleeds
6,067 posts
 
lewm


.... even simpler, you might find that re-arranging the plugs so that they all come off the same AC receptacle would permit you to go back to using 3 prongs.
This is the closest to the best solution to this common problem, imo. The hum/noise is caused by a differing voltage potential in the grounds. Relying on grounds of equal voltage potential will eliminate the noise. That's a benefit of using properly installed dedicated lines.
More to discover