2. analog
  3. 160790-121147

Problem with phono stage

Hello Fellow Audiogoners,

I need help with my Phono stage. It is Lehman Audio Black Cube from Germany.  It was recommended from Simao, a very respected Audiogon member who helped me a lot when I was building my stereo. It costs 450$ brand new which I bought used from this site. Michael Fremer considers it one of the best steals in phono stages. I get a little bit better detail and bass extension BUT it also much noisier. I can hear the pops and any other noises  on the records much more then with the phono stage of my Arcam FMJ 28 which turned out to be a surprisingly good one considering it is an integrated one.
I also switched the cables but the noise is still there.
Is this a common problem with added phono stages as opposed to integrated ones or something is wrong with my phono and needs to be checked.

All help will be greatly appreciated.
Emil


emilm
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
Do I need a special cable for the phono stage?
@emilm    Yes! Most regular cables have too much capacitance. This causes a high frequency peak and certainly can emphasize ticks and pops.


A proper phono cable will have a capacitance of about 20pf (picofarads) per foot and you won't be running more than about 1 meter, or else you'll want to find a cable with lower capacitance.
This is the sort of thing you're looking for:
https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/audio/index.htm
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
You need a shielded phono cable for a phono stage (from your turntable to a phono stage). Phono cable is not a regular interconnect cable. 

  
lewm
13,477 posts
 
But shielded cables per se do not have low capacitance, compared to unshielded wire of the same type and length. So the shielding can be a trade off if you are looking for the lowest capacitance. But let’s hear what Ralph has to say to the OP. My question would be what is the phono  gain of the Lehman black cube?And for that matter, what is the additional gain of the line stage to which it is connected?
vinylvin
146 posts
 
I thought capacitance for cables didn't matter with a MM Cartridge , only MC.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,287 posts
 
From the spec sheet the max input on the Lehman is 4.5mV and the Nagaoka outputs 5mV, so the phono stage overloads (distorts) when it encounters clicks on the record.
More to discover