Shindo preamps

Fjn- Despite what was erroneously stated to you (obviously to me, not by someone who knows what they are talking about), ALL Shindo preamp and amp circuits are designed from the ground up by Ken Shindo and are entirely of his own design and not meant to sound like Marantz products whatsoever. There is no 're-working' of Marantz circuits..

Sounds like you really liked the Masseto. It's a wonderful preamp.
Sincerely,
-Matt
pitchperfectaudio.com

Indeed. Sounds like you received the info from someone completely misinformed. Technically they're completely unrelated.. From tubes to circuit to power supply- not a similarity to be found.

The Marantz 7C's phono section is based on the 12AX7, while the Shindo's is based on the 12AT7. Although the two tubes share the same pin-outs, their application data differs somewhat, making them cousins, rather than twins.

While the schematics probably differ (I haven't seen the Shindo's), there's a philosophical relationship in that the Shindo is using a classic tube (along with vintage caps and other parts) to create a (presumably) classic type of sound.

Plenty of other phonos use the 12AT7, including conrad-johnson, VTL, and Atma-Sphere. The 12AX7 is pretty ubiquitous, too. There are just so many ways to implement either one in a phono circuit, so you could say there's an abstract relationship between them, even though the construction and sound may not be the same.

Short of having the schematic on hand, who's to say that the Shindo was literally designed from the ground up, rather than being a reinterpretation of a classic concept.

Solitaire,

for your information: here is the schematic of a 1990 Shindo preamp:
http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/xentar/1179/projects/claret/Claret.html

But be aware, that a lot of Shindo sound comes from component choice. The schematic tells not the whole story.

best regards, Hartmut

Thank you for the link.

To expand the context of your comment, the schematic mentioned is a version of the Shindo Claret preamp, as built by Thorsten Loesch. Interestingly enough, he comments, "The Claret copy, while not able to match my 'reference', the modified Arthur Loesch Preamp (called Toccata) for transparency and detail ... comes close enough for me not feel any major loss. The Phonostage is MM only, mostly the classic dual ECC83 with negative Feedback Equaliser."

Like the Marantz 7C, it uses 12AX7's, and like the Shindo Masseto, it uses 12AT7's.

However, this article in 6moons mentions that the Claret was discontinued when the schematics were leaked and that to this day Shindo does not allow schematics, or even photos of the insides of his units, to be published.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/shindo/monbrison.html

So, while the Claret may offer a glimpse into Shindo's earlier thinking, we still don't know exactly how the Masseto uses this classic tube. And, yes, given the endless tales of upgrades and mods found on so many sites, one can clearly change the character of any component by appropriate parts selection.