Cambridge Audio Solo Phono Preamplifier Review

[Martin]

what’s wrong with the solo and how the Duo perform against Solo for MM?

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the Solo. I traded it for the Duo based solely on Amir’s recommendation.

I found the Duo did not have enough gain to work with my preamp’s RCA inputs so I am now using a Pro-Ject Phono Box RS on its XLR inputs.

I like the Phono Box. I should send it to Amir to measure.

Martin

 

[Morla]

Hi,

(Just registered in Order to ask this..)

the manual of the solo states a range of 3-5mV as MM input Voltage.

My cardridge is ortofon concorde club 8mV.

I see in the graph that there appear little spikes as soon as it gets past the 5mV limit but not exactly at 8mV. Does that mean I'm good?

 

[Tom C]

I think if you don’t hear distortion, you’re good.

 

[LTig]

Hi,

(Just registered in Order to ask this..)

the manual of the solo states a range of 3-5mV as MM input Voltage.

My cardridge is ortofon concorde club 8mV.

I see in the graph that there appear little spikes as soon as it gets past the 5mV limit but not exactly at 8mV. Does that mean I'm good?

The spikes are most probably measurement artifacts. The preamp can handle 100 mV (as cited), so don't worry about 8 mV.

 

[Morla]

so don't worry about 8 mV.

I think if you don’t hear distortion, you’re good.

Thanks!

 

[AudioSceptic]

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the Solo. I traded it for the Duo based solely on Amir’s recommendation.

I found the Duo did not have enough gain to work with my preamp’s RCA inputs so I am now using a Pro-Ject Phono Box RS on its XLR inputs.

I like the Phono Box. I should send it to Amir to measure.

Martin

I'd also like to see the Phono Box S2 Ultra tested. I really like the small, neat, form factor. Both Hi-Fi Choice and Hi-Fi World really liked it. <https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/phono-box-s2-ultra/>

 

[Morla]

As a sidenote: Cambridge Audio Support tells me my 8mv cartridge is not ok with the ca solo

Thank you for contacting Cambridge Audio.

That is correct, the Solo is to be used with moving magnet cartridge with a voltage between 3-5mV.

The cartridge you have mentioned will not be suitable for use with the Solo unfortunately. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any other questions or queries, please don't hesitate to get in contact.
Kind Regards,

But I think it's ok to ignore it. I do not hear any problems so I tend to stop worrying and just enjoy the music.

 

[watchnerd]

As a sidenote: Cambridge Audio Support tells me my 8mv cartridge is not ok with the ca solo



But I think it's ok to ignore it. I do not hear any problems so I tend to stop worrying and just enjoy the music.

What cartridge has an 8mv output??

I've never heard of one so high.

 

[Morla]

What cartridge has an 8mv output??

I've never heard of one so high.

 

[watchnerd]

Oh, a DJ cart.

Okay, I'm not surprised home hi fi isn't so compatible.

 

[Morla]

Yeah home "hifi" is more like the 2M blue (around same price tag)

 

[anmpr1]

Oh, a DJ cart.

Some DJ Ortofons are up to 10 and 11 mV output at 1kHz. Those have to be the highest output of any cartridges I'm aware of. In the days of analog, at least in the US, the Stanton 500 series was more or less a radio station standard--built to take a lot of abuse. Its output was 5mV. The 400 series was even higher at 10mV.

The Gibson guitar company ran Stanton into the ground, so I don't think any of those are available anymore. Gibson had that King Midas in Reverse knack. Everything they touched turned to Schiit. Actually, I shouldn't make that joke, since the Full of Schiit guys make some decent and value oriented products; plus they are certainly humorous in their own way. Gibson was not humorous... just a joke.

 

[milosz]

Stanton still around it seems http://www.stantondj.com/cartridges.html

 

[anmpr1]

Stanton still around it seems http://www.stantondj.com/cartridges.html

That site hasn't been updated in a while. I checked a few on-line guitar stores and Stanton is all out of stock. Stanton is not showing as part of Gibson Brands. My guess is that Gibson had no idea how to run the company, and it's more or less just a dead name now.

Update: A news story shows that a company called InMusic acquired Stanton from Gibson. InMusic owns Numark, Rane, Akai and other pro oriented brands. I guess they have a plan for Stanton. Whatever they do, it couldn't be much worse than the Gibson years. I think the pre-bankrupty Gibson had to be one of the worst managed companies. Gibson even managed to screw up the iconic Les Paul guitar. How can you screw up a Les Paul? But they did. Stories of horrible QC and garbage employee morale. That takes real incompetence.

https://www.inmusicbrands.com/news/...mily-of-premier-music-technology-dj-and-audio

Given the 'vinyl resurgence' perhaps the new owners should seriously think about bringing back the 681/881 line. What about Pickering? They could work an angle with that name, if they own it. I'd buy an XSV 3000 or 881S if they were available.

 

[DDF]

Given the 'vinyl resurgence' perhaps the new owners should seriously think about bringing back the 681/881 line

That gets my vote! I just put a "new" stylus (in storage 15 yrs) on my 881mkiis, sounds better than ever. Spinning discs through an A/D into the pc doing room correction, to usb dac. Some life in the old tech yet.

 

[anmpr1]

That gets my vote! I just put a "new" stylus (in storage 15 yrs) on my 881mkiis, sounds better than ever. Spinning discs through an A/D into the pc doing room correction, to usb dac. Some life in the old tech yet.

The 881/XSV series were excellent phono cartridges. I read a short marketing story from a Stanton manager, on line, somewhere. Stanton/Pickering were viewed as low-brow by certain high-end cognoscenti. If it wasn't a MC encased in exotic wood, it just wasn't. Anyhow, Stanton Guy retold how Harry Pearson's magazine gave the 881 a good review, but then must have looked at its discounted selling price, and panned it shortly thereafter. Around the same time I remember reading how Doug Sax was using the 881 to check his product. Now, who are you going to trust--Harry Pearson or Doug Sax? LOL

 

[watchnerd]

That gets my vote! I just put a "new" stylus (in storage 15 yrs) on my 881mkiis, sounds better than ever. Spinning discs through an A/D into the pc doing room correction, to usb dac. Some life in the old tech yet.

The 881/XSV series were excellent phono cartridges. I read a short marketing story from a Stanton manager, on line, somewhere. Stanton/Pickering were viewed as low-brow by certain high-end cognoscenti. If it wasn't a MC encased in exotic wood, it just wasn't. Anyhow, Stanton Guy retold how Harry Pearson's magazine gave the 881 a good review, but then must have looked at its discounted selling price, and panned it shortly thereafter. Around the same time I remember reading how Doug Sax was using the 881 to check his product. Now, who are you going to trust--Harry Pearson or Doug Sax? LOL

If they re-issued the Stanton 881, they'd almost certainly have to change it, as the specs seem a little odd compared to modern systems:

The channel separation is excellent, the output is good, but the tracking force is so low it might be hard to match to many modern arms (I don't know if I can set my SME M2-9R as low as 1 gram or not).

Compliance isn't listed so I can't tell if it's high, medium, or low.

I don't think anyone makes stereohedron styli any more, so it would probably have to be a current production Namiki shape of some sort.

Would it still be an 881S if all these changes were made?

 

[anmpr1]

If they re-issued the Stanton 881, they'd almost certainly have to change it... the tracking force is so low it might be hard to match to many modern arms. I don't think anyone makes stereohedron styli any more, so it would probably have to be a current production Namiki shape of some sort.

Would it still be an 881S if all these changes were made?

From personal experience, tracking force of this device was best around 1.25g. 1.5 could be accommodated without problems. I always used the brush, which added 1 gram, supposed to be counteracted by the brush elasticity.

Those were the days of the 'tracking wars'. Empire was advertising 0.75 g tracking on some of their carts, but no one could go that low in real life. Some high-end Shures did track well at 1 gram, especially ones having the damped stabilizer brush, which helped a lot. The Stanton/Pickering brush was not damped, and therefore didn't have the same beneficial effect as the Shure.

Stereohedron specs were somewhere in the Shibata range. I don't know who made Stanton styli, or whether they were ground in house. Adamant-Namiki would likely be the main source for line contact styli and custom cantilevers. I'm pretty sure that Shure sourced their Micro-Ridge from Adamant--looks like the MicroLine is similar (if not the same) as the Audio-Technica MicroRidge, and Jico SAS. On the Adamant site they show three different Shibata cuts. My guess is that they will grind whatever the customer wants. Ortofon has a handful of similar line-contact diamonds.

I know that Stanton advertised a Stereohedron I and a II. Not sure the difference. Toward the end of the company's life (the horrible Gibson years) Stanton was calling their 2x7 elliptical diamond a Stereohedron. It was just a name for them. By that time the company had become just another Gibson joke.

Below is from a chart I have:

Shure Micro Line............2.5 x 75 um
AT Micro Ridge..............3.8 x 75 um
Van den Hul.....................4 x 70 um
Ortofon Fritz Geiger....5 x 70 um
Ortofon Replicant.........5x100
Jico SAS...............................2.5 x 75 um

 

[DDF]

From personal experience, tracking force of this device was best around 1.25g. 1.5 could be accommodated without problems. I always used the brush, which added 1 gram

I found the same, its best with the brush and 2.25g.

BTW, great story about the review. The cartridge didn't get much high end respect but it was always extremely neutral and sounded great. I had a very rational and science driven friend over the other day who is into vinyl. He had low expectations given Stanton's lack of hifi cred, but was very pleasantly surprised. I use mine on a Sota with Syrinx arm.

It also adapts well to loading adjustments. Back in the day I modelled its equivalent impedance and created a spreadheet estimating respons chanege with load r/c. Allowed me to dead flatten top end.

 

[SPOautos]

@amirm Hello! Pretty awesome forum, I love all the actual testing! I'm not a engineer of any kind so I dont understand what any of your testing means to a end user.....to the ear.

Can you please help me understand what your rankings mean from the best phono pre to the worst? In other words....what is it you would actually be hearing change between them? What does the distortion actually sound like to the end user?? Does it make a difference in hearing the finer details like the vibration sound of a guitar or drum stick attacking a high hat? The 'realism' factor?

I'm shopping for a phono pre....I love 'realism' so wondering if your tests are applicable to that. Like maybe as distortion lowers the fine details are revealed???

On your chart is there a place where they all sound the same because the difference is in audible? If so where would that be?

If two have the same results on your chart can they still sound different?? For instance the Schiit Mani and Klipsch Powergate both have 81....does that mean they will sound identical if A/B'ed in the same system??

I'm sorry I have so many questions, I'm just trying to figure this out lol.