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Problem with phono stage

Hello Fellow Audiogoners,

I need help with my Phono stage. It is Lehman Audio Black Cube from Germany.  It was recommended from Simao, a very respected Audiogon member who helped me a lot when I was building my stereo. It costs 450$ brand new which I bought used from this site. Michael Fremer considers it one of the best steals in phono stages. I get a little bit better detail and bass extension BUT it also much noisier. I can hear the pops and any other noises  on the records much more then with the phono stage of my Arcam FMJ 28 which turned out to be a surprisingly good one considering it is an integrated one.
I also switched the cables but the noise is still there.
Is this a common problem with added phono stages as opposed to integrated ones or something is wrong with my phono and needs to be checked.

All help will be greatly appreciated.
Emil


emilm

Showing 5 responses by mijostyn

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Wow, this makes me vertiginous. All I do is flip the power switch, sink in and listen. Does any of this matter to me?
Lewm, welcome to the, " how the heck do you interpret R" club. I think it is best to let him vent and move on. Trying to make sense out of what he is saying will give you a headache. We have recommended that he use a translator but he refuses. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Nagaoka makes a pretty good cartridge especially for the money. You buy one, you screw it up into your tonearm, set your phono stage up right and enjoy the tunes. It has nothing to do with stroking one's ego discussing issues that have very little relevance to 90% of us. Moving iron, moving permalloy, moving magnet. They are all capable of sounding perfectly fine and much more alike than not.
The OP wanted to know if he could reduce the noise in his vinyl playback system. Phono stage overload, loading and lower capacitance cables have been mentioned. Does anyone have other ideas for emilm to try? 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Yes Audioguy, noise is the demon of vinyl playback and it is always going to be there (although the computer wizards are desperately trying to program  it out) But, it can go from obnoxious to inaudible (as long as the music is playing) There are several contributing factors and if all of them are optimized vinyl, as many of us have noticed is a wonderful medium.
Stylus alignment, clean records, good pressing, no static, the right equipment and cables etc.  
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
emilm, Yes, atmasphere is talking turntable to phono input. You also want to keep the cables as short as you can. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Hi Emil, I do believe you are overloading it. What cartridge are you using and how are you loading the Lehman? Ralph from Atma-Sphere should be able to help you with a solution.

Mike
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