Paracas Sierra Moving Coil Preamplifier Questions

MCM_Fan

Member
Feb 15, 2021
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I am looking for information on the Paracas Sierra Moving Coil Preamplifier.

Considerable Google searching has not yielded a single bit of information on this product. In fact, other than a few posts in this forum, I can find very little information on the company and their products. So, I am hopeful someone here can help me out.

I am looking for basic specs (gain and input impedance, fixed, or variable) or any documentation (user's manual, brochure, spec sheet, etc.).

It looks to be a high quality product, but I'd like to know if the gain and impedance are a good match for my moving coil cartridge (Dynavector 20X2L).

Here's a couple photos (the blue box is an external power supply):

Paracas Sierra Moving Coil Preamplifier_3.jpg

Paracas Sierra Moving Coil Preamplifier_4.jpg
 
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RogerD

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BiggestLittleCity
The one and only and was probably made for a physician in Carson City. Where did you find this preamp? I have the matching electronic crossover. Carl made these units and they were strictly bespoke. He made them for just a few of his close audio friends.
Carl never printed any specs except for his later Agtron units.This unit should sound very good,as the donor preamp was very spatial and dynamic. The unit as built was using wonder caps and metal film resistors as I recall. The specs would be as good as most high end SS preamps.

I answered your PM Kerry....now that I see the unit. I know exactly what it is and who it was probably made for.
Roger
 
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Dogwan

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Mar 12, 2021
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Hey there, new member...1st post.

I joined specifically because of this thread. Looks like an interesting forum, I will stick around and do some exploring.

In the meantime, I am now the owner of the above MC preamplifier. Apparently MCM_Fan was doing research too after seeing this unit posted to local Portland Craigslist. The seller and I reached a mutually beneficial trade for some gear I had that he wanted and in return I got the MC stage and the matching Paracas Sierra preamplifier.

The preamp had a dead left channel. At some point it had experienced a catastrophic cap failure in the power supply. The flame out very nearly burnt through the pcb. I've already cleaned up the mess and done some epoxy repair to the board and established which traces got demolished. Just waiting on parts to rebuild the supply. Fingers crossed. The entire bank of similar caps will be replaced, as well as the same bank of caps (same brand) in the MC preamplifier.

The MC preamplifier is interesting. It wasn't until I got it home to test that I realized it is a MC headamp only. It has to be plugged into a MM phono section for RIAA equalization. I guess that makes sense that it would compliment the SIerra preamplifier with its built in phono stage.

I was able to test it out using a Denon DL-301 mkI cartridge and feeding the Paracas into a PSE Studio One preamplifier phono stage. It sounded very nice, but a little rolled off in the highs and a little tubby in the bass. However, the midrange was beautiful for the short listening session. I opened it up and easily located the clearly labelled gain and loading resistors. The loading resistor is a 22.1k, which seems pretty dang high for any MC cartridge I'm familiar with. I am guessing that there may be some circuit interaction that might make it a less than straight-forward application of loading resistors to match the cartridge manufacturers recommendations. But without any documentation I anticipate a hunt and peck process to nail it down. FWIW, I am not even going to worry about changing the gain at this point. In fact I will likely wait until the Sierra is up and running and paired with the MC stage for a better evaluation before trying to adjust anything.

I look forward to getting any info I can on this unique piece.

Cheers,
Dogwan
 
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Addicted to hifi

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I am looking for information on the Paracas Sierra Moving Coil Preamplifier.

Considerable Google searching has not yielded a single bit of information on this product. In fact, other than a few posts in this forum, I can find very little information on the company and their products. So, I am hopeful someone here can help me out.

I am looking for basic specs (gain and input impedance, fixed, or variable) or any documentation (user's manual, brochure, spec sheet, etc.).

It looks to be a high quality product, but I'd like to know if the gain and impedance are a good match for my moving coil cartridge (Dynavector 20X2L).

Here's a couple photos (the blue box is an external power supply):

View attachment 75095

View attachment 75096
a great phono stage.
 
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Reactions: RogerD

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