First impression: Herron VTPH-2A phono preamp

Thanks celander, I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm only two days into the VTPH-2A experience and 100% sold out on the product. I'm 64 and have to admit that some of the vinyl I've listened to the past few days has made me as giddy as a kid. At least 50 years of listening to vinyl and I've never heard anything this good.

I had a few brief e-mails with Keith Herron since I purchased the preamp. In complete honesty and at the risk of sounding hokey, I believe he's invested part of his soul into what he's doing and it shows. I wish his company a large measure of success and have no reservations so far giving the VTPH-2A a five star, A+ rating.

For normal listening levels in your setup where is your vc positioned on your active pre and do you know it’s gain? Does it have a log pot? And what is the gain of your amp and efficiency of your speakers?

Hi George,

My speakers are Daedalus Ulysses, which are rated at a high 97.5 db/1 watt/1 meter, and have a 6 ohm nominal impedance. I don’t know what the gain is of my VAC Renaissance 70/70 MkIII amplifier, but it is certainly not low, especially for the zero feedback setting of its feedback select switch, which is the setting I use.

For my preamp I used a DEQX HDP-5, which as you may be aware is produced by some of your fellow countrymen Down Under, and provides numerous DSP-based functions including improving speaker time coherence and room correction. To make that possible analog inputs are converted to digital, but the unit is renowned for its transparency and I have high confidence that it does not manifest any audible bit-stripping at any of the volume control settings I use for either CD or LP playback. I say that based on my own tests with both the speakers and Stax electrostatic headphones, as well as on numerous testimonials to the transparency of DEQX units by experienced audiophiles that are stated in the long running thread here entitled "Is DEQX A Game Changer." It provides 50K input impedance, and at its factory default settings I use I believe its gain is small, just about 1.5 db from unbalanced analog input to unbalanced analog output.

The volume control characteristic is described as follows:

Each button press increments or decrements in 1dB steps from 0dB to above -24dB, then in 2dB steps above -36dB, then in 3dB steps above - 48dB, then in 6dB steps down to -120dB.

Much of my listening is to classical recordings having wide dynamic range, and for those I commonly have the volume control set in the area of approximately -20 to -26 db or so, when listening to LPs. Those who listen to dynamically compressed pop and rock recordings would presumably use lower settings in most cases.

Again, I am using the 64 db version of the VTPH-2 and a 0.5 mv cartridge.

Best regards,
-- Al

Correction:  In the second paragraph of my previous post when I said "For my preamp I used a DEQX HDP-5" the word "used" should be "use."

Regards,
-- Al

Just to add a liitle bit to the thread.
I`m using the Herron VTPH 1 MC plus phono stage along with my Tortuga preamp set at 99K and I`m also using a tube based buffer with it .

After nearly two years of using the Herron just as Keith sent it, I recently took out 2 of the Sovteks and put 2 Shuguang 12AX7B`s in.
My phono cartridge is lowish on the output @ .24 mv and so far the system has everything I need.
Has great bass, a lot of airy detail and the amps seem to be just cruising along with little effort !

I had Georges preamp prior and I really enjoyed it and would have kept it in the system but I liked the idea of having a remote and the adjustable impedance feature of the Tortuga Audio.

@professorsvsu. 

Did you send it into the factory to have it checked out and updated if needed? I did that with several companies where the products had multiple owners. (I couldn’t recall your purchase history of this one.). I sent gear back to Audible Illusions, Conrad-Johnson, Juicy Music, dB Audio Systems and others for updates and checkout. Always a great experience in doing so.