pro-ject tube box 2, vincent pho-8, jasmine LP2mk2


Just plugged in my new Salience / Jasmine LP2mkII. Very impressed with what I am hearing out of the box. Everything is more refined and detailed in the soundstage than my pro-ject tube box II with upgraded electro-harmonix gold 12AX7 tubes. Both create a big soundstage, which I like. I think the Salience's is bigger. I am hearing new things on records that the pro-ject could not bring out. The Salience also sounds a little warmer and relaxed yet still very defined. Bass is less boomy and cymbals sound much more accurate.

I also tried a Vincent PHO-8 about a month ago but sent it back. Did not like that one. Maybe something was wrong with the unit since it sounded smallish and boxed in soundstage-wise out of the box and had a ground loop hum from the start. The Salience is a 2 box design like the Vincent. No ground loop hum with the Salience.

It is very nice that we have some nice phono preamp options in the $500 range. I will keep the Salience if it continues to impress plus. I like the multiple MC settings.

A couple of questions about the Salience:

1. It says Salience instead of Jasmine on both front panels. Why is this? I plan on covering them or taping over the blue lights since they are quite bright. I purchased from h_salience from eBay.
2. Some people have talked about upgrading the xlr-4 power cable but this one seems quite nicely made out of the box. Did they start making nicer ones with the 2.0 version?
3. The owners manual is photo copied. Should I be concerned?
sbrownnw

Showing 8 responses by sbrownnw

Listened more to this new phono pre setup last night. It does a much better job keeping up with Beethoven's 3rd (180g Deutsche Grammophon pressing). The horns and string basses sounded amazing. Also did quite well with some original Zepplin pressings and the first Mumford and Sons LP.

Still scratching my head about the photo copied user manual.
Thanks Redglobe. How hard is it to replace the caps in the LP2mkII? I have very little experience with a soldering iron but I have a choice of two great local shops. Would it be worth going to the Silver Jantzen or just the Superior? I plan on posting some picts of the inside of box boxes as I figure out the best way to mask off the blue bright lights on the front panel.
Still liking the LP2 mkII. Wow, it has a ton of gain, even with my high output MC on MM mode. You have to really make sure your records are as clean as possible since it picks up everything. Just ordered a pair of -12db attenuators.
For the phono channel since one of my listening volume levels is too little rotation on my AR preamp. At that level on the AR the channel volume level is a little mismatched. The attenuators will fix this.
Added the Harrison attenuators last night and the LP 2mkII went to another level because the channels are matched correctly now. Is a really good matchup and would recommend this setup strongly. :)
Lots of good reviews for the Pro-ject RS phono. Found a few people that sold theirs. Is it really that good? Might have to try one myself...