I would love to buy a vintage kenwood L07D, a microseiki or technics sp 10 mk 3
Hi, John,
Good to see you on a board, long time no hear.
As you know, a transformer into the MM will be the quietest input, but may require a bit of experimentation to find the one most synergistic.
I have an Allnic head amp based on nuvistors, inevitably some tube rush in order to get the benefits of a very specific and deep soundstage over the built in transformers, which are completely noise free. However, as long as the cartridge output is over .3mV, I really prefer the head amp's sound quality.
I think you are describing a common dilemma with analog. I have come to regard the "noise companion" the necessary condition of the best analog sound, and have chosen to embrace it somewhat rather than fuss about it.
I had an Accuphase head amp shortly, still had some noise. You may get somewhat quieter performance with an FET, but I think it would dry out the sound and lose some "bloom" if you are coming from an all tube front end.
That actually might be preferable depending on how lush or bloomy the rest of your system sounds.
I think with cartridges at .2mV and below, that a transformer is really the best solution with whatever compromises it might entail. With outputs in the higher ranges, a head amp is a better choice.
Outside of the Allnic current production nuvistor head amp, which is expensive, the "vintage" Accuphase head amps are probably some of the best sounding and quietest available.
HI ALL- before my big change -I picked up a pair of tesla le subwoofer cables and a pair of tesla le rel spec subwoofer reference cables- trying to break them in before the CAT statements arrived next weekend.
I just recently got a 1:32 step up from Lamm replacing the stock 1:9.6, huge improvement all around since all but one of my carts is in the .3mV range. Knut Cornils of Valvet also built me a 4 input phonostage with 1x1:10 , 2 x 1:20 and an MM input which I loaded with a pair of TFK 803s and a pair of 801s. This is a killer phono stage. It looks like it will join the line regular Valvet line-up soon. So far, it's the only one in existence.
I'm on a waitlist for both Lyra's new top dog and Transfiguration's Orpheus (9 months and counting). Stig has only two units allocated for the Philippines for the first run and Jim and I took them. Thomas of TW also owes me an arm turret for my third arm. Other than that things are pretty much the same.
Cable cooker ?
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