Used Morch DP-6 or modified Origin Live Silver?

David, I haven't tried that on the Encounter, but truthfully there is so little difference that I don't think it is needed. My mod and the bearing housing on the Encounter are doing about the same thing. Maybe the HiFi mod might be a tad more stable, but again, it is too close to warrant any fiddling with the arm for such a small difference. For all practical purposes, I think the Encounter has enough stability as it is.

Just in case anybody's watching, we received our TX103 stepups yesterday from BentAudio. John Chapman (nice guy) builds these using Stephens & Billington transformers. To minimize connections and solder joints he extends the secondary all the way to the RCA jack that plugs into the phono stage. There's also a pair of small binding posts across the secondary, which allows quick and easy swapping of load resistors. Very nice workmanship.

Now that the Shelter is loaded properly and we plenty of gain, things have gotten a whole lot better. I'll spare you the hysterical ravings, although it's not easy :) :) :)

Anthony Salvatore thinks low level detail is the key benchmark of a system. YMMV of course. One of his guidelines is whether you can detect the occasional pre-echo that's on some LP's. It's not that you want to hear them of course, but you certainly want to be able to! We always could hear pre-echoes when the opening passage was ffff, or even ff. Last night I caught a pre-echo of a solo piano playing at pp, no joke. Utterly amazing.

The Teres and OL are in transit so we're still using the HK/Rabco. The effects of a ringing platter and uncontrolled arm are now very audible. Can't wait for that 60 pound hunk of wood!

The gain control on the pre is now slightly lower than for line level sources, so we may have a little too much gain. Hmm, should I add a pair of step-DOWN trannies? :)

Doug, I don't think that you will have issues with a little too much gain, especially if you consulted with Mr. Chapman regarding your stepup (agreed, a great guy). Put the pressure on for quicker delivery of that Teres. :-) What is taking the OL so long? Did you order them together from Teres?

David,

I suppose a bit of extra gain isn't really a problem, though it makes setting volume kind of touchy. We're at full listening volume at about 9 o'clock. Any idea if different 12AX7's in the phono stage would modify this?

Mr. Chapman confirmed my guess that 20dB would be best. 5dB would have been inadequate to drop the noise floor low enough. It's so low now it's scary, love these trannies.

CHRIS BRADY - IF YOU'RE READING THIS GET BACK TO THE WORKBENCH! Just kidding, take your time and do it right. (Actually Chris has already told us it's shipping this week. We bought #10 of the twelve 265's he received in late July, so I'm sure he's been busy.)

I ordered the OL from Galen Carol, who had to call OL to get a Silver Mk I. The Mk II won't accept the HiFi mod. OL had to ship to Galen for reshipment to me. The good news? Galen got it in Monday and turned it around the same day.

We're almost there!

Doug, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised about that little bit of extra gain. I have a little bit extra too, and I am about max at 9 o'clock on the volume dial as well. This keeps the noise floor very low, and I think you'll like it.