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Valve Phono Stage

Digiverse

Digiverse

Active Member
Hi All, Well, I finally did it, I pulled the trigger and I have ordered 2 Troubadour 6L6 amps from one Mr Earl Weston, Here in Australia, some of you may know of him, anyway, I wish to ask you all, which inexpensive all valve, not hybrid, phono stage would be recommended to match said amps ? if a hybrid is recommended, like the yaqin ms 23b, can it be modified to be a fully tubed amp ? Thanks. Groovetube.
 
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I just bought a Musical Paradise MP-P1 MM MC with upgraded tubes this week. It scheduled to arrive next tuesday. The Jolida JD9 ll is another well regarded budget tube phono-pre. At a grand the Magi Phenominal was on my radar, but I decided to save the money for records.
 
I never found going all tube was necessary with the MS23B. Changing the valves from the stock Shugang 12AX7B tubes to Raytheon 6414 Black Plates Completely changes the character of the MS23B
 
Hi, I'm starting to think that I will find a schematic that I like and build one, anyone have any suggestions ? Also, does using either, a hybrid or a solid state phono colour and/or diminish or colour the sound of the troubadour ? Also, when using a on board solid state phono board, which Earl can install, do the same ? And if I use a powered phono stage/pre amp, does that introduce noise, and it, the pre amp itself, is not really required, as the troubadour is a intergrated, all I want, is a phono stage. Your input will be highly valuaed. Thanks. Groovetube.
 
groovetube said:
Hi, I'm starting to think that I will find a schematic that I like and build one, anyone have any suggestions ? Also, does using either, a hybrid or a solid state phono colour and/or diminish or colour the sound of the troubadour ? Also, when using a on board solid state phono board, which Earl can install, do the same ? And if I use a powered phono stage/pre amp, does that introduce noise, and it, the pre amp itself, is not really required, as the troubadour is a intergrated, all I want, is a phono stage. Your input will be highly valuaed. Thanks. Groovetube.
Click to expand...
http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Carsten-RIAA/Carsten-RIAA.htm

Nice amps by Earle too :thmbsp:
 
how about
http://parksaudiollc.com/budgiepreamp.html

newbudgie3.jpg


there is an upgraded version also
 
Hi, Well done mech, I think you have done it, looks very impressive indeed, question, what difference in sound, if any, since the budgie is single ended and the Troubadour is push pull ? Do budgie make a all valve phono stage in push pull ? Thanks. Groovetube.
 
Preamp gain stages are always single-ended (except for some rather unusual designs). Push-pull only refers to the power amp's output configuration.
 
Check your input impedance of ya' amp if considering the Budgie, as I think the Budgie has something like a 6k output impedance. Should be no issue if the amp is 100k.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, just going on memory.
 
I second the Budgie recommendation. i just got one a few months ago and it continues to impress. Also if you buy direct from The Parks Audio website Shannon provides free shipping worldwide :)
 
groovetube said:
Hi, Thanks, and what about the passive riaa equalization ? Thanks. Groovetube.
Click to expand...

A phono stage always needs some sort of gain, the signal from a magnetic phono cartridge is much too low to use with a standard line-level input. Therefore the RIAA equalization is typically built around the gain stage, and would not be passive...the cartridge's output level is too low.
 
Well, it's still got a gain stage, to me the word "passive" in their description is confusing. I suspect they're merely doing the RIAA equalization by cutting frequencies after the gain stage, pretty common.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned about running that preamp off a 12 volt power supply. To me that implies they're not putting a whole lot of plate voltage on those tubes. It may still sound good, I have not heard that preamp, and I haven't seen their schematic.
 
tube phono pre amp

I don't know if these would interest you but you might look at Jim Hagerman and bottlehead stuff . I'm currently trying to decide if the seduction or the cornet 3 is staying upstairs and which is going down stairs. Just a thought. Eric
 
The Budgie is based on the RCA RIAA preamp with the 12AX7 replaced by 6922, it runs off a low plate voltage by using current sources as the plate load, however the 6922 does not run off the 12V supply. From the website: "Input Voltage: 100 to 240VAC with external 12VDC supply (included)"
 
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