Parks Audio Budgie Phono Preamp

[Muddywaters]

I've been following this thread with great interest and may dip my toe into the waters and order one myself.

I'd add to the wish list looking for a second input. That obviously could complicate things and add cost if some wanted to have different settings for each input but I could work without indendent settings especially if it had a rotary switch for resistive adjustments. I love the low 50 pf capacitive baseline for working with mm carts too.

I have a lot 6DJ8/6922/7308 derivatives to roll since my Audion Premier MM uses them too and quite few suts to try with it. Hmmmm.....

I'm also curious if a linear regulated ps or battery might be a beneficial tweak.

 

[skriefal]

I'd test a battery supply if I had one available. But I don't want to deal with a battery supply long-term.

 

[diytube]

I might do some feature rich phono preamps in the future, but I admit that I am primarily a KISS-type of designer. My first guess is that it would use a microcontroller and tactile buttons instead of rotary switches, though.

I would chalk up the 60Hz to a mix of vibration/magnetic fields on the 6922 itself (it's a noisy world) and unbalanced inputs/outputs, but that is well within spec. Tube shields with damper springs would help the former issue in some environments, but in my testing they ended being a bother. I just prefer easier tube rolling. Glad to see your EH6922 tests correspond with mine - they're great tubes. :thmbsp:

Shannon Parks

 

[skriefal]

I had a pair of metal tube shields with damper springs sitting around. I've installed them onto my Budgie (not an easy task, by the way!) and re-tested with the EH 6922s installed and the inputs shorted. The low-level 60-hz spike is gone.

The Amperex 7308s might now test better than the EH 6922s (with tube shields in place)... with nothing at 60-hz and also without the low-level sub-40Hz noise seen with the EH 6922s. But I'm done with the experimentation for a while!

 

[fiddlefye]

Tube shields are a pain in the butt sometimes, but they do work. Question now is the source of the 60hz noise. Wonder where to buy shields these days apart from used ones?

 

[skriefal]

Mine are new, purchased from Angela Instruments. About $2 each, IIRC.

Update: Actually they're $1.49 each.
http://angela.com/black9pinj-slottubeshieldfor12ax712at7etc.aspx

 

[diytube]

I purchased mine from Angela, too. Steve Melkisethian is a pretty good guy, and I think I've bought all my Hammond transformers from him over the years.

Regarding the tube shields, I think all the current production is basically one design and manufactured in China. My problems involved the "fat bottle" tubes having a hard time getting seated in the tube socket due to the high collar. I broke one 6922 and a customer also broke one as it was hard to fit the tube in the socket, and you couldn't wiggle it into place as it needed a hard, straight-down insertion.

Shannon Parks

 

[skriefal]

I did notice that the diameter of the EH 6922s was about the maximum that would fit into the metal collar. They're not touching the collar -- but it's close.

 

[Muddywaters]

I've got a "Budgie" on order. Jumped on the bandwagon.

 

[63pontiacgp]

This last Sunday I did a Pink Floyd "marathon" and in order listened to:

Animals
A Nice Pair
The Final Cut
Wish You Were Here
Meddle
The Wall
Dark Side of the Moon
A Momentary Lapse of Reason

This preamp continues to impress me and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Oh, and I'm still running the stock EH tubes:thmbsp:

Mike

 

[fiddlefye]

This last Sunday I did a Pink Floyd "marathon" and in order listened to:

Animals
A Nice Pair
The Final Cut
Wish You Were Here
Meddle
The Wall
Dark Side of the Moon
A Momentary Lapse of Reason

This preamp continues to impress me and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Oh, and I'm still running the stock EH tubes:thmbsp:

Mike

That's a powerful lot o' Floyd! I'd be zoned for a week!

 

[Muddywaters]

That's a powerful lot o' Floyd! I'd be zoned for a week!

I think I would be too! I haven't tried any PF yet on mine which arrived last night. I left it running the Cardas burn-in tracks all night.

I did notice that the diameter of the EH 6922s was about the maximum that would fit into the metal collar. They're not touching the collar -- but it's close.

They are close. I had Shannon mount them on mine. he has been fantastic to deal with and communication with him has been excellent. He tweaked the tube shield socket area a little to better help accommodate the fatter variants of the 6DJ8 family like the stock EH's. The stock tubes didn't last too long for my tastes today. I tried some Amperex "National" 7308's first roll which work nicely in my Audion they were better but I felt there was more to get out of it so I tossed in some Genelex "Gold Lion" 6922 reissues and really felt I'm getting somewhere with it now, (these tubes are rather large waisted like the EH). I've got a little hoard of Bugle Boys, and early 60's NOS Amperex, some Tele's and others to try but for now I'll stick with the Genelex. Totally system dependent for sure and the Budgie doesn't have many hours on it yet.

I'm running it with some of my modded Denon 103's with an Auditorium 23 sut. I will try it out this weekend with a Grace F9-E and will be making some needle drops along with the Elliot Sound P05/P06? Broc sent on to me to test and record. I'll add them to our thread on a variety of phonostages including a Phonomena.

I also want to give Parks Audio props for the great individualized test sheet he provides with the unit. Very impressive with the measured actual error deviation from RIAA 20Hz-20Khz in 14 steps. He also made a wire harness with diode for me to use with a SLA battery I have from the phonostage testing I mentioned. I'm going to stick with the stock psu for now.

 

[BrocLuno]

Still hoping ...

I might do some feature rich phono preamps in the future, but I admit that I am primarily a KISS-type of designer. My first guess is that it would use a microcontroller and tactile buttons instead of rotary switches, though.

I would chalk up the 60Hz to a mix of vibration/magnetic fields on the 6922 itself (it's a noisy world) and unbalanced inputs/outputs, but that is well within spec. Tube shields with damper springs would help the former issue in some environments, but in my testing they ended being a bother. I just prefer easier tube rolling. Glad to see your EH6922 tests correspond with mine - they're great tubes. :thmbsp:

Shannon Parks

While you are pondering the "feature rich" version (and I am interested ), I splurged on a used Phonomena to tide me over I'll prolly run it behind the TT with the cover off so I can flip switches as needed :scratch2:

But having an up front control layout is still my goal Placing it next to, or between, teh TT's on the top shelf will allow it to show and the tubes to radiate straight up for cooling. So a couple of controls on top front and the rest on the front is OK too

I love your idea of a micro controller and SS switching. No more contact cleaning - yeah

 

[Muddywaters]

The Budgie continues to impress. :thmbsp:

Ran the Genelex tubes until a couple days ago. Amperex Bugle Boy's... now we're talking. This stage really demonstrates the characteristics of the tubes exceedingly well.

Ran one of my Grace F9's with the repro nude elliptical from SoundSmith and a ruby/lc level two SS stylus. They like the resistance up from 47K. Also the Nagaoka MP-50 does as well. Easy to hear why the carts are so well respected.

It is now doing duty with a new cart addition. The Miyajima Labs Premium Mono BE II using a Auditorium 23 Standard to step up for the Budgie. The combo is really dynamic. Milt Jackson Quartet is going as I write. It is hard to concentrate the music draws me in. Sometimes Milt pounds those vibes like he's trying to break the mallets. It's really getting that ring right.

Good job Parks Audio!

ps see your showing on Audiogon now too

 

[daniel thoma]

Bumping this thread because I'm thinking of buying a Budgie Phono Preamp, and I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of this unit. I want a new tube phono stage, something in the $300-$600 price range would be perfect.

Would this phono preamp be a good match for my Denon DL-110 HOMC (2.2mv)? How do the 6DJ8 tubes compare to the (more common) 12AX7 tubes? Any comparisons to other "budget" tube phono stages (Yaqin, Pro-Ject, Jolida)? Does anybody have any needle-drop samples to share?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always to everyone!

 

[Muddywaters]

Bumping this thread because I'm thinking of buying a Budgie Phono Preamp, and I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of this unit. I want a new tube phono stage, something in the $300-$600 price range would be perfect.

Would this phono preamp be a good match for my Denon DL-110 HOMC (2.2mv)? How do the 6DJ8 tubes compare to the (more common) 12AX7 tubes? Any comparisons to other "budget" tube phono stages (Yaqin, Pro-Ject, Jolida)? Does anybody have any needle-drop samples to share?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always to everyone!

Hi Daniel, I will put up some samples for you by later tomorrow. Do you have a musical preference? I'll post a few variations, some will be with a Grace F9 and others with a modded Denon 103 using an Auditorium sut if that's ok with you.

I support the Budgie enthusiastically. It is extremely quiet for a true tube unit. Very flexible with the built-in resistance adjustments which you may find beneficial with your Denon 110 and other carts too. I've run a variety of carts through it, ie Nagaoka MP-50, Stanton 680 with various styli, Grace F9, Shure VST III and M91ED, Blue Point Special with Soundsmith ruby cantilever/lc stylus and ADC XLMs with variety of original stylii as well as 103's and a modded 103r.

6922/6dj8/7308's tubes are well respected in phono applications perhaps not as prevalent as 12ax but certainly nothing to shy away from. My prefererred stage is a 6922 version, (Audion Premier) so I have a stash of a variety of tubes to run in the Budgie. My Rogue 99 Magnums phono section uses 12ax and either 12AU7 or 12AT7 or 12AX7 combinations.

I haven't listened to the Yaquin but have listened to a Bellari, Project and Jolida (not in my own system)I'd take the Budgie versus them stock. The Jolida holds promise modded to me but I'm definitely biased against opamp (unless discretely implemented) based phono stages generally going up the ladder.

Take a listen when I get the samples up tomorrow. The Budgie will repond extremely well delineating differences in tube selection too. The samples will all be with the re-issue Gold Lion 6922's for reference.

 

[daniel thoma]

Hi Daniel, I will put up some samples for you by later tomorrow. Do you have a musical preference? I'll post a few variations, some will be with a Grace F9 and others with a modded Denon 103 using an Auditorium sut if that's ok with you.

I support the Budgie enthusiastically. It is extremely quiet for a true tube unit. Very flexible with the built-in resistance adjustments which you may find beneficial with your Denon 110 and other carts too. I've run a variety of carts through it, ie Nagaoka MP-50, Stanton 680 with various styli, Grace F9, Shure VST III and M91ED, Blue Point Special with Soundsmith ruby cantilever/lc stylus and ADC XLMs with variety of original stylii as well as 103's and a modded 103r.

6922/6dj8/7308's tubes are well respected in phono applications perhaps not as prevalent as 12ax but certainly nothing to shy away from. My prefererred stage is a 6922 version, (Audion Premier) so I have a stash of a variety of tubes to run in the Budgie. My Rogue 99 Magnums phono section uses 12ax and either 12AU7 or 12AT7 or 12AX7 combinations.

I haven't listened to the Yaquin but have listened to a Bellari, Project and Jolida (not in my own system)I'd take the Budgie versus them stock. The Jolida holds promise modded to me but I'm definitely biased against opamp (unless discretely implemented) based phono stages generally going up the ladder.

Take a listen when I get the samples up tomorrow. The Budgie will repond extremely well delineating differences in tube selection too. The samples will all be with the re-issue Gold Lion 6922's for reference.

Ah, wonderful! Thanks a lot, I really do appreciate it. I enjoy all kinds of music, so feel free to share whatever you think best shows off the Budgie.

 

[Muddywaters]

Ah, wonderful! Thanks a lot, I really do appreciate it. I enjoy all kinds of music, so feel free to share whatever you think best shows off the Budgie.

Hey dt here is a link to a folder on dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oefnj9a7ib6qbph/Y96BWNgkDM

Three were from some recordings done a while ago testing various phonostages using a Grace F9e with a Soundsmith aluminum cantilever elliptical stylus on a Technics 1200.

The other three are from some of my listening session last night using a modded Denon 103 (aluminum body, potted with epoxy and Soundsmith Level 2 ruby cant/lc stylus) step up was a Auditorium Standard (specified for the 103). Tonearm is a Jelco 750L on a slate ptp modded Lenco table.

The resistance was set at 47.1k and stock capacitance of 50 pf> Having the capacitance this low is very nice for testing mm carts because you can bump up capacitance when needed without soldering and using low cap cables you'll be down in the 125-150 pf range to start. Tubes used for these recordings are the Genelex Gold Lion E88CC/6922

Let me know if you'd like something else, I have plenty of records and genre but prefer jazz/blues, classical with some rock r&b. Enjoy!

 

[daniel thoma]

Thanks a million for helping out. I really enjoyed the clips and they did answer many questions for me. I bought a Budgie from Ebay (with a nice $20 discount) and should expect it next week. I'm really excited to have a tube preamp again after all these years.

In these clips, the Budgie sounds warm, musical, but also clear, quiet. Compared to my old Pro-Ject Tube Box, the sound is a little more open, the low end is cleaner (yet still detailed), and the soundstage is very full. I was really impressed by the Heart clip, which showcased smooth, lifelike vocals, and the ring of the acoustic guitar was very nice.

The Budgie also sounded cleaner and more confident than the Yaqin MS-12B clips I've heard (though that preamp sounds really nice); ditto for the Bellari VP-129 I've heard at Electric Fetus (which sounds mushy at bass, but buttery at mids). I'm very impressed.

Can't wait to hear this unit in action! Thanks again for helping out.

 

[mkane]

The Budgie will be a Christmas gift, for the wife. The deluxe comes with a RIAA chart? How is this chart used and is it worth the xtra $$. MKane