New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - PHONO Stages.... Oh No.... help
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Welcome to the Graham Slee Audio Products Owners Forum

 

Open to all owners plus those contemplating the purchase of a Graham Slee HiFi System Components audio product and wishing to use this forum's loaner program: join here (Rules on posting can be found here)

This website along with trade marks Graham Slee and HiFi System Components are owned by Cadman Enterprises Ltd

PHONO Stages.... Oh No.... help
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 345
Author
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
JohnnySH View Drop Down
New Member
New Member
Avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2018
Location: London
Status: Offline
Points: 13 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JohnnySH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Apr 2019 at 9:15pm
Thank you for the reply as always appreciated,

To be honest I design electronics for a living and If I were designing for the high end audio industry I would not be designing my Audio Power Supply Units in plastic enclosures 

1) they look cheap and cheerful, and do not sing the quality of +£1000 phono stages
2) Plastic cases will allow induced noise to other electronics from the internal transformer, any PSU electronics and mains frequency to radiate through the plastic enclosure and be picked up by other sensitive electronics.

A fully shielded metal quality case / enclosure is by far the better option for quality, aesthetics, looks, and electronic noise shielding, and heat sinking. This is just my take on it as a quality electronics design engineer.


As regarding your other points on the PH10, thank you very much for you're input and yes I do agree with most of what you said.

the AT440MLB is a funny kettle of fish!, never really been that happy with it, it's exceptionally toppy! but in a bit of an unpleasant way. And I guess why it requires careful loading and matching.

I agree that this phono stage is very limited for MM with only 2 resistance values and fix capacitors!!
so you do have a valid point on MM cart matching

I am planning to get the AT VM760SLC just to see if I like the sound quality more the the 440ML ??

As regards to PH10 level, it is off the scale too loud!! seriously both RCA and Balanced

and can not even connect my ORTOFON NIGHT CLUB 2E cart as it's RED LIGHTS all the way CLIP CLIP DC DC, those poor front end op amps being fed by the PH10.... are hitting the supply rails

Though one can not complain about build quality and the price it is pitched at..... I was looking at the Cyrus Audio Signature phono stage and still may go down that road as it has had many many great reviews.

As regards to the RCA leads, thanks yes you are right ! but was simply doing quick level comparison between my other preamp, so these were not final connections.

and thank you for your valid input, it is very much appreciated

Regards


Edited by JohnnySH - 16 Apr 2019 at 12:10am
Never give up looking for perfection, I don't!
Back to Top
patientot View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 28 Nov 2018
Location: USA
Status: Offline
Points: 1531 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote patientot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Apr 2019 at 8:47pm
I don't know about you but I buy items for the performance, not the looks. The PSU-1 being in a plastic case should have no impact on the performance AFAIK. 

Personally I would never buy the Gold Note unit, mainly because I have specific requirements for what I need that may or may not apply to you.

Biggest flaw I see is the input capacitance being fixed at 220pf. That is too high for many newer cartridges, especially Audio Technica (which you mention and I've used also) which tend to be very sensitive to capacitance loading. 

Next flaw I see is the input impedance. Lots of options for MC but little for MM. If you are going to make a big deal about this in ad copy then follow through. I'm not aware of too many MM/MI carts that sound best loaded at 22K, which is the only other option besides 47K. You mention the 440 which I found I could get fairly flat by loading at 39K and 100pf at the phono preamp. Can't do that with the Gold Note. 

Last thing which is a big thing for me personally is the overload margin. GS does very well on this and is up front about stress testing. 

GN says it can take 7mV. Okay, but can it take that on a hotly cut record? We don't know because they don't say what the overload margin is. 

BTW it looks like your RCA cables in the pic are swapped around the wrong way. Red should be on the bottom with white on the top. 
Back to Top
JohnnySH View Drop Down
New Member
New Member
Avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2018
Location: London
Status: Offline
Points: 13 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JohnnySH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Apr 2019 at 7:52pm
Still in the realms of looking for a good phono stage,

any feedback will be very much appreciated

I have tried the G.S. Accession which to be honest I was disappointed with! mainly with the build quality, it looked a bit like a home made electronics kit!

Din Connectors & plastic DC jacks were cheap and cheerful, the PSU also looked a bit like a maplin kit!

I'm not here to criticise, but if I'm in the Realms of spending +£1000 and upwards, I am expecting quality and expensive grade connectors Nutric etc. not cheap plastic din / jack connectors and plastic PSU casework.

This is constructive criticism and I'm only telling it as a consumer looking for a high quality RIAA phono stage.








For very similar money to G.S. Accession there is an Italian GOLD NOTE PH10 preamp, built like a tank with quality throughout, just wondered if there was any constructive feedback on this item, 

Has anyone compared this with Graham Slee units and what is there take on the comparison of the two phono stages mainly soundwise, and it's unfair to compare quality as they are poles apart in quality of build.

It has a very rich feature set, Supports 2 turntables, all settings via rotary encoder and front display, Load Settings, Multiple eq Curves Decca, Riaa, etc. Balanced Outputs .....YES this is what i Want!!! 

At the moment testing it with AT440MLB cart, as previously tested with a few other makes of RIAA phono stage. 

I have only had it on loan for a few days, but so far very impressed apart from the balanced outputs are too high signal wise. It is very clean sounding though would like to try it with an Audio Technica VM760SLC MM Cartridge which I am planning to get in the next few days.

As this is the place for educated analogue guru's any feed back as always appreciated.

This is proving the hardest purchase of all!! never thought looking for the right RIAA stage would be so hard!

But I am a perfectionist through and through and quality means everything to me 
  
 
So far this if the first RIAA preamp that is ticking most of the boxes for me within a price range that is not off the scale!!! 

You know what I mean!!! Crazy People, Spending Crazy Money, and trying to hear things that ain't even there! 

this item is still in the REAL WORLD cost wise






Edited by JohnnySH - 16 Apr 2019 at 12:21am
Never give up looking for perfection, I don't!
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 345
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.01
Copyright ©2001-2018 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.188 seconds.