Accession Duo

I'm very interested in the topic but not in the market for a duo phono stage at present. The proposal made by Bob seems logical as long as when toggling between MM & MC inputs, the output volume is similar for an 'average' output cart of both types or the MC variant could perhaps have an adjustable gain. 

BackinBlack wrote: As an alternative to developing an enclosure and pcbs for the Duo might a simple 2 channel "pre-amp" with input level and switching be viable, this could also be used as an input switching device to the single Majestic analogue input. Just a thought. Ian

Accession Duo, Majestic, Proprii is fewer boxes and fewer PSUs.

The thing is we only have around 42 truly active members of which only 21 seem to have any interest in phono stage developments on here, and that's out of 2645 total membership. And as for a Graham Slee MM/MC stage there are only 5 so far (excluding me).

This "Accession Duo" topic might attract a few more but anybody can see that the trend is moving away from high quality high fidelity (to studio booth standards) towards lifestyle turntable ownership as a symbol of some kind, or where people kid themselves on that they're listening to the "real thing" because he who shouteth loudest ... etc.

It reminded me of Sykes, and the faithful but small following Eric and Hattie had for their busless bus service.

I remember the day not many years ago when people searching Google for a phono stage used to get my name as a suggestion. I have to admit it that through my painstaking endevours to bring vinyl listeners the very best in reproduction that I am rapidly becoming an hasbeen.

It clearly shows the direction society is taking.

Aussie Mick wrote: I would want to make sure a MC cart would be an obvious improvement. ... Otherwise, why would I move to MC?

If like so many do, you listen to commercial pressings you will most probably find that with MC there is a little something missing.

Sorry to say this and most sorry for myself if anybody believes this, but those viewing the video I recently shared about how vinyl records are made, will have noticed a tonearm on the record cutting lathe.

Whatever could that be used for?

It looked like a good tonearm, and other lathes I've seen pictures of seem to have a tonearm of equal quality - and not some relic from the Dansette days.

Perhaps they use it for quality control? There are circuits in the cutting machine electronics to "engineer" the sound: de-essers are one example. I'm told they're used and you'd expect somebody to at least listen before committing to production. I'd have thought so.

I'd have expected that somebody responsible for the release such as the producer or at least the recording engineer might have been involved. Or they may have entrusted it to a mastering engineer with ears capable of hearing what's good and what's not.

It begs the question "with what cartridge did they use?"

At a guess it might have been a cartridge he (or she) thought could be used by the majority of the intended market? Perhaps therefore an MM? (unless the intended market was audiophiles)

Thereby hangs a tale. MMs exhibit a different upper frequency profile to MCs. They use a capacitive input in which the cartridge inductance tunes a particular frequency, and the degree of peaking is controlled by a resistance (47k these days - used to be 68k which allowed for larger peaks).

It is only around 1dB or less but it's there, and perhaps a de-esser was set to flatten the result?

And if it was, and we all know an MC doesn't have such a bump in its response, then that "flatten" becomes a dip - only 1dB or less - when that record is played using it.

Well, that's the only explanation I could find after grappling with the subjective subtle but only slight"lifelessness" in nearly every commercial pressing I've used to test numerous MC stage ideas - including clones of other manufacturers products to check it wasn't just my own.

It must have been a year since I asked Bob to digitise some tracks for comparrison in testing the Accession for MC, and I'm only just about to launch it. What do you think delayed it so long?

I have had to find a way of countering the subjective lifeless-ness I found. It cannot be done by EQ - that is a big taboo - some bright spark reviewer would find it on his audio analyser. So here enters the sound of components (flat earthers should begin grinding their axes right now), and endless listening tests of album after album - not forgetting the trials of building and rebuilding the listening facility to remove room colorations (and all those absorbers!) - trying to get at the truth via means which suggest the opposite. And it is hiding the truth when you think of it.

The Accession MC circuit has just about convinced me by now, but I keep playing records to just in case. I did find one track yesterday which placed a subtle backing vocal further behind the mix than I thought it should be, but perhaps that's just the cartridge?

All those other guys who launch MC stages like shelling peas must know something I don't?