Phono preamp question and advice.

[subfire91]

Hi guys,

I need your advice in choosing a phono preamp for my setup.

Long story short i was given a vintage Telefunken S50 by my father which i serviced. The owner of the acoustics shop suggested that since the unit works fine we can upgrade some important aspects of the turntable which are easily transferable to another unit if you decide to purchase another one down the road, so i told him to proceed and he installed an Ortofon 2M Blue and upgraded the stock old RCA cabling to Van De Hul cables.

My setup consists of a 2.2 system, a pair of Heco Victa Elites 702 and a pair of REL HT/1205 MKII subs connected to a Denon DRA-900H. When connecting the turntable to the Denon internal phono i have to turn up the volume knob a lot to hear at a volume similar to HEOS/Airplay. In order to be somehow on par i have to apply a +10dB gain at the source where that hiss becomes annoying. Also the sound does not sound very good.

My question is that i assume a dedicated phono preamp i will make a huge difference ?

Also i will need an advice on what unit i should go with. For starters i have a 400 euros budget more or less. i have read some reviews and i was looking for the zen phono 3, fosi x5 and schiit mani 2 (which i cannot find anywhere) but i have read some posts from people with similar budget saying that if you want something good and not interested is MC cartridges you can go with something that is for MM only and is pretty good like Darlington labs MM6B or something a bit pricier like a Vista audio Phono 2 MKII. Also i have read good reviews about Sota Pyxi.

I would like your advice on the subject and if you suggest any other device other that the ones mentioned. Another thing, I like to hear my music loud so i dont know how much this is related to the phono preamp and what specs should i look for regarding this (sorry in advance for the amateur question).

Thank you

 

[narud]

Hi guys,

I need your advice in choosing a phono preamp for my setup.

Long story short i was given a vintage Telefunken S50 by my father which i serviced. The owner of the acoustics shop suggested that since the unit works fine we can upgrade some important aspects of the turntable which are easily transferable to another unit if you decide to purchase another one down the road, so i told him to proceed and he installed an Ortofon 2M Blue and upgraded the stock old RCA cabling to Van De Hul cables.

My setup consists of a 2.2 system, a pair of Heco Victa Elites 702 and a pair of REL HT/1205 MKII subs connected to a Denon DRA-900H. When connecting the turntable to the Denon internal phono i have to turn up the volume knob a lot to hear at a volume similar to HEOS/Airplay. In order to be somehow on par i have to apply a +10dB gain at the source where that hiss becomes annoying. Also the sound does not sound very good.

My question is that i assume a dedicated phono preamp i will make a huge difference ?

Also i will need an advice on what unit i should go with. For starters i have a 400 euros budget more or less. i have read some reviews and i was looking for the zen phono 3, fosi x5 and schiit mani 2 (which i cannot find anywhere) but i have read some posts from people with similar budget saying that if you want something good and not interested is MC cartridges you can go with something that is for MM only and is pretty good like Darlington labs MM6B or something a bit pricier like a Vista audio Phono 2 MKII. Also i have read good reviews about Sota Pyxi.

I would like your advice on the subject and if you suggest any other device other that the ones mentioned. Another thing, I like to hear my music loud so i dont know how much this is related to the phono preamp and what specs should i look for regarding this (sorry in advance for the amateur question).

Thank you

i have a fosi x5 and returned a schiit mani 2 and greatly prefer the art djpre. its the most quiet, riaa is accurate, the 100/200pf capacitance loading does its job well, can be easily modded so the switch does 0/100pf and is cheap. ive got 4 tables set up in my system using them and they dont give up anything to my ear. ive got another table running through a parks audio puffin and if not for the magic and eq features, id be fine with another art.

 

[DVDdoug]

When connecting the turntable to the Denon internal phono i have to turn up the volume knob a lot to hear at a volume similar to HEOS/Airplay

Analog levels vary, records (and other recordings) vary, cartridges vary, and phono preamps vary... In the vinyl days, radio DJs watched a meter and adjusted the volume with their mixer.

And if you are playing older records, most modern recordings are Loudness War mastered so they are generally louder than older records. (Although most streaming services use loudness normalization which tends to bring-down the loudness of most tracks.)

Your cartridge seems pretty "typical".

I couldn't find detailed specs for the phono preamp in your Denon but all of the reviews here have measurements for gain and noise. Gain is typically around 40dB at 1kHz. And some preamps have multiple gain settings.

Some hiss may be normal depending on how loud you've got it turned-up and how close you are to your speakers but the surface noise on the record should dominate. If the preamp is as bad, or worse than the record noise, you can so better.

 

[LTig]

My setup consists of a 2.2 system, a pair of Heco Victa Elites 702 and a pair of REL HT/1205 MKII subs connected to a Denon DRA-900H. When connecting the turntable to the Denon internal phono i have to turn up the volume knob a lot to hear at a volume similar to HEOS/Airplay.

This is normal for analog sources. Their level is 4 to 5 times lower in voltage than typical digital sources. A standard phono preamp with 35 to 40 dB gain won't change much, if at all. Just increase the volume, that's what it's made for.

In order to be somehow on par i have to apply a +10dB gain at the source where that hiss becomes annoying.

Looking at the specs of the DRA900H with 74 dB SNR I think what you hear is the noise of the vinyl groove. Just lift the arm and listen. If you still hear hissing it's the preamp, if not it's the record. In the latter case a better preamp won't help.

Also the sound does not sound very good.

In which respect?

PS: you may have fallen into a trap expecting great sound from vinyl, listening to the hype in the internet. The truth is rather the opposite. You can get good sound from vinyl but it comes at a cost, and you need to keep your records clean.