I have a Cambridge phono preamp, one of the best purchases I've ever made. It is compatible with either moving magnet (the kind I use) and moving coil. Thanks to this video, I know the difference between them. Sound stage provided by this phono preamp and a Nagaoka cartridge and needle is great!
2:29 absolutely nobody has ever mentioned this in the audiophile forums i frequent, god, that makes so much sense, a record is a performance and the needle is a mic to pick it up
Every Phono preamp I've ever owned has a note somewhere saying it should be kept away from other components and sources of electromagnetic interference etc. it's inherent to the technology.
yes because it's very sensitive to magnetic fields around it and you can pick up magnetic fields and other electrical noise from other items in your system. and always run the shortest lead possible from the turntable to the phono stage ideally a foot
The biggest noise issue I've experienced was due to the proximity of my internet router to my phonostage. I bought a stellar about a year ago and haven't had any issues at all. I suspect the shielding is better than the previous units I've owned.
@@jayf3562off topic but I had my router introduce noise into a usb microphone. Couldn’t figure out what the noise was in the recording. Drove me nuts for days
The phono pre amp stage is similar to a masthead amplifier in radio communications... it should be mounted right at the signal source and have a low impedance output . The pre amp should be fed with a remote shielded DC supply
I’ve had a Stellar Phono Preamp for years now; it’s the best phono preamp I’ve had so far and I like that I can switch between MM and MC equipped turntables at a moment’s notice, I have a low frequency hum that’s not very loud but can be heard a couple of feet away from the speakers - other sources in my system are dead silent. I’ve tried different cables, grounded/ungrounded, grounding to other equipment, different circuits, moving the preamp to another location, termination plugs, whatever I could think of. I had discussions with Darrell when he was at PS Audio and he was stumped. The thing is, the hum is there when nothing’s plugged into the inputs, and only changes when the gain is changed. MC and MM selections have different amounts/characteristics of low hum. I’ve pretty much learned to ignore it during nearly silent passages but this is the only phono preamp I’ve had that does this. The entire insides were swapped out by PS Audio and it didn’t change so my bet is that it’s being introduced by the environment but I just can’t seem to get rid of it.
@@2voltage Did. Tried half a dozen. Tried balanced, unbalanced from phono preamp to preamp. Tried phono preamp with no input cables at all. No change in hum level. Tried different power cables, moving the preamp away from the other units up to 10 feet away, tried a different circuit for just the preamp, ungrounded it and the system in total.
Anybody heard of ancient EMI speakers? Well ... apparently they were made by a Record Company as were DECCA speakers. But are they still any good? Well vintage stuff is getting rare these days so probably not. NEW is the only way to certain results.
Also take a look at a transimpedance phono stage if your MC cartridge is very low impedance. Transimpedance phono stages present a virtual short as the cartridge load. Instead of voltage being the input parameter, it is the current generated by the cartridge that conveys musical content. This eliminates finding the "best" load value.
What do you think of a separate ground for your system? I mean a star earthing arrangement with the star point fed from a single wire to a deep ground spike in the garden, well away from the copper plumbing used to ground the mains system?
Yes. The same as anchoring the hifi setup into the concrete slab. It’s what I did no vibrations no problems magical and yes, dedicated circuitry to feed those GPO‘s. Of course that sub is isolated from my solar array that will feed a battery then runs into a Jacuzzi power conditioner and that’s it. Nothing else can possibly exist on that circuit overkill yes but it works.
well it shouldn't be necessary and could be dangerous depends where you put the outdoor spike or plate. you could get noise from your neighbours electricity as well. you getting noise from your turntable earth lead put a 500 ohm resistor in series on it
That was ok .... up to a point.... you should've explained more about why and what the loading is all about ... I know ... I've done a lot of worthwhile experimentation with this ... but the average punter hasn't a clue 😮
I have a turntable in my Cadillac. Obviously a custom system running on DC. I do get a little noise but only when the engine is running. Not a problem then anyway. I haven’t tried a MC cartridge in there.
Phono cartridges make great antennae, because of the gain in the circuit (what he said) therefore it is important to isolate the signal 'in' to phono stage and then to pre-amp. Checking the routing of cords I think is one of the most obvious and easiest fixes, for instance. a small light I use for my turntable had to be repositioned because it caused a noticeable hum from the ac power cord. Aux power supplies for computer devices are notorious noise makers, and so on. Might need some investigation (an EM detector like they use on those ghost hunter programs? Just kidding.) I use decent source cables but nothing super expensive, short as possilbe AQs I use a tube amp and a tube phono stage with an MC cartride, and I have no hum. One other thing a senstive MC turntable needs to be acoustically isolated if you have hum, feedback from an improperly positioned TT isn't gonna help. This is old news to most everybody that reads this, but maybe can help a new audiophile that is worried about hum, feedback, and noise in the system.
Go for a Michael fidler MC pro $800 he only uses a single amplification circuitry where most use multiple amplification what is not good and adds noise and is better than a step up transformer. plus you don't need to adjust any dip switches it's picks it up automatically and adjust it two gain stages 62 and 72
RIAA flat? Yes. But do you really think phono-pre-amps companies just complied blindly to RIAA specifications? Fo course not. They needed to stand-out by "quality", therefore, they surely added some warmth and boot to that RIAA curve...thus, creating a great equalization to vinyl.
When the music master is analog I like to believe a proper ADC conversion of it to either DSD or 96kHz 24 bits or higher will be far superior to vinyl for multiple reasons: No wow & flutter, less noise, much superior dynamic range perhaps 10dB better, less distortion, better control of phase, better linearity, no clicks and noise from dust or scratches, no crazy RIAA EQ and no degradation over time. There is no really good reason why vinyl should be better other than lazy companies doing poor conversion to digital. Octave Records should be the go-to-place for getting the greatest music converted in the greatest way…
people still have thousands of LPs at home that they want to listen to in the highest possible quality. There is no debate whether analog is better than digital.
@@fkaptijn7111 Yes, it’s indeed quite interesting the vinyl disc has been surviving longer than other physical media such as VHS tapes that are gone today. Probably one reason is that some music sounds better on vinyl due to things done in the process of making the digital copy.
An analog master that was only meant for vinyl production back then has been deliberately limited in dynamics and frequency range. So I wouldn't take that as a decent source for a A/D conversion.
@@scottyo64 Frankly speaking, I still have several VHS and S-VHS players with high fidelity audio support. I don’t use them anymore. I spent 6 years of my career in the 90s leading development of the most expensive in the world S-VHS video recorders in fact (brand B&O). George Bush used it in the White House, for example. I still remember how we used the Top Gun movie a lot for testing it and I probably watched that movie a hundred times. My first project was VX5000 that did high fidelity recording hugely better than cassette decks at the time e.g. 20Hz-20kHz +/-3dB and much less distortion. Few people realized how much better you could record audio using VHS.
I have a Cambridge phono preamp, one of the best purchases I've ever made. It is compatible with either moving magnet (the kind I use) and moving coil. Thanks to this video, I know the difference between them. Sound stage provided by this phono preamp and a Nagaoka cartridge and needle is great!
2:29 absolutely nobody has ever mentioned this in the audiophile forums i frequent, god, that makes so much sense, a record is a performance and the needle is a mic to pick it up
Every Phono preamp I've ever owned has a note somewhere saying it should be kept away from other components and sources of electromagnetic interference etc. it's inherent to the technology.
yes because it's very sensitive to magnetic fields around it and you can pick up magnetic fields and other electrical noise from other items in your system. and always run the shortest lead possible from the turntable to the phono stage ideally a foot
The biggest noise issue I've experienced was due to the proximity of my internet router to my phonostage. I bought a stellar about a year ago and haven't had any issues at all. I suspect the shielding is better than the previous units I've owned.
@@jayf3562off topic but I had my router introduce noise into a usb microphone. Couldn’t figure out what the noise was in the recording. Drove me nuts for days
The phono pre amp stage is similar to a masthead amplifier in radio communications... it should be mounted right at the signal source and have a low impedance output . The pre amp should be fed with a remote shielded DC supply
I’ve had a Stellar Phono Preamp for years now; it’s the best phono preamp I’ve had so far and I like that I can switch between MM and MC equipped turntables at a moment’s notice, I have a low frequency hum that’s not very loud but can be heard a couple of feet away from the speakers - other sources in my system are dead silent. I’ve tried different cables, grounded/ungrounded, grounding to other equipment, different circuits, moving the preamp to another location, termination plugs, whatever I could think of. I had discussions with Darrell when he was at PS Audio and he was stumped. The thing is, the hum is there when nothing’s plugged into the inputs, and only changes when the gain is changed. MC and MM selections have different amounts/characteristics of low hum. I’ve pretty much learned to ignore it during nearly silent passages but this is the only phono preamp I’ve had that does this. The entire insides were swapped out by PS Audio and it didn’t change so my bet is that it’s being introduced by the environment but I just can’t seem to get rid of it.
I suggest you try another phono cable
@@2voltage Did. Tried half a dozen. Tried balanced, unbalanced from phono preamp to preamp. Tried phono preamp with no input cables at all. No change in hum level. Tried different power cables, moving the preamp away from the other units up to 10 feet away, tried a different circuit for just the preamp, ungrounded it and the system in total.
@@homerjones3291 DO YOU HAVE IT GROUNDED
Excellent explanation. Thanks Paul.
Anybody heard of ancient EMI speakers? Well ... apparently they were made by a Record Company as were DECCA speakers. But are they still any good? Well vintage stuff is getting rare these days so probably not. NEW is the only way to certain results.
When can we expect to see the Perfect Wave Phono Preamp? Can’t wait to get it.
Also take a look at a transimpedance phono stage if your MC cartridge is very low impedance. Transimpedance phono stages present a virtual short as the cartridge load. Instead of voltage being the input parameter, it is the current generated by the cartridge that conveys musical content. This eliminates finding the "best" load value.
What do you think of a separate ground for your system? I mean a star earthing arrangement with the star point fed from a single wire to a deep ground spike in the garden, well away from the copper plumbing used to ground the mains system?
Yes. The same as anchoring the hifi setup into the concrete slab. It’s what I did no vibrations no problems magical and yes, dedicated circuitry to feed those GPO‘s. Of course that sub is isolated from my solar array that will feed a battery then runs into a Jacuzzi power conditioner and that’s it. Nothing else can possibly exist on that circuit overkill yes but it works.
well it shouldn't be necessary and could be dangerous depends where you put the outdoor spike or plate. you could get noise from your neighbours electricity as well. you getting noise from your turntable earth lead put a 500 ohm resistor in series on it
That was ok .... up to a point.... you should've explained more about why and what the loading is all about ... I know ... I've done a lot of worthwhile experimentation with this ... but the average punter hasn't a clue 😮
I have a turntable in my Cadillac. Obviously a custom system running on DC. I do get a little noise but only when the engine is running. Not a problem then anyway.
I haven’t tried a MC cartridge in there.
Phono cartridges make great antennae, because of the gain in the circuit (what he said) therefore it is important to isolate the signal 'in' to phono stage and then to pre-amp. Checking the routing of cords I think is one of the most obvious and easiest fixes, for instance. a small light I use for my turntable had to be repositioned because it caused a noticeable hum from the ac power cord. Aux power supplies for computer devices are notorious noise makers, and so on. Might need some investigation (an EM detector like they use on those ghost hunter programs? Just kidding.) I use decent source cables but nothing super expensive, short as possilbe AQs I use a tube amp and a tube phono stage with an MC cartride, and I have no hum. One other thing a senstive MC turntable needs to be acoustically isolated if you have hum, feedback from an improperly positioned TT isn't gonna help. This is old news to most everybody that reads this, but maybe can help a new audiophile that is worried about hum, feedback, and noise in the system.
I like this type of engineering but you should discuss 0 db and -6 db if possible
Go for a Michael fidler MC pro $800 he only uses a single amplification circuitry where most use multiple amplification what is not good and adds noise and is better than a step up transformer. plus you don't need to adjust any dip switches it's picks it up automatically and adjust it two gain stages 62 and 72
Paul, I have to works nights and every night I see your uploading videos late. Do you ever sleep? Keep them coming.
Videos are pre-uploaded and scheduled
RIAA flat? Yes. But do you really think phono-pre-amps companies just complied blindly to RIAA specifications? Fo course not. They needed to stand-out by "quality", therefore, they surely added some warmth and boot to that RIAA curve...thus, creating a great equalization to vinyl.
When the music master is analog I like to believe a proper ADC conversion of it to either DSD or 96kHz 24 bits or higher will be far superior to vinyl for multiple reasons: No wow & flutter, less noise, much superior dynamic range perhaps 10dB better, less distortion, better control of phase, better linearity, no clicks and noise from dust or scratches, no crazy RIAA EQ and no degradation over time. There is no really good reason why vinyl should be better other than lazy companies doing poor conversion to digital. Octave Records should be the go-to-place for getting the greatest music converted in the greatest way…
people still have thousands of LPs at home that they want to listen to in the highest possible quality. There is no debate whether analog is better than digital.
@@fkaptijn7111 Yes, it’s indeed quite interesting the vinyl disc has been surviving longer than other physical media such as VHS tapes that are gone today. Probably one reason is that some music sounds better on vinyl due to things done in the process of making the digital copy.
An analog master that was only meant for vinyl production back then has been deliberately limited in dynamics and frequency range. So I wouldn't take that as a decent source for a A/D conversion.
@@ThinkingBetterI have VHS still 😳
@@scottyo64 Frankly speaking, I still have several VHS and S-VHS players with high fidelity audio support. I don’t use them anymore. I spent 6 years of my career in the 90s leading development of the most expensive in the world S-VHS video recorders in fact (brand B&O). George Bush used it in the White House, for example. I still remember how we used the Top Gun movie a lot for testing it and I probably watched that movie a hundred times. My first project was VX5000 that did high fidelity recording hugely better than cassette decks at the time e.g. 20Hz-20kHz +/-3dB and much less distortion. Few people realized how much better you could record audio using VHS.