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First impression: Herron VTPH-2A phono preamp

I got my VTPH-2A this morning and it's up and running. After about five hours of spinning vinyl, I'm pretty sure I've wet myself, MULTIPLE TIMES! I've primarily played vinyl that I've had for decades, music that I thought I was intimately familiar with. I was wrong. There's nuance I never knew existed. Everything about the VTPH-2A is "right". The bass is tight, vocals superb, instruments have places, etc.  All that I've listened to sounds new and fresh and the most masterfully recorded vinyl sounds live. What I've read about on this forum concerning the VTPH-2A (pretty much all stellar) is true. I've had five different phono preamps and nothing can compete with this, NOTHING. It's a bad ass and definitely a keeper.
professorsvsu
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

professorsvsu
First impression: Herron VTPH-2A phono preamp

rob67 has one of these Herron’s phono stages, and because it has nice low 400ohm output impedance for a tube and high (69db) of gain, he probably doesn’t need any more gain from an active preamp, so he’ll be trying it out with his new Lightspeed Attenuator (should be far lower noise this way) he should have it this weekend which will be driving into his Gryphon Antilleon Signature poweramp driving his Wilson Sasha’s, I’ll ask him to comment on the sound here for you once he’s had a good listen..

Cheers George
professorsvsu OP
78 posts
 
georgehifi,
I would be excited to read about how the Herron performs in a truly high end system. My system is almost a starter kit in comparison.
I'm glad that you brought up the Lightspeed. I have a Goldpoint floating around that I haven't used in years and I may experiment with that as well when I have free time.
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georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Yes do try it, because with all that gain the Herron has, you may as well use it all and not have more noise from active pre’s that you’d have to turn right down to throw away the gain of the Herron.
Do you know what the impedance of your Goldpoint is?? ( 5K, 10K, 25K, 50K, 100K, and 250K.) hopefully it’s the 10k one as this will suit nearly all situations, as this is important to get a good impedance with your amps input impedance if you know that too? I believe you have the Bryston 4B cube which is 33kohm rca that’s fine if the Goldpoint is the 10k one.

Cheers George
professorsvsu OP
78 posts
 
georgehifi,
Before I start rewiring my system, I'll probably set the gain as low as it will go on my preamp (Parasound JC 2 BP) and kick the gain up on my 4B Cubed. A fun adventure for tomorrow. As far as the Goldpoint is concerned, I haven't used it in about six years and really don't remember the impedance. I'm sure I have literature on it somewhere or it's tagged on the unit.
Just finished listening to some old Starship, Knee Deep In The Hoopla. I'll bet I listened to the song Sara six times. The VTPH-2A is something really special. I've gotta know what rob67 thinks of the unit in his system. I wouldn't be surprised if it puts a grin on his face from ear to ear.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Yeah I saw that with the 4B cube it has two switchable gain settings.

Here’s something you may like to know, "if" this gain changing is done where most are done, the same way I used to do my tube or solid state amps I built, via changing the nfb (negative feedback ratio).
Then you may like to know that a higher gain setting is a lower feedback ratio, which "can" give the 4b a slightly more tube sound with a little less damping factor and maybe more 2hd.

Cheers George
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