Manley Chinook with (very) low output MC ZYX?


I currently have a Manley Chinook SE (UA Philips tubes), and I'm really enjoying it!  I use it with an ART9, but have been curious about the ZYX sound.  I have an opportunity to get a good deal on a ZYX R1000 AIRY 3X/SB (0.24mV).  Which is slightly less than half the output of my ART9.  Can I expect good noise performance?  How about overall performance?
tre9901

Showing 3 responses by johnss

should work fine. I have exact same phono pre.

also have the ART-9 and lower output LOMC carts; Benz LPS, and Madrigal Carnegie One which are both around 0.2mv output levels.
You will need to move the gain switches up to the highest setting.

Have been using RCA 6922s and Holland Bugle Boy 6DJ8s in mine.

If you want to drop the noise floor further, replace the TL082 devices with  sparkos labs discrete devices; SS3602 parts... No soldering required, a plug in replacement

https://sparkoslabs.com/
good luck.

I never tried the opamp in the power supply, just the two on the input circuit. but having said that, the third may make a difference too.

The other area on the Chinook that really benefits the sonics and reduced noise is replacing the load resistors (vertical board at the rear of the unit) with vishay bulk foils.

Hope that helps


yep, that is correct. not in signal path but are DC servos for FETs.

lowers the noise floor a ton. The other thing you can do is change out all the loading resistors on the back panel to Vishay VSRS.  just like focusing the looking glass much better imaging, quieter backgrounds and micro dynamics much better.
I would attach some photos but can't do it with Agon forums.