GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

| Search | Login/Register

Home » Analog Playback» Where are our good phonostages? (62 posts, 4 pages)

Print Thread |

1st Post |

Page 3 of 3 (62 items)

Select Pages:

« 1 2 3

	Target	Threads for related reading	Most recent post in related threads	Forum	Replies	Views	Started
»	New	Another interesting corrector: Likhnitsky's RX correcto..	Again, the capacitors...	Analog Playback Forum	6	70746	02-10-2005
»	New	Lamm LP2 phonostage: review of review...	Another stupid Lamm LP2 review....	Analog Playback Forum	2	61985	03-05-2005
»	New	7788 tube mic pre design..	Read my leaps: Absorb-GEL...	Analog Playback Forum	38	373595	02-14-2006
»	New	Jonathan Valin smokes Lamm LP2..	Jonathan Valin smokes Lamm LP2...	Analog Playback Forum	0	25885	03-27-2006
»	New	I need a “second-type” phonostage...	BBC Proms...	Analog Playback Forum	38	378080	05-28-2006
»	New	The LCR RIAA correctors..	Inductive RIAA link...	Analog Playback Forum	57	721367	07-11-2007
»	New	A truly cool solution for RIAA re-tuning…...	Dialing in...	Analog Playback Forum	2	31454	08-29-2007
»	New	The last phonocorrector: “End of Life" Phonostage..	Big cap banks...	Analog Playback Forum	310	1973541	11-13-2007
»	New	An interesting Russian pnonocorrector...	Uber-tweeky phono topologies deconstructed...	Analog Playback Forum	9	99300	03-01-2010

06-05-2010

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,657
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #:	51
Post ID:	13711
Reply to:	13702

Consistency: A Very Worthwhile "Luxury"

It's ironic that some of us have spent a lot of time and effort building a vinyl playback system that clearly reveals the differences in the recording curves. How sweet would it be to twist an otherwise-non-intrusive knob to set the playback curve correctly for a given label, or a given year of a given label, for that matter? I have some otherwise-nice recordings of excellent performances that are recorded with curves my system renders in various versions of what I think of as the "coffee can sound".

RIAA is a nice idea, and a good one, as far as it goes, but...

I would hate to be stuck trying to dial in any of the curves by ear!

Feh!

Best regards,
Paul S

10-15-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,156
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	52
Post ID:	20160
Reply to:	41

SP-102 Phono Stage

The positive feedback published a review by Marshall Nack of SP-102 Phono Stage:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue69/vitus_sp102.htm

It is an interesting review despite that some of the Marshall’s comments do not makes sense at all. I did not hear the PhonoStage under the discussions and never even heard about the company but it sounds interesting, even though the picture of this PhonoStage do not look very stimulating.

The Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

10-19-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	53
Post ID:	20165
Reply to:	20160

Rowland Cadence with Battery PS

Last year I had the chance to listen to the Vitus SP-102 Phono Stage. When I remember right, it was ok, some of the better modern Phono Designs. It wasn't as thin and dead as Pass Phono for example, but it was also not able to go out of the way in reproduction. The Soundstage was good but it can not give a sonic "Gestalt" (but most of the modern units fail here anyway). It is something about 40k when I remember right, for that I expect a little bit more knowledge about reproduction of the real thing. But, for the readers here who want to spend big money, it is sonically much better than a Boulder 2008.

I listened by accident to a very interesting Phono Stage when I was visiting an Audiophile. It was the Jeff Rowland Cadence, he used it with an external Power Supply and Batteries. That one really creates a room (soundstage with real hight, depth and proper size of instruments). I was impressed from that sonic quality from a more or less "mass-market" Producer. It showed no sonic coloration, the voices had Power and "Gestalt" and it was able to show the different tonal colors of classical instruments (normally they are all reproduced with the same kind of volume, no separation). Gain is 64 and 74dB, with a matching cartridge it is a reliable and good sounding unit. Or, let's say it diplomatically, there is worse out there.

Kind Regards
Stitch

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	54
Post ID:	20221
Reply to:	20165

Omnigon - The Final Phonostage

A private Project is finished.

Some record collectors and serious Listeners (RCA Living Stereo, Decca...) wanted the best Phonostage to get what's really in their records. They didn't find something adequate on market what served their demands (No loss of Signal, no coloration, no compression, true tonal color) and decided to build one for themselves, 11 units. With the best parts available, the best technical specs possible, the most advanced RIAA available. Time: 2 years to get all parts and tests.

Decision: Every Part goes to University Lab to get checked for Specs, the first Prototype also to check for isolation of all Parts and cables.

OM 2.jpg

Ultimate Phono preamplifier w/optional line stage. All triode tube design. Full symmetrical.

Unique passive phono EQ. Each tube with its own independent heater supply.

Unique double mono PS with bridge-type tube rectification (8 single-wave rectifiers - 4 each channel) and pure foil CLC-PS.

100 lbs - dual chassis, my 5 Phono inputs (50dB, 63dB, 68dB, 72dB, 77dB pure Phono gain, 81dB Parts also available), Output AES Studio specification, (600 Ω, digital 110 Ω) No- loss-of-Signal-Parts, the best out there (TKD, Silver plugs, Tubes from US Army rocket defensive stations, Silver soldered, Tantal, Caddock, all Parts internal decoupled via Electron microscope devices...)

Result: Superior Detail, accurate specs, no coloration and lifelike Reproduction.The sound ?

Well, it is no longer about sound.

Dynamics, colors, soundstage, 3-dimensionality - yes, all that and much more. But it goes a few significant steps beyond that. Imagine opening the windows of your room on a clear early summer morning. A breeze of fresh air comes in. A communication between the music and the listener.

Then go further in your imagination and tear down the walls of your listening room. All a sudden there is fresh air, the warmth of sun rays on your skin, a world of color, beauty and a flood of details around you.

Touching your senses - with brute directness, unfiltered, unaltered. Involving, dramatic, breathtaking and demanding.

Nothing between you and the nature.

OM back.jpg

You can no longer move your attention away from the music. VERY different from anything else I have ever heard - anywhere.

Quality inspection from Science Lab for every single piece incl. Tubes, final quality report Engineering Lab.

Never a Mk II version. Tested in University Lab for accuracy before delivered. This one is final.

OM 3.jpg

Kind Regards
Stitch

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Romy the Cat

Boston, MA
Posts 10,156
Joined on 05-28-2004

Post #:	55
Post ID:	20222
Reply to:	20221

Interesting…

Interning, I never heard about them. Might I ask you what triodes were used in this thing, how many stages and what “most advanced RIAA available” the unit use? I understand that it is passive EQ but what is so unique about it? Also, if it might act as an optional line-stage then doe this option requires one extras tube stage? What is the copping between the last tube and the output? What does it mean: all “parts internal decoupled via Electron microscope devices”. Does this unit have some kind of galvanic fusion between board layers; I do not think it does as there is no need for it in tube units. If the unit has 77dB and I can see juts two stages then most likely it has a step up transformer. If so then who did the transformer then?

Doe this Science Lab company has a web site? The unit for sure looks interesting with many typical claims so, I wonder what make it so different. The weight of PS for sure is not something that I would acknowledge as assuring. The individual PS for each heater it is for sure bold, particularly if it were LC not CL supplies. It might be interesting to hear from the unit designer why then feel that individual PS for each heater make some mush different and how the different manifest itself.

Rgs,
Romy the Cat

"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Paul S
San Diego, California, USA
Posts 2,657
Joined on 10-12-2006

Post #:	56
Post ID:	20223
Reply to:	20222

What's the Best

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/omnigon-full-function-tube-preamplifier-phonostage

Looks like a serious effort that has been kicking around for a while.

What tubes are used? Are they twin triode, like 12AX7 or - more likely - 6922? Both types offer a lot of options in terms of sound via tube swapping, and also via adjusting operating points.

Labels on transformers might be Lundahl?

Is initial gain passive (transformer), or...?

Is this RIAA-only?

Best regards,
Paul S

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006

Post #:	57
Post ID:	20224
Reply to:	20221

Any changes

in the construction from the last year: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?6068-Omni-Gon-The-Final-Phonostage&highlight=omnigon ?

Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

guy sergeant
United Kingdom
Posts 260
Joined on 08-03-2004

Post #:	58
Post ID:	20225
Reply to:	20224

Some interesting history on that thread

Reading through the Whatsbest forum thread it does seem that Stitch/Syntax has a history of praising the efforts/products of Daniel Brakemeier aka Dertonarm from AGon. Some also seem to have paid in advance for some of these items and not to have received them. While their efforts are undoubtedly ambitious, I think I'd be wary of trying to acquire any of this particularly if it required cash in advance.

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

N-set
Gdansk, Poland
Posts 617
Joined on 01-07-2006

Post #:	59
Post ID:	20226
Reply to:	20225

Question marks

Yes, my question above was not without a reason.
Esp. why Mr. Heisig decided to copy&paste his posting
on Omnigone from so-much-hated WBF here, 1+year after?

Cheers,
Jarek
STACORE

10-29-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

Stitch

Behind The Sun
Posts 235
Joined on 01-15-2009

Post #:	60
Post ID:	20227
Reply to:	20226

Well....

The reason for posting is in a way relatively simple, some of us got the impression a few years ago, that it is not sufficient to be willing to pay any price to get a real superior unit. No matter what we will pay, in a way any commercial construction has serious flaws. The profit simply rules. And the rule of no loss of any detail is not understood from anyone. In a way, Kondo (the Person) probably, but the sonic layout is not complete for different reasons.
On the other side, we analyzed generally DIY units, not all of course because this is simply not possible, but the very few which were really remarkable were made from extremely clever amateurs with a remarkable technical/musical knowledge. But all of them are not in the Internet communication. More or less based on private contacts....
Finally the question was: Can it be done?
Yes, but it is so expensive that it can be realized privately only, a professional normal calculation would shift it close to the 6- digit area.
Well, why all the rumors? In a way the number of friends don't grow when you don't tell them what you have done and how you did it. There were also serious tries to fish information to implement them into commercial units and last not least, when you show the majority of the DIY guys that they are in real life primitive, time wasting morons, they hate you even more and of course, any negative - what ever it is - will be spread all over. Doesn't matter.
Final answer: Yes, it was done and some already did listen to it. It never was a commercial unit (the chassis is simply 5k$ too cheap for it), so it is simply an information that something was done with a complex information selection based in Europe and Asia many years ago when High End really served what the name promised.
Why in Goodsoundclub?It is the only website worldwide which shows the rest of the world that modern High End is changed to a Profit Center, cheating the customers with wrong promises and promising abilities about the units they can never serve (and never do). It was a challenge to create a unit which can do where others fail.

Kind Regards
Stitch

12-26-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

audiosix
Posts 2
Joined on 12-26-2013

Post #:	61
Post ID:	20395
Reply to:	20223

Used Tubes

Paul S wrote:
http://app.audiogon.com/listings/omnigon-full-function-tube-preamplifier-phonostage

Looks like a serious effort that has been kicking around for a while.

What tubes are used? Are they twin triode, like 12AX7 or - more likely - 6922? Both types offer a lot of options in terms of sound via tube swapping, and also via adjusting operating points.

Labels on transformers might be Lundahl?

Is initial gain passive (transformer), or...?

Is this RIAA-only?

Best regards,
Paul S

A few details - the easy stuff ..:

Phono specs for OmniGon s/n 10 (ALF's):
RIAA accuracy (20 Hz to 20 kHz): better than +/- 0.1 dB.
Phono linear phase derivation (DLP) 20 Hz to 20 kHz phono MM: less than + 0.2°
Phono linear phase derivation (DLP) 20 Hz to 20 kHz phono MC (3-6 Ohms): less than + 1.5 °
Frequency response Phono MC1: -3 dB at 0.4 Hz and 210 kHz
Phono Overload MM: 400 mV
Phono Overload MC 1: 38 mV
Phono MM IMD RIAA de-emp. 20 Hz to 20 kHz: less than 0.019%
Phono MM THD RIAA de-emp. 20 Hz to 20 kHz: less than 0.02%
Phono MC1 IMD RIAA de-emp. 20 Hz to 20 kHz: less than 0.03%
Phono MC1 THD RIAA de-emp. 20 Hz to 20 kHz: less than 0.03%
Channel separation Phono: 92 dB
Output impedance: 120 Ohms
Tube complement: VT229 (2x), VT231 (2x), E80cc (4x), CV135 (4x)

And .... Lundahl cokes only inside power supply .... Syntax' pictures do only show the part of the iceberg which is above water line ...

12-31-2013

Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree

audiosix
Posts 2
Joined on 12-26-2013

Post #:	62
Post ID:	20414
Reply to:	20395

Omnigon Tubes

No more interest in this subject?

Reinhard

Page 3 of 3 (62 items)

Select Pages:

« 1 2 3

	Target	Threads for related reading	Most recent post in related threads	Forum	Replies	Views	Started
»	New	Another interesting corrector: Likhnitsky's RX correcto..	Again, the capacitors...	Analog Playback Forum	6	70746	02-10-2005
»	New	Lamm LP2 phonostage: review of review...	Another stupid Lamm LP2 review....	Analog Playback Forum	2	61985	03-05-2005
»	New	7788 tube mic pre design..	Read my leaps: Absorb-GEL...	Analog Playback Forum	38	373595	02-14-2006
»	New	Jonathan Valin smokes Lamm LP2..	Jonathan Valin smokes Lamm LP2...	Analog Playback Forum	0	25885	03-27-2006
»	New	I need a “second-type” phonostage...	BBC Proms...	Analog Playback Forum	38	378080	05-28-2006
»	New	The LCR RIAA correctors..	Inductive RIAA link...	Analog Playback Forum	57	721367	07-11-2007
»	New	A truly cool solution for RIAA re-tuning…...	Dialing in...	Analog Playback Forum	2	31454	08-29-2007
»	New	The last phonocorrector: “End of Life" Phonostage..	Big cap banks...	Analog Playback Forum	310	1973541	11-13-2007
»	New	An interesting Russian pnonocorrector...	Uber-tweeky phono topologies deconstructed...	Analog Playback Forum	9	99300	03-01-2010