Ugraditus is calling....again. Phono stage?


There is likely nothing wrong at all with present phono stage but you know how it is.

Present analog front end consists of.

Nottingham Analog Spacedeck with Spacearm.
Shelter 501 mk3 cartridge with maybe 250 hours on it, regularly treated with Lyra.
Dynavector P75 mk3 phono stage.
Feeds into Lyngdorf 2170 via Nordost Red Dawn RCA cables.

My thoughts were that possibly the Dynavector is the weakest link and would pay most dividend on an upgrade but.....

What do I perceive I am lacking right now?
Really hard to say as this is highest quality analog front end ever owned.
Possibly lacking a little in sheer scale and dynamics? Bass is very very good, instruments are well separated and defined.
Just as an overall presentation I feel it lacks that final wow factor as a whole.
Not sure if that makes any sense?
Please comment honestly especially if you feel it is another area that may reap larger benefits. Or if should just leave well alone....lol.

Oh btw I am fairly sure it is setup correctly in regards to vta etc, at least to the best of my abilities right now. And yes setting it up correctly from initial purchase did make considerable gains in sq.
128x128uberwaltz
@almarg 
Thank you for your patience and time, yes I missed that on the Herron as was just looking at the last page under specs!

So then for example the gold note is listed as having output impedance of 500 so x10 or even x20 to be safe would be between 5 and 10k which should also make it a possible contender in the match up stakes for the 2170.

However I believe you are correct that my next step should be to have Lyngdorf confirm the unbalanced input impedance which could be at odds with the small info gleaned as it actually has two different sets of analog inputs.
One set of 2 single ended inputs come standard and then there is an additional optional analog input module which I had on my amp which carries the balanced set and 2 further sets of single ended inputs so giving me 5 analog inputs in total.
All of the single ended should be the same but you never know.

But again thank you as at least I have something to work off right now and the start of a plan that now does not include wasting money but hopefully getting it right first time.
@invictus005,

I saw your post on searching for the Holy Grail phono stage and your belief that most are terrible and that 6922s are bright and tube-based phono stages have mushy bass.   Not saying your experiences are wrong as many tube-based components can tend to have mushy bass.  I have not had upgraditis for over a decade. That said, I just got a new phono stage (it is being shipped next week).

i will keeep you posted but I upgraded to an Aesthetix IO Eclipse with dual power supplies. I upgraded because my former IO Signature went down (after a decade with no issues). I can say unequivocally that my former IO Signature had fabulous dynamic non-mushy bass and, although only 2 of its 24 tubes were 6922s, the IO was not “bright ” at all.

I’m excited to get the Eclipse with the second power supply - although it takes up serious rack space with three chassis and weighing over 130 pounds which makes it not for everyone.  The new phono stage now has 30 tubes so it is probably not the first thought for people just getting into a tubed phono stage - but I’ll keep you posted on whether it approaches Holy Grail status for me.

For reference, I’ll be running it with an SME 30 and SME V tonearm with a Dynavector DRT XV-1s into the Eclipse into a Conrad-Johnson ART III into Lamm M1.1 Ref monos driving Rockport Aquila’s.
Another option that I considered when I was using my first 2170 but never tried... 

Using a phono preamp that has a built-in ADC like the PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter or the McIntosh MP100.

Instead of having the Lyngdorf doing the ADC from it's own analog inputs, you would run digital out of the two phono amps mentioned above, using their ADCs that are meant solely for a phono analog signal straight into the Lyngdorf's optical/coax inputs, which sound best in my experience.

I have previously used the PS Audio NuWave for about six months, and used it's analog out most of the time which I thought was phenomenal, but was also impressed using it's coax and I2s output into a Wyred4Sound DAC2se.

Just food for thought...or at least an experiment.
Others' findings of the "faults" on 6922 tubes as a proclamation, is not accurate.

There are too many ways these tubes and their variants are used and designed around to make this sort of generalization.