@rauliruegas
I agree with you. However, never having had an hifi analog system, I am not even sure I will be able to hear what could be improved, unless it is super obvious. One never knows the deficiency of a decent system unless you hear a GREAT system. These days, listening to other gears is highly impractical. |
@millercarbon. My preamp Cary SLP98P has a phono stage in it. But, I don't know if I should get a better one or not. |
I am not married to Cary SLP-98P. I bought it used one month ago for $2500. I can sell it get a new MC phono/preamp if needed. So, may be I need to think about a phono/preamp as well? |
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Thanks everyone for great recommendations. So, with Cary SLP98P preamp upgrade to MC (step up), it will be $3000. Is there a Preamp plus phono stage that are better at this price or let's say up to around $4000? |
@jman67. Where does one get the adaptors to use 6f8g instead of 6SN7? How did you figure out that 6f8g works better? 6SN7 tubes are very sweet sounding preamp tubes in my opinion. |
frozentundra
Wow, those are cheap! |
I want to thank everyone for contributing to my vinyl journey. I would like to report back on what I decided. I purchased a very well maintained Sota star III with Sumiko premier MMT tone arm and Denon D103R cartridge. The gentleman who sold me this set up also included a phono stage that he built for this cartridge. All for a little over $2K. Now, I just have to get some vinyls.
If you were to upgrade this setup, where would you start? |
Regarding the phono stage (that he made), this is what the seller said. Any preamp with an auxiliary input will work. The "Takata phono stage" will drive any 5k or higher input impedance, with gain ideally around 10dB (depending on your power amp and speakers). As it is, you do not plug it into phono input. One day, you may get the urge to do a little surgery on the phono stage, and try the MC step-up transformers connected directly to your phono input. Inside the cabinet, are the schematics for the Cine-Mag step-up transformers connection options and the phono stage, which will make it easy to understand how I’ve set them up. From experience, however, many vacuum tube phono stages suffer from higher noise, or tube microphonic issues, forcing one to buy super-premium grade tubes. I’ve also included spare transistors for the non-standard power supply regulator along with that schematic. Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense right now.
The cartridge is aluminum not plastic.
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What do you all recommend for vinyl cleaning. Is ultrasonic the way to go? |
What do you all recommend for vinyl cleaning. Is ultrasonic the way to go? |
