johnss
Responses from johnss
| Pure tube phono preamp in the price range you are looking at, you really should consider the VTL TP 6.5. Used, they go for well under your top budget. They use an FET for the first gain stage at the MC level, but after that all valve. Its the most open, most dynamic pho... | |
| Why is there no love for Prima Luna? @audiomerk, if you want more warmth, 2 things you can do. 1. insert Shuguang nature sound 6CA7 output tubes, and replace the first two input tubes with Shuguang 12AU7 - TG.2. reduce the Neg feedback a bit on the amp, the imaging will greatly impro... | |
| Is the Manley Steelhead still relevant? would agree with hagtech,but for 15k I would be looking at the ARC ref phono stage or the VTL 6.5 Both are much better than the steelhead. Have owned two copies of the chinook, the steelhead, and the other two mentioned. | |
| Why is there no love for Prima Luna? think there is plenty of love for the brand, especially if you go through it with better parts. But as others have pointed out, you cannot do point to point wiring in the US or European countries and sell for the price point they are selling at. T... | |
| DAC Choices - $5,000 to $7,000 until you get above that price point, think there is only one..the denafrips terminator. | |
| When did you digitize your CDs and LPs? I still haven’t... if you embark on this task, what ever you do, make a daily back up copy of the files you have ripped, or copied. I did this with my 2k CD collection a number of years ago. Got half way through and the HD crashed. Had to start all over from the beg... | |
| Are all of these NOS tube inventories real? How have we not consumed them already? would agree with @oldhvymec, at least on the preamp and low signal level tubes. There were tons and tons made. When tube production shifted from the US and Europe to Japan, many back then thought that was it, so hoarded US tubes by the boat load. ... | |
| phono preamp < $500 At that price point, I'd be looking at the marantz 7 clone available on ebay for under 400; not much can touch its performance. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hi-end-12AX7-Tube-MM-RIAA-Turntables-Phono-amplifier-base-on-Marantz-7-L7-4...here is one sell... | |
| Looking for a phono stage with pleasing coloration @arize84, roll in some shuguang 12A_7 TG types...very musical sounding tube and none of the analytical qualities. | |
| Reel to Reel information, user tips and tricks... would agree with atmosphere on the noise. Yes, have heard the decware head unit several times. Its pretty nice. regarding noise, would also suggest using vishay bulk foil VSR types as your load resistor for terminating the signal from the heads. | |
| Reel to Reel information, user tips and tricks... if you are handy with a soldering iron and can run the EQ curves, you can also use one of the tube phono stages as a tape head preamp......I have done it with an EAR 834 as well as the Marantz 7 clone phono stage. Amazing how much better it sounds. | |
| Sutherland 20/20 v Manley Chinook +1 for @stevecham comments. I have owned both as well, he pretty spot on. have not owned the Sutherland. only comment I will add on the Chinook, is buy one of the older units. The latest models all dumped the big toroid for a switcher power supply... | |
| Reel to Reel information, user tips and tricks... If you are looking for blank tape source, a good one to consider it tapetape.com they sell single pass reels and pancakes from several manufacturers. | |
| Upgrading Quicksilver preamp or amp caps -- warranty impact? @hilde45, regardless of how quiet the system sounds, it can be quieter. If you look at the specs for self noise, metal film are good, but are far from the best. The lower you can bring down the noise floor, the more micro info will be uncovered. I... | |
| Measuring TT Speed its a bit extreme but the proper way to measure is with a calibrated test tone disk and a frequency counter. You can also send the output to a scope and visually watch the deviations. |