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New Phono Stage. Advice needed.

Aethelist

Aethelist

pfm Member
Looking for a MM phono stage that has adjustable capacitance / variable gain.

Budget around £500 - £750 max

Have the NJC Audio Reference in mind but was wondering if there is anything else that can do similar?
 
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Yup. Thanks. I looked at that one and the MM side is too high. 47kΩ + 120, 220, 340 or 440pF.

My Delphini is at 100pF apparently and I want to get below that. Much more below if possible.
 
Musical Fidelity's discontinued M1vinl and its replacement go down to 50pF. Haven't heard either but I looked into them when I got obsessive about capacitance and they're well thought of.
 
I do the Arkless 640P which is infinitely variable on loading via loading plugs, both resistance and capacitance, and is MM and MC compatible. Can go down to zero capacitance if required (obviously there will always be stray capacitance of maybe 10pf or so!). Less than half your budget!
 
Thanks but. Loading plugs? After 10 years or so of dicking around with a Delphini (MK2) and having to dismantle it to change stuff ? It's really not where I want to go right now.

On the fly is really drawing in me in, which is why I'm considering the NJC. That Big Knob on the front to adjust capacitance whilst listening? Hmmm.

Wether it actually works or not is another matter. I can't find anything on the interweb to determine. There are no "reviews" as such that I can find ( I've really looked around more than can be considered healthy). I can't "demo" one from a dealer (been a long time since I did that tbh)

So. What to do?

(PS I still really do actually like my Delphini. I'ts silent ,inky black , silent. But, it has a lot of gain on the MM side and on certain albums it's just too much for my amp at times - Lavardin IS Reference -things can get a bit - congested)

Maybe I'm searching for something out of reach.
 
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Yes. That's the one. And you're not alone in never having heard it. Seems nobody has.

To be honest I had such a good time listening to various things I'd not played in a long while today that I'm having second thoughts about changing anything.

Loud cut stuff can go sit in the naughty corner.

Cartridge break in / running in is real though. Seems my recently purchased MP300 has finally hit peak form.

(had a good day today)
 
Aethelist said:
Thanks but. Loading plugs? After 10 years or so of dicking around with a Delphini (MK2) and having to dismantle it to change stuff ? It's really not where I want to go right now.

On the fly is really drawing in me in, which is why I'm considering the NJC. That Big Knob on the front to adjust capacitance whilst listening? Hmmm.
Click to expand...

Re. loading plugs and "having to dismantle it to change the loading"?? You seem to be confused, A. :rolleyes:

The whole point of using load plugs is that you have a parallel pair of input RCAs to take the plugs (with the phono cable plugged into the other pair). You don't "dismantle" anything - you simply remove one pair of load plugs and replace it with another pair. I call that "on the fly"! :D No more difficult than "that Big Knob" on the NJC ... and better, in that you can choose whatever load value you want - rather than being restricted to the values which NJC offers.

Andy

PS: and looking at the NJC phono stage which someone provided the link to ... I notice that the blurb says "Low output MC cartridges will require our MC Transformer which is designed to work alongside the phono preamplifier to provide the additional voltage gain for MC." So the phono stage doesn't provide adjustable 'R' loading for MCs - what you are limited to is the (presumably) 47K Zin of the (MM) phono stage, divided by the square of the gain ratio of the SUT. Which results in:
* 470 ohms, if it's a 1:10 SUT
* 208 ohms, if it's a 1:15 SUT, and
* 118 ohms, if it's a 1:20 SUT.

Which may or may not be the loading which makes your cart sound its best. :(
 
Many thanks for the explanation. Seems I was barking up the wrong tree.
I was confusing "Loading Plugs" as being a similar thing to something like "Jumper" plugs that you install on a PC motherboard to change values, and to do so would mean opening up the case
So these RCA plugs. Are they like attenuator plugs? Like Russ Andrews sells. For about £200 a pair?
Sorry if I'm sounding a bit dim on this but how can adding something into the chain actually reduce the load that the cartridge sees?
I'm trying to reduce capacitance, not increase anything.
 
Are you trying to reduce capacitance for the sake of the Nagaoka? I thought they were OK with relatively high capacitance - maybe even better for it?
 
Yes I am. Or maybe, I was.
I've no idea what the hell happened yesterday but all of sudden the Nag came alive. I didn't change anything. It all of sudden started to sound like I was always hoping it would. The upper sibilance and congestion that was there has now disappeared and everything I throw at it now sounds pretty blooming amazing. Even the torture tracks.
For the record (sic) I'm using an LP12 (2003) Ekos 2 with an original 1.2m (silver / grey) T- Kable in to a Delphini Mk2 with a NCPSU.
As far as I'm aware the TKable measures 89pF and the Delphini 100pF. No idea what the internal wiring on the Ekos measures, nor the cartridge tags.
TBH I'm giving up being bothered about it now. Putting it down to just another mad phase that you go through every now and again..
 
Aethelist said:
Many thanks for the explanation. Seems I was barking up the wrong tree.
I was confusing "Loading Plugs" as being a similar thing to something like "Jumper" plugs that you install on a PC motherboard to change values, and to do so would mean opening up the case
So these RCA plugs. Are they like attenuator plugs? Like Russ Andrews sells. For about £200 a pair?
Sorry if I'm sounding a bit dim on this but how can adding something into the chain actually reduce the load that the cartridge sees?
I'm trying to reduce capacitance, not increase anything.
Click to expand...

They are just a pair of RCA phono plugs with a capacitor/and/or resistor soldered inside each one.

I supply the Arkless 640P as standard with 47K resistance and 100pF capacitance as a pretty standard MM load. These are the default characteristics then with no loading plugs fitted. Loading plugs can be used to adjust the loading of either MM or MC carts and a set of 100R loading plugs for MC use are included but can be supplied as any other value at no extra cost. 47K is a standard figure for MM carts and not many models require anything different. For MC's capacitance is not important and you can go down from 47K resistance to as low as you like with loading plugs.

Obviously resistance can only go down and capacitance up from the standard default BUT I can also supply the unit with 100K resistance and no loading caps fitted for those wanting the ultimate in variability of loading for MM carts.
I would supply loading plugs of 91K and 100pF combined here which would take it to a standard 47K/100pF "to get you going" but you could go up from zero capacitance to whatever you want and down from 100K to as low as you want. Obviously it's very helpful if you can solder a resistor or capacitor or both into a phono plug if you're planning on trying loads of experiments here but I can also of course supply loading plugs to any value for a fee.

Hope that explains it better.
 
Many thanks, it does explain it better.
But as I said earlier , I'm actually really quite happy with the way things are sounding at the mo.
Plus ça change
 
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