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Rega Hal - preamp outs

I picked up a Rega Hal for almost nothing, and once I got a look at the manual found that the pre-outs are non-standard (I assumed they were normal balanced outs). The manual does little to elaborate on connecting this to Non-Rega, normal amps. Can somone please help me with the following questions?

1) Has anyone driven non-Rega, unbalanced input power amps with good results?

2) How are the pre-out pins configured? I assume that the bottom pin is ground, left is left, and right is right live output. Please correct me, or confirm. If I construct an interconnect with two normal RCA terms on the Amp side, connected to the correct pins of an XLR term on the pre side - will this drive most any power amp with good results? And more specifically, will it drive my B&K Reference 4420 well?

3) Can you recommend where I can obtain an adapter to save the trouble of constructing one? (I am also contacting Rega NA for this question)

4) Is all of the above likely to be a fool's errand (or worse), and I should just look to pair this up with one of the matching Rega Power amps?

thanks to everyone in advance!
bdgregory

Showing 2 responses by bdgregory

bdgregory OP
1,725 posts
 
It doesn't appear this preamp is very common, but since I received a response to my questions from Rega, I'll post them here in case somone else is looking in the future. My questions to them included :

1) Can you provide the definition of how the XLR pins are configured?

2) Regarding the Phono section - what are the dip-switch settings if I want to change it to the moving coil setting?
(these are set inside the pre-)

By the way, I've been using the Hal as a phono preamp for the last week. It's quite nice, much better than anything I've used to date.

regards, Brad G.

=================
Subject: Rega Hal connection and Phono settings.

Sadly we do not have the REGA XLR leads available as the HAL was discontinued in 1999.

The Hal had non-balanced outputs but used the XLR socket as a convenient connection method.
Standard XLR cables will not work with the HAL.
Therefore connection is as follows - Pin 1 is GND (ground), Pin 2 is Right signal and Pin 3 is Left signal.

The Dip switches in side control the MM or MC input sensitivity and loading...

Gain:
S1 & S2 off = 34.2dB sensitivity = 5mV (MM)
S1 on = 55.6dB sensitivity = 400uV (MC)
S2 on = 49.8dB sensitivity = 800uV (MC)
S1 & S2 on = 58.7dB sensitivity = 290uV (MC)

Load:
S3 & S4 off = 47kohm
S3 on = 10ohm
S4 on = 100ohm
S3 & S4 on = 9ohm

I hope htis is useful,

Regards,

Simon Webster.
service@rega.co.uk
bdgregory OP
1,725 posts
 
if you flip your preamp over (bottom up) you'll see 4 hex key cap screws. You need to remove them, then flip the pre back over and lift the top half of the die-cast shell off (it separates at the middle seam). Do this carefully so you don't scratch anything.

You'll then be able to access the dip switch block.
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