#1 Phono stage loading
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:35 pm
Skip to the gap in text to avoid the drivel
I eventually bought a new cart. I couldn't decide what to get so I did the least sensible thing and bought a used garrott microscanner decca london.
It's good.
However, it is very responsive to all changes. Vtf, vta, effective mass, damping, and loading!
I think its going to take some time to get this set up just right.
With this in mind I need to sort out some variable loading for the Phono stage. I've tried from 10k to 180k and it seems the sweet spot is probably going to be between 30k and 65k.
Where it ends up will depend on where I settle on vta etc.
At the moment, just for some quick trials, I hot glued a load of resistors to the outside wooden frame of my Phono and am swapping between them with clip leads. This arrangement has induced alot of hum though. Ok for a quick couple of hours getting an idea but I could do with sorting something better. I'd quite like to have switchable loading on the Phono permanently. Maybe focused around 2 ranges (8k to 15k for mc, and maybe 35k to 65k for anything else).
Is there any way of making loading variable, with as many options as possible, without making it sound bad? Ideal situation would be 2 pots maybe, switchable between. But I've read loading resistors can make quite a difference to sound so not sure pots are a good idea.
Any thoughts?
If I have to pick 2 settings, is a switch between them ok? Might still have some mercury wetted relays left.
I eventually bought a new cart. I couldn't decide what to get so I did the least sensible thing and bought a used garrott microscanner decca london.
It's good.
However, it is very responsive to all changes. Vtf, vta, effective mass, damping, and loading!
I think its going to take some time to get this set up just right.
With this in mind I need to sort out some variable loading for the Phono stage. I've tried from 10k to 180k and it seems the sweet spot is probably going to be between 30k and 65k.
Where it ends up will depend on where I settle on vta etc.
At the moment, just for some quick trials, I hot glued a load of resistors to the outside wooden frame of my Phono and am swapping between them with clip leads. This arrangement has induced alot of hum though. Ok for a quick couple of hours getting an idea but I could do with sorting something better. I'd quite like to have switchable loading on the Phono permanently. Maybe focused around 2 ranges (8k to 15k for mc, and maybe 35k to 65k for anything else).
Is there any way of making loading variable, with as many options as possible, without making it sound bad? Ideal situation would be 2 pots maybe, switchable between. But I've read loading resistors can make quite a difference to sound so not sure pots are a good idea.
Any thoughts?
If I have to pick 2 settings, is a switch between them ok? Might still have some mercury wetted relays left.