Artemis Labs Ph-1 owners.....

Happy New Year and a big thank you to all of you for trying to help me with this.

The problem that I am having is that although I really love this phono stage, I do hear some tube rush at my listening chair with normal volume levels, which for me is at the 12 o'clock position. Once the needle is in the groove and the music is playing, I no longer hear the noise but I can't help but wonder if it is still masking some low level information. If I lower the volume controls down to 9 o'clock the noise is not noticeable. There is 8 clicks difference between 12 and 9 o'clock on my line stage which equates to 16db. My cartridge is .9mV at 3.54cm/sec. Also, my volume controls are ladder stepped attenuators, so I don't believe it really matters where they are located for quality of sound.

My cartridge is getting on in years so I'm considering which would be a good replacement and how best to increase my gain to acceptable levels without over driving my phono stage.

I've enjoyed the Benz sound a lot and would consider the

Ruby 3H .7mV @3.54cm/sec 80 ohms internal
Benz Ebony LP .28mV @3.54cm/sec 38 ohms internal
Benz Ebony L .26mV @3.54cm/sec 5 ohms internal
Benz Ebony TR .1mV @3.54cm/sec 1 ohm internal

The above cartridges are all available at the same price and I believe the Ruby 3H and LP have the highest sound potential of these listed in the Benz line up then the TR and then L from what I've read on the net.

So my goal is to get the highest gain from my phono stage to lower the noise floor but without overdriving any of the gain stages in the phono stage.

Sorry for being so long winded but I wanted to try and give you as much needed info as possible.

Thank you so kindly for your help.
Don

Hey Don,

Are you using s step up now? It seems your #1 concern is noise and a SUT will help you address this problem since they can give "noiseless" gain. If you add a 1:10 you will increase your signal by 20dB which will require 20dB of attenuation to get back to the same level. Since the attenuator is further down the chain, it will attenuate all of the noise that happens before it along with the signal by the same 20dB pushing your noise floor down.

dave

Hi Dave,

I am not using a step up transformer right now. I'm using a wood bodied Benz MO.9 which has .9mV output straight into the Artemis Labs Ph-1 which has no internal step-ups either.

I'm thinking about getting a new cartridge and would consider any of the ones listed in the above post with a step up to get the noise down.

Also, in case it is helpful, my input sensitivity on my power amp is 1.5V.

Don