Preamp Deal of the Century

From what I remember, Mick mentioned 2.5 mV max for the Chenin phono stage (In fact it is written on the manual, Page 1). Reason being is that the circuit is capable of amplifying 0.1 mV input so the lowest gain setting (of the two pots all the way counter clock wise)is still too high for input voltage over 2.5 mV.

I agree with Ecclectique. The only way to know is to try it. I think it will work but may produce some nasties. From what I can remember from the tubes use in stages 6922 and 6C4(1/2 of 12AX7) whose amplification factor can be (33 and 19.5), the gain will come up to be 643.5!

Congrats to your Chenin Mlkiz! I am enjoying mine everyday. Paired it with a 300B SET amp driving a single driver speaker design (MLTL, horn, etc.)and you will hear how good the phono stage really is. I think the money tube is the 6C4 though and not the 6922. It could be in my system only and of course I could be wrong.

I've been listening intensely for a day now to the Chenin and notice that while there doesn't seem to be any problem with gain for my Clearaudio mm cartridge with 3.5 v gain (I'm not even lowering the gain setting in the back), my records sound restricted at the top end. I can barely hear the cymbals and something subtle seems to be missing even from female vocals. The bass does sound great though. I don't seem to have this problem with cds. Has anyone ever encountered this? Any suggestions?

Mlkiz,

I had the same exact experienced (see my previous posts above sometime during April). Be patient, do not roll tubes yet. I posted here regarding the same complaint and Cello, Ecclectique, etc. sent me e-mails privately (thanks a lot again guys!) reassuring me that the preamp will open up after 100 hours or so and stop rolling the tubes. They of course are absolutely correct!

I am using a single driver set up so I know what you meant by losing the highs and subtlety from vocals but only on LP's not CD's because that is exactly what happened to me as well. Ecclectique said " have it running for about a week straight, after that, change the rectifier only and see for your self". I followed the advice and the rest is history.

In fact theres an owner (hifiharry) of Supratek preamp who graciously offered me to try a full set of tubes (RCA VT-231, Mullard GZ-37, Tungsol 6SN7GT, etc. for free to assure me that they are not the tubes. I mean, these guys are terrific and know what they are talking about!

Be sure you have the correct cartridge setting (the 47k, 1000, 100, and 10 Ohms slider switch at the back) because if it is wrong, it sucks the high freq out of LP's. Also, have you tried a different cart?

Hope you can solve your problem soon!

Thanks for your comments. I'm glad that I'm not the only one to ever have experienced this. At Mick's suggestion, I am changing to a moving coil Denon DL 103 cartridge. But are you saying that I need to change the rectifier too? Why is that and what should I change it to? By the way, my fuses keep blowing too, but at Mick's suggestion, I'm going to install a 5 amp slow blow fuse instead of the smaller one that comes with the unit.

5 amps for a preamp! that is freakin huge. the Sim Audio W5 ships with a 6 amp fuse.