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Cartridge and phono stage chit-chat

El Buberino,

Have you tried the Rega Ios? The pre-reference version can be picked up for about half its original price. It's a killer that was for reasons unknown largely overlooked by both audio punters and the audio press.

You can pretty much customize it for any low-output MC cartridge.

rega-ios.jpg


Joe
 
Bub,

I picked one up last summer for a song and a dance and a few clams. I'm really happy with mine, but I have to admit I didn't compare it with anything but a DV P-75 Mk II. Other high-end phono stages may be better, but for what the original IOS goes secondhand or ex-dem for I'd imagine you have a difficult time bettering it.

A review [PDF], if such things interest you.

Over the last few months, I’ve listened to perhaps a half dozen $1000 phono preamps, each one a winner in its own way. Just prior to that, however, I used a couple of phono stages in the $5000 to $7000 range. The Rega Ios easily belongs in the latter group. The build quality is astonishing (it’s certainly the heaviest phono preamp I’ve used), the flexibility world-class. The sound quality was perhaps the most addictive I’ve experienced in my system, and now I want that Ios as well.
Click to expand...

Get an Ios and put the difference toward a watch or a gorilla or something.

Joe
 
Hi Joe,

Interested, but max load seems to be 400 Ohm. Recommended load for Benz LP is 500 to 47 k Ohm. Will this matter?
 
I run mine into 10k, but only because that's all my phono allows due to topology.


Bzle, wow you must really love it smooth...
 
Blzebub said:
Hi Joe,

Interested, but max load seems to be 400 Ohm. Recommended load for Benz LP is 500 to 47 k Ohm. Will this matter?
Click to expand...

Whereas the Superline has an infinite number of impedance and capacitance variables by dint of its cap design, I nevertheless thought any decent s/s m/c stage had at least four resistance options. For Koetsus, 100 ohms is more or less mandatory as a ball-park figure.
 
I have just added a Benz LP-S to my SME V. I have a Superline E that is also just recently supercapped. Still breaking in, but sounds wonderful. There could be a difference between the LP and the LP-S because it is not close to being polite.
 
tvheadhunter said:
I have just added a Benz LP-S to my SME V. I have a Superline E that is also just recently supercapped. Still breaking in, but sounds wonderful. There could be a difference between the LP and the LP-S because it is not close to being polite.
Click to expand...

How have you solved the apparent discrepancy between the heavy LP-S and the Five, which has an eff. mass of only 11 grammes? I was tempted by this cart. when I had a Five, but was a bit put off by the seemingly contrary spec's.
 
Blzebub said:
How much is a Superline plus Supercap?
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Used, about £1100-1250 for a S'line (doubt you'll find an E, though), plus about £1200 for an Olive S'cap, plus a few hundred for the Burndy and I'm sure you'll want to add a £350 Hiline.

All a bit pointless from a value for money aspect, Bub, if your partnering kit isn't in tip-top order. Don't forget, if your cart. shunts out more than 0.5 mV, it'll be knocking at the higher aspect of the S'line's sensitivity envelope, which is theoretically 0.1 to 0.5 mV. I've used a 0.6mV Koetsu into mine and it's okay, but only just !
 
My dealer sent me the heavy counterweight at the same time as the LP-S. It will work without it, but you will have to move the normal weight almost to the very end.

Mike Reed said:
How have you solved the apparent discrepancy between the heavy LP-S and the Five, which has an eff. mass of only 11 grammes? I was tempted by this cart. when I had a Five, but was a bit put off by the seemingly contrary spec's.
Click to expand...
 
Blzebub said:
How much is a Superline plus Supercap?
Click to expand...

At current prices, the SuperCap is £3795, the Superline is £2050 and a burndy is £425.

We had this very setup here a while back when we were upgrading from a Prefix. We found the Superline excessively noisy and prone to RF interference.
Also, somewhat surprisingly, as we have a mainly Naim setup (52/SC/SNAXO242/2x250.2/SL2 with LP12/Keel/Radikal/Aro), we did not really like the presentation, which may be cartridge related (DVXX2II). I have heard the Superline do beautiful things in other systems, but it did not work for us, despite the best efforts of our Naim dealer.
 
I believe you can have Naim convert a regular Superline to an E for £100 or so. The LP-S is about .5mV. Naim recommended the E version for the Benz.


Mike Reed said:
Used, about £1100-1250 for a S'line (doubt you'll find an E, though), plus about £1200 for an Olive S'cap, plus a few hundred for the Burndy and I'm sure you'll want to add a £350 Hiline.

All a bit pointless from a value for money aspect, Bub, if your partnering kit isn't in tip-top order. Don't forget, if your cart. shunts out more than 0.5 mV, it'll be knocking at the higher aspect of the S'line's sensitivity envelope, which is theoretically 0.1 to 0.5 mV. I've used a 0.6mV Koetsu into mine and it's okay, but only just !
Click to expand...
 
Mike Reed said:
Used, about £1100-1250 for a S'line (doubt you'll find an E, though), plus about £1200 for an Olive S'cap, plus a few hundred for the Burndy and I'm sure you'll want to add a £350 Hiline.

All a bit pointless from a value for money aspect, Bub, if your partnering kit isn't in tip-top order. Don't forget, if your cart. shunts out more than 0.5 mV, it'll be knocking at the higher aspect of the S'line's sensitivity envelope, which is theoretically 0.1 to 0.5 mV. I've used a 0.6mV Koetsu into mine and it's okay, but only just !
Click to expand...

I'm sure I wouldn't be adding a Hiline. Not unless I had a bang on the head, at the very least.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my partnering kit, numerous fish of this parish have visited me recently, and the setup sounds sublime, as I'm sure they would verify, if called upon to do so. The Benz LP puts out 0.34mV.
 
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