Straight In

So - no point in beating around the bush ...

Have gone straight in for the whole package Reflex M - PSU1 / 2 x Lautus 1.5m and when John gets back from his hols -
Spatia speaker cable.

So my question is originally I was going to use the Lautus both sides of the phono amp into the pre but without the facility to get a loaner cable - I live in a Sand Pit - I am now in the dilemma of do I get the CuSat50 0.6 and use that from the phono amp to the turntable or do I just get another Lautus - The spare Lautus cable can very happily connect the Musical
Fidelity pre to power amps.

So all of knowledgable here and I know what conventional wisdom says is it 3x Lautus 1.5 or 2x Lautus / 1x CuSat50 0.6.

Oh Graham of wise words help me enter your universe with the best bang...

Vpi Scout - Musical Fidelity Pre and Mono Blocks - Isotek EVO3 Solus And Premier Cables (it's like a big extension lead in my book before anyone goes down the main conditioner path) - Kef LS50 and very soon all cables and Project MM phono stage to be replaced by the above ...

Plays very nice music though at the moment through poorly pressed 45's ...

Tim

Btw on a more serious note anyone going down the Graham
Slee path the customer service and John's knowledge, these forums are an example to the other 'audiophile' companies.

Hi Stuart,  

Hmmmm, a VPI Scout V1.1... the reason for saying Hmmmm is because it has a nice 6 inch loop antenna - that thing between the arm and the phono block.

The "antenna" is also the signal carrying conductors, so any hum source must be kept as far away as possibile.

Radio hams will instantly recognise that the input impedance of a phono stage combined with the inductance of the cartridge forms a "tank" circuit - to you or I, a (fixed) tuner - and more's the pity that VPI were never radio hams (we are able to tell you know?).

Luckily, with a moving magnet cartridge it tunes 15kHz which isn't a radio frequency, but with a high output MC it's going to be a much higher frequency.

On the other hand, the lower inductance of a high output MC loads the tank circuit making it harder for an RF signal to be picked-up.

All I'm saying is there is a larger possibility of radio pick-up by waving cartridge wires in the air.

I am not saying this to upset you.

Maybe the Lautus is a way to avoid the possibility of a tuned frequency being transmitted-on to the phono stage input? If using a moving magnet I would usually say not, as there is a possibility that the higher inductance would work with the Lautus filters to promote radio pick up.

If the UAE is relatively quiet radio wise, then I wouldn't worry. Such problems tend to manifest themselves in USA cities where AM stations use high rises as transmitter towers.

Otherwise I think the VPI Scout is a really good turntable.

It's going to be a case of suck it and see, but a cable length of 1.3 to 1.5 metres will give the capacitance most cartridges expect (that's the cable capacitance and the phono stage capacitance combined). If you had both the Lautus 1.5m and say a CuSat50 1.3m (the one we do for TTs) at your disposal, you'd be able to use the one which does best for you. Maybe both will be OK. I'm not trying to sell you more gear.

The choice of the Reflex M is a good choice as it uses JFET input stages that are far less susceptible to radio detection. If it were the Reflex C with this turntable I could worry perhaps? Not that the Reflex C is the problem - the antenna is.

By the way Tim, sorry for not mentioning it earlier, but welcome - you're in good company, and safe hands (well, safer than you could have been...)

Tim, I can't be the only one thinking, "where did he come from?" There's a thread about what brought us to GSP, but no need to go there; tell us here, please. Your enthusiasm and belief can't be without some basis. Oh, and BTW, Welcome!