Pro-Ject Phono Box DC MM/MC Phono Preamp Review

[DSJR]

The unwanted LF will depend a lot on how well the tonearm-cartridge mass is matched to the cartridge compliance and damping. I wonder how well that is understood by those who've joined the "vinyl revival"?

In a way, Pro-Ject decks will be quite well-behaved lower down below 30Hz, with their cheaper models having fairly low mass and an Ortofon (I think mostly) cartridge matched hopefully to the tonearm. Sonic emphasis will be on midrange and high frequencies here, hoping the slight hf rise in a typical Ortofon OM and 2M model can be accommodated (AT MMs have much lower output, which helps).

Having said the above, I feel they're dicing with sonic death by NOT having the IEC sub-20Hz filter in a pretty inexpensive phono stage like this. So many 'experts with six months experience' out there in audio-land who haven't an effin' clue frankly, only using their ears to tell them if it's right or not and using so many small speakers with masses of distortion anyway, below 80Hz - It all adds up you know!

 

[DanielT]

Thanks for the test Amir. For US $129 it seems to be really good.Not that I have actively compared different Phono Preamps, but still.

*infrasonic

Or just LO , LOW FILTER:

 

[SSS]

Good for the price of course. But I would not like the mains frequency hum which is relatively high in the spectrum picture. Not sure whether this is induced by the test wiring? Maybe Amir could comment this?

 

[AudioSceptic]

For the market level, the price is aimed for, They should have done without MC input, and added the rumble filter, because:
- at this price level, the usual client has a low to medium quality record player, playing possibly warped LPs (of varying degree). He just wants to keep his LPs going.
- I doubt anybody with a decent MC cartridge would be looking at headamps, at this price level.
If I was in the market for a headamp, for my multi thousand pound record player, with an equally expensive MC cartridge, playing my treasured LPs through my £10K amp and £20K speakers (are you getting the picture?) then I would be looking at something like:
- https://www.leema-acoustics.com/product.html?prid=50
- or at the very least

Leema Acoustics Elements Ultra Phono Stage | Audio Emotion

The art of black It has been 30 years since the digital compact disc revolutionised the world of audio promising perfect sound forever Yet many

www.audioemotion.co.uk

It would be interesting, if someone could send either of those in for a measurement!

I know you're sort-of joking, but I wonder if anything outperforms Michael Fidler's phono preamps. <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...classic-audio-mc-pro-phonostage-review.47139/>

 

[AudioSceptic]

In a way, Pro-Ject decks will be quite well-behaved lower down below 30Hz, with their cheaper models having fairly low mass and an Ortofon (I think mostly) cartridge matched hopefully to the tonearm. Sonic emphasis will be on midrange and high frequencies here, hoping the slight hf rise in a typical Ortofon OM and 2M model can be accommodated (AT MMs have much lower output, which helps).

Having said the above, I feel they're dicing with sonic death by NOT having the IEC sub-20Hz filter in a pretty inexpensive phono stage like this. So many 'experts with six months experience' out there in audio-land who haven't an effin' clue frankly, only using their ears to tell them if it's right or not and using so many small speakers with masses of distortion anyway, below 80Hz - It all adds up you know!

"Dicing with sonic death". That's a name for a Metal band if I've ever seen one. ;-)

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I know you're sort-of joking, but I wonder if anything outperforms Michael Fidler's phono preamps. <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...classic-audio-mc-pro-phonostage-review.47139/>

Well that too, though it lacks the input impedance matchings offered by Leema.
But until the Leema stuff is measured, we won't know. Trust me, they do not make anything without a lot of clever design and measurements.
I have a feeling, they both will measure very well, with the cheaper one (still at £1300) winning the day.
The kind of clients I described previously, wouldn't be seen dead with a $130 headamp! it just won't happen.
Price it at $750, they might!

 

[DSJR]

Well that too, though it lacks the input impedance matchings offered by Leema.
But until the Leema stuff is measured, we won't know. Trust me, they do not make anything without a lot of clever design and measurements.
I have a feeling, they both will measure very well, with the cheaper one (still at £1300) winning the day.
The kind of clients I described previously, wouldn't be seen dead with a $130 headamp! it just won't happen.
Price it at $750, they might!

One UK maker of valve phono stages, had to all but triple the price of his 'entry level' box to well over a grand, so a particular lucrative and snooty far-eastern market would even take a look at it. Apparently, price is everything over there and there are enough buyers willing to splash out (needlessly) to indulge themselves.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

One UK maker of valve phono stages, had to all but triple the price of his 'entry level' box to well over a grand, so a particular lucrative and snooty far-eastern market would even take a look at it. Apparently, price is everything over there and there are enough buyers willing to splash out (needlessly) to indulge themselves.

I gave a like, bar the text in bold!
I know the Japanese clients like the expensive stuff, but lay off the insults.
If I had the money, most probably, I would be behaving the same.

 

[Mr Vinyl]

It may have good RIAA equalization, but did it get rid of the 'splashy' highs that were present in the smaller MM-only version?

 

[Doodski]

*infrasonic

Thanks for the information. I always appreciate your input, correction and helpful details although back in the day decades ago the labelling on the front panel for the switch for engaging the infrasonic filter was as a , "Subsonic filter." So we all called it that because it sounded cool.

 

[AudioSceptic]

One UK maker of valve phono stages, had to all but triple the price of his 'entry level' box to well over a grand, so a particular lucrative and snooty far-eastern market would even take a look at it. Apparently, price is everything over there and there are enough buyers willing to splash out (needlessly) to indulge themselves.

Hey, with your connections, couldn't we set up a nice little business selling £50 of parts in a nice box for, say, £5k? Performance would only need to be "OK", or maybe a bit of "character" would help. ;-)

 

[AudioSceptic]

I gave a like, bar the text in bold!
I know the Japanese clients like the expensive stuff, but lay off the insults.
If I had the money, most probably, I would be behaving the same.

Isn't it the Chinese these days? The price of Chinese antiques has shot up since they had the money to buy them back.

 

[AudioSceptic]

It may have good RIAA equalization, but did it get rid of the 'splashy' highs that were present in the smaller MM-only version?

Splashy? Would that be HF overload?

 

[DSJR]

I gave a like, bar the text in bold!
I know the Japanese clients like the expensive stuff, but lay off the insults.
If I had the money, most probably, I would be behaving the same.

I wasn't thinking Japan and no insult ever intended. Rather, I was trying to suggest a particular market that may have been kind-of 'linked' to us until some years backand apparently, where a $12k phono stage is 'automatically' considered better than a $2k one, irrespective of performance.

 

[DSJR]

Hey, with your connections, couldn't we set up a nice little business selling £50 of parts in a nice box for, say, £5k? Performance would only need to be "OK", or maybe a bit of "character" would help. ;-)

My conscience wouldn't allow it any more.

 

[nathan]

Presumably in a system with quality bass limited speakers, there is a high pass filter in the speaker itself (otherwise home theater style bass would destroy something like the Revel M106)?

 

[DSJR]

I know you're sort-of joking, but I wonder if anything outperforms Michael Fidler's phono preamps. <https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...classic-audio-mc-pro-phonostage-review.47139/>

I'd like to see a proper third party test of the little Spartan 5 model he does for £150 or so, which is a complete bare-bones MM model.

I'll just provide the link for any interested parties -

It's as much a good ad for the cheap AT deck and VM95ML too, I think.

 

[AudioSceptic]

My conscience wouldn't allow it any more.

You're no fun! ;-)

(You mean that it used to???)

 

[Mr Vinyl]

Splashy? Would that be HF overload?

Not sure, but I doubt it. Mind you, 'splashy' is only a word. If I had to use more, I would add, 'smeary', 'blurry' or 'grainy'. Every time a cymbal would hit, you would hear that the sound was not as a pure shimmering cymbal should sound. There was no sibilance. I ended up getting a Cambridge Solo which offered smooth extended cymbal hits (maybe too smooth).

 

[French Meloman]

I agree with this idea with Sartan 5, but Mr Fiedler's products are distributed confidentially outside the United Kingdom. However, I was able to get the MC PRO that was tested here and I can confirm that it is excellent. Compared to my old phono preamp, the noise threshold drops by about 20 dB.