2. analog
  3. 131346-99360

koetsu

seeking advice as to where the sweet spot is in this line price/performance.

dancekerl
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I don't know who is Arthur Salvatore, but this man tested many SUTs and posted on his website about it. He was a Koetsu dealer for 10 years. There are only a few SUTs in his "class A" category and his favorite is Bent Silver TX-103, my ZYX CPP-1 active headamp is the first in his "Class B" category and described as very close. He said: " For those audiophiles who don't like any MC transformer, for whatever reason(s), the ZYX is a no-brainer choice, if it's affordable."   

 
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

chakster, Salvatore is self appointed hifi authority a kind of ''super

Raul''. Not exactly like Napolen but similar. As is well known

Napoleon appointed himself to the king of France. The problem

with Salvatore is , uh, logical. ''The best x'' imply ''all x are Fx&Gx''.

This is the so called ''Tarski theory of truth by ( conditions)

satisfaction''.

If there is just one ''x'' which does not satisfy conditions Fx and Gx

then the whole sentence is false. We get some other ''perspective''

or ''picture''  if instead of ''all x'' the expression ''from all x that I know

I like the most a, b, c ... n. ''.  Everybody is free to make his own

sequence of his beloved babe. There are however cases where

no sequnce is needed.

If I remeber well you mentioned your ZYX CPP-1 at least 5 times

(grin).



chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@nandric

If I remeber well you mentioned your ZYX CPP-1 at least 5 times

(grin).

Few times, yes, but seems like i’m still the only one owner here on audiogon. That’s why i always remember A.Salvatore.

When i did my search for "Denon AU-S1" on audiogon, i saw at leat 25 posts of yourself, so i hope you’re very happy about this SUT, lol
Another person who mentioned this was Raul, but only few times. BTW, correction: the impedance range of AU-S1 is not 2 - 40 Ohm, but 3 - 40 Ohm. And why i remember Salvator again is because his favorite Bent Silver SUT has similar construction (with direct connection to the transformer for each channel), but without the cabinet.    

Anyway the ZYX CPP-1 is not a SUT, but an active headamp, and considering Dover’s post (to avoid all the SUTs) i decided to remind about this device, hoping somebody else experienced with this, except Arthur Salvatore (ex Koetsu dealer) who rated it so high.

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

Dear chakster, You remind me of this opera aria from Rigolleto

''La donna e mobile''. I try to please you by supporting your

opinion about the need for a SUT by low output MC carts. My

''division'' or the value of 0,3 mV may be arbitrary but this does

not change the ''idea''. However in your latest post you seem to

agree with the user of the ''Holy water'' from New Zealand who is

against SUT's at any (output) value. But you can't have it both

ways despite the fact that your ZYX CPP-1 is an active device.

I think that you would use any ''authority'' whatever provided they

praise your ZYX which is, alas, totally unknown to other members

of this forum except Dover. The problem with him is , as I mentioned

in my former post, that when he uses too much of this ''Holy water''

he then thinks to know everyting better. I thought that one Raul is

sufficient for the whole forum (grin).



chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Well, i have transformers inside my WLM Phonata Reference MM/MC phono stage, but unfortunately this stage is also unknown to the members here. The construction of the stage is also unusual as it has "automatic load imedance for any cartridges" (not fixed load imedance like on most of the mc stages). Those transformers are very small, must be lundahl transformers, i screwed up my device when i changed 47k resistors for MM input (to vishay naked foil 100k).

I wish i could try more SUTs, because the gain on my MC stage is not enough for 0,05mV Ortofon MC 2000, but OK for 0,17mV FR PMC-3 as i said earlier.

And as the oppisite to the SUTs i have those headamp and additional JLTi phono stage with "high gain" to handle 0,20mV carts (not not high enough for 0,05mV carts like MC2000).

So it’s not the point to praise zyx headamp, but just a curiosity what is better and why.
For some reason (for the first time) i have hum when i use zyx with FR PMC-3, but when i use same cartridge with my WLM MC phono stage (with build in transformers) i have no hum.

I’m gonna continue my experiments with everything (SUTs, headamps, and high gain prono stages with plug in load resistors). At the moment i can’t say what is better. Sadly no one use the same gear here.

What i don't like about those external devices is that i need more cables and those cables must be top quality to avoid hum. Some cables what works fine for MM carts does not good for low output MC carts. 
More to discover