Solid State Phono Stages

It’s been a long time, and I’ve reverted my decision on my phono stage of choice and thought to update this thread in case anyone has interest or finds the information valuable.

The last step I wrote about was selling my BMC MCCI Signature ULN phono stage after evaluating it against the Simaudio Moon 810LP. In stock mode, there are tradeoffs between each phono stage, where the Moon is more liquid and refined, and the BMC had the upper end in realism, delivering more presence and a lower noise floor, but at times sounding overly technical and less graceful.

Well, after a year of having owned the Moon and living without the BMC, I found myself missing the presence the BMC brought. I tried upgrading cables and fuses inside the 810LP, but it did not get me closer to what the BMC brought. I ended up purchasing a different BMC MCCI Signature ULN on the used market. This time, I employed one of Synergistic Research’s Tranquility Base Carbon platforms underneath, which generates an electromagnetic field around a component to combat surrounding and internal EMI. What a difference it made! The BMC became ever more present, while any etched nature it may have brought has been wiped away. It sounds purely realistic and natural. I’ve now had the BMC and Tranquility Base Carbon in place for at least six months, and I can honestly say I have no desire to move from this. I can back that up by also sharing that I bought a second BMC phono stage for a second turntable I am building.

The BMC is here to stay. I’m glad to have sold the 810LP to a happy owner and make my money back. But also for anyone reading, if you haven’t tried a Tranquility Base Carbon under your phono stage, I highly recommend it!

Please keep in mind I am a dealer for Synergistic Research, so take this info how you will. I have no affiliation with BMC aside from being a very happy owner, but I am proud to call it my reference stage.

I re-read this thread. I thought I must have put in a plug for the Essential 3160 Phonolinepreamp, but apparently I did not, maybe because there are not that many in existence and because the 3160 is out of production. Anyway, this is the first solid state phono stage and linestage that makes me forget what it is made of. It’s every bit as pure and authentic sounding as any tube phono stage in my experience, in fact better than any, with the qualification that I also love my tweaked Atma-sphere MP1. Raul and Jose are back in production now with a new model, the 3180, which is said to be upgraded from the 3160. Not cheap but something to think about.

Bruce, if you do a little reading on electromagnetic fields (EMI), you will see that there is no theory to support the notion that a shelf that emits EMI could possibly cancel the EMI from a nearby component. To begin with, EMI is not only radiation into the air around an electromagnetic component, it is also put back into the circuit, both forward and backward on the wiring. No external source of EMI can cancel that. Second, one field might cancel another if the two are exactly out of phase with each other, but that is nearly impossible to arrange, and since there are several potential sources inside any component, all fields are unlikely to be precisely out of phase. The way to prevent radiated EMI from having an effect on nearby components is with shielding, and it’s well done inside any well built audio component, particularly in the BMC MCCI. The very fact that good equipment is shielded, at least between an internal PS and the audio circuitry, would also interdict any effect of an outside source of EM radiation. Synergistic Research is a frequent source of misleading or incorrect info about its products. This is not to say that the shelf itself might not be a good sounding shelf. I just hate to see their BS go unquestioned.

@lewm Fair point that even as a dealer I may not fully understand what is happening scientifically to address the sonic impact from the Tranquility Base Carbon, but I will say this. It is an ACTIVE platform, not a vibration isolation platform. It is not hooked up to the signal path, and when enabled, makes a very audible sonic difference in the qualities I mentioned above. It is very easy to A/B, and anyone I’ve demoed it for in the last two months who has their eyes closed has been able to tell when it is on or not. It’s that obvious. If it is not combating EMI, I’m not sure what it’s doing, but I would believe it has something to do with electromagnetism.

A friend who has produced a range of electronic designs for audio usage, that have at the debut demo's been thoroughly impressive, makes it known if the extremely expensive EMI protection material they have access to as off cuts in used in the circuit to protect choice components. 

I would like to think their own build experiences has shown just how valuable a local EMI protection being utilised is beneficial to the end sonic.

All members of the local HiFi group have been gifted sample pieces of this EMI Protection material to find their own ideal place for it, if they choose to do so. 

Synergistic Research...... a sad ending to this thread.