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Radio Station Phono Preamps

GeoffC said:
Thanks so much for sharing! I’d like to find one of these and honor your achievement. I worked with some great people at Harris as I spent 30 years at Raytheon.

After having spent a few days with the two units I have under test I find them to be better than the phono stage in my McIntosh preamp. I plan to keep both and likely update the RCAs to Cardas or WBT.

As an aside, successful engineers don’t just design, they also go to the field and integrate to validate and verify their designs. I doubt successful audio engineers are deaf lol.
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Thanks! You can find PX -90’s and PX-91’s on the used market for not a lot of coin. I haven’t heard one in a long time. :)

When I was working in broadcasting there was a small cadre of engineers that were also audiophiles. We really listened to what we were designing and tried to optimize the quality.

A few of the station engineers went out of their way to get the best possible sound, being super picky about everything. But most were focused on reliability. Can’t blame them.


I did a lot of audio designs for Harris, everything from phono preamps to consoles to the audio and control sections of big transmitters. Fun job, great company.
 
Here is the other one and it’s a mystery machine as I’ve not found anything in the web for a Peak Audio Incorporated Economist Turntable Preamplifier. MM only with separate power supply. ICs in the circuitry - and from the looks of the board layout there was other models.

will compare to the Logitek

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GeoffC said:
Here is the other one and it’s a mystery machine as I’ve not found anything in the web for a Peak Audio Incorporated Economist Turntable Preamplifier. MM only with separate power supply. ICs in the circuitry - and from the looks of the board layout there was other models.

will compare to the Logitek

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What op amps did they use? From the pic it looks like they are in ceramic packages.
 
I meant to write the number down before closing up everything but forgot. I’m playing it right now (Brubeck sounding very good) but will open it back up as I wanted to research their pedigree
 
That’s cool I used a ne5533 in the 80’s in a phono preamp that I designed. 5533 is a 5534 dual only made by signetics and XR as you show
 
rcs16 said:
That’s cool I used a ne5533 in the 80’s in a phono preamp that I designed. 5533 is a 5534 dual only made by signetics and XR as you show
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Many thanks. I have not been able to find for sure the manufacture for this 5533 as the only leads I had pointed to either TI or Philips (which I knew from experience it was neither of these manufactures). Like you do know it’s a good op amp that was used in pro audio and high fidelity gear.
 
That’s an Exar Semiconductor part as rcs16 indicated. Exar is still going, purchased by MaxLinear in 2017.
 
Many thanks guys. I was an ME on the electro-optical end of things so always dealt in video - no audio.

I’ve listened to both and find them both very good. The quality of parts and layout on both are very good so translates into something respectable. They certainly were built for the rigors of a radio station (survive headphones clanking them, spilled soda pop coffee and pizza) use so am sure reliability was key but a nod to sonic quality as well. I’ve received messages from a couple other guys they use the Logitek in their set ups and will not part with them. Aside from their industrial appearance I’m not going to feel bad at all using them going forward. If I come across a Krell phono preamp in the future that would match the balance of my equipment I’ll try to snag it and do some comparison tests in the future. Will also look for the Harris to honor W9TR. But for now the Logitek and Peak are going to stay in the rack as they support and integrate with the equipment and sound very good to me.

thanks again for everyone’s comments - I learned a few things
 
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