Luxman EQ-500

@grk   Thank you so much for your reply!  That's kind of ironic that the battery powered phono had hum :)  I appreciate you sharing the sonic differences between the various phonos that you've had and this Luxman....that is very helpful!  Could you help me understand the various gain settings and how they work when using the MC High settings vs me using just the Moving Magnet input?  I'm just confused about this for some reason.  Thank you for your help :)

@oranfoster   Thank you also for your reply!  I appreciate your response and telling me about the musicality of this phono stage with the excellent example of the Beethoven Piano Concertos. Which gain settings are you using with your Cadenza Black?  How high do you have to have the volume control before you start to hear any hiss or tube rush from the EQ-500?  I look forward to sharing more with us about this phono stage when you have time :)

Best Wishes for great health and happiness this holiday season,
Don

Unfortunately, the Luxman is not the most intuitive phono stage when it comes to operating it. The gain settings that are on the front panel relate to MM. The manual and the reviews show that in moving coil mode, the gain level starts at 55 db, corresponding to the 36db on the dial and then increases by 2 db for each of the remaining gain levels on the dial. Therefore, at 40, the max MC level would be 59 db. In other words, the MC section adds 15 db to the MM section at each level, because of the transformers. Hope that helps.

Also, the loading values correspond to the internal MC impedance nof the cartridge. For instance - the Kiseki pH has an internal impedance of 40 ohms and is typically loaded at 400 ohms or more, externally. But with the Luxman, I use the "high" MC impedance setting which is right at the 40 ohm level of the Kiseki. A perfect match!

@grk   Thank you for your reply.  I appreciate you helping me understand how the various gain adjustments work :)

So if I understand correctly, when using the MC High input, the output in dB would range from 55;57;59 respectively to the 36;38;40 moving magnet dB gain settings therefore resulting in an additional 19dB over the moving magnet stage.  So that looks like to me that the step up ratio of the MC High SUT would be roughly 1:9 which would show a load to the cartridge of roughly 580 Ohms based on 47K input impedance. 

It looks like the MC Low input will add 27dB to the corresponding moving magnet gain settings which should calculate a step up ratio of roughly 1:22 showing the cartridge a load of roughly 97 Ohms based on 47K input impedance.

I think one of the features that I like best about the EQ-500 is the flexibility of using an outboard SUT into the moving magnet input.  This should allow you to not only be able to adjust the amount of gain 36/38/40 db, but just as importantly, being able to fine tune the loading.  

If I am understanding this correctly, by using an outboard SUT into the moving magnet input, you wouldn't have to use the standard 47K input impedance, but could adjust it up to 100K.  By doing so, if your outboard SUT had a step up ratio of 1:9, the cartridge would now see a load of 1234 Ohms; and with a step up ratio of 1:22 it would now see a load of roughly 206 Ohms.  Having the ability to fine tune the loading in this manner can greatly affect the sound of the music in a very positive way!

The more I learn about this phono stage, the more interesting I am finding it to be.

Wishing you all the very best of health and happiness this Holiday Season!

Don

Hmm, my math was off a bit yesterday...must have been the wine! ; ) Yes, there is a 19db difference between the MM and MC levels on the dial. Can't say much though if the ratios are correct or not.

Also, I can't say much about using an outboard SUT, since I have never used one. You may want to check out the "Audio Shark" forum where I recall someone discussing using an SUT into his EQ 500 to obtain a closer impedance match. Happy Holidays!

Nothing like relaxing with a nice glass of wine while listening to your favorite music :)  I figured it was just a typo, but the main thing is that thanks to you, I think I finally understand how the gain is structured.  Thank you!

I think the ratios should be relatively accurate as I was using a Step Up Transformer Calculator that can solve for gain and impedance depending on which variables you select for input impedance and the turns ratio of the transformer as found here... http://www.mh-audio.nl/Calculators/StepUpTransformer.html

I've been searching many of the various forums for additional information about this phono stage, but haven't found many experiences of people using outboard SUT's.  Of the one or two people that have said they used their own SUT, it sounds as if it has been quiet, but not much of a sampling.

It seems as though the EQ-500 is a very nice phono stage.  Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences with me :)

Best Wishes a safe and healthy holiday!
Don