Phono Stage upgrade to complement Dohmann Helix One Mk 2


Thanks to the recommendations from many users on this Audiogon blog, I think I was able to make a more informed purchase of a turntable, the Dohmann Helix One Mk 2.  I've really been enjoying the turntable for the past month!  

The next phase of my system now needs attention:  the phono stage.  Currently, I'm using a Manley Steelhead v2 running into an Ypsilon PST-100 Mk2 SE pre-amplifier (into Ypsilon Hyperion monoblocks, into Sound Lab M745PX electrostatic speakers). 

I've been told that I could really improve my system by upgrading the phono stage from the Manley Steelhead (although I've also been told that the Manley Steelhead is one of the best phono stages ever made).  
Interestingly, two of the top phono stages that I'm considering require a step-up transformer (SUT).  I'm not fully informed about any inherent advantages or disadvantages of using an SUT versus connecting directly to the phono stage itself.  

I suppose my current top two considerations for a phono stage are the Ypsilon VPS-100 and the EM/IA  LR Phono Corrector, both of which utilize an SUT.  I don't have a particular price range, but I find it hard to spend $100k on stereo components, so I'm probably looking in the $15k - $70k price range. 
Thanks. 

drbond

Dear @drbond : lewm posted " You want a steep slope on the low pass filter going to the subwoof, because you don’t want the subwoof contributing to midrange ..."

Normaly subs comes with 12db/18db filter shape and the users always can change the low-pass frequency that at the end the sub internal dsp will tell us and through listening tests we can confirm is rigth or we can play with the sub crossover set-up characteristics till we are satisfied with. The Velodyne low-pass shape by default is 24db ( steep as lew posted. ) but selectable and its high-pass shape is 6db. My old Velodyne low-pass filter shape " initial 12db, 48db ultimate ", is what I read in its manufacturer specs.

In the other side, adding sub’s in any room/system means too that maybe we can need some kind of different room treatment maybe not or we can find out that we need to move a little the main speaker positions.

Subwoofers per se is not a " key on hand " solution to open the " door ", we always need some kind of work for the room/system good integration.

 

R.

@drbond, Are you dizzy yet? What you have here is a whole bunch of people making assumptions without a bit of first hand knowledge. The horse's mouth is right here. I have been using subwoofers with ESLs since 1979 and have been through every permutation you can imagine. I can promise you this, regardless of anything else you do you will never achieve state of the art performance out of your system without subwoofers. I can help you avoid all the mistakes I made over the years and get you set up. This is a thread about phono stages. If you want to talk about it message me. 

lewm : " I truly did wonder why you thought Raul’s quote was humorous. " . Easy, because he did not think in that way before. Seems to me that is his way of audio life kind of think because he posted twice something with no sense in reference to what I posted about sub’s, he said twice: " you was not the first person to said that " .

But where in hell posted I that " I was the first audiophile to said that " ?

You might be right… I agree that it seemed to you that it had no bearing on the topic,
Yet here we are talking about whether to use a capacitor and then how to hook the sub up, and it is a week later and you still claim that that post is not addressing some of the OP’s question on subs.

You choose to put in a capacitor, and others insert that HPF that I linked to… and then they use a powered subwoofer that is designed as a system.

At some point it is going to click as to it being a system and why I posted it.

Similarly that REL kind of clicked with me as being a bit incomplete in that is it not using the HPF between the preamp and the amp(s)… and the sub has no way to account for a dependable slope or crossover knee… so it is either too much bass or need a lot of TLC to make it blend.

Mijo, my journey to not using a subwoofer with my full range ESLs runs through years of experimenting with subwoofers to augment other ESLs, like KLH9s, Quads, and Martin Logan CLSs, all of which really do need woofer supplementation. I built my huge Transmission Line cabinets that now supplement the Beveridge speakers back in the 70s on my nights off call when I was an intern.I’m certainly not as good a cabinet maker as you, but i do have past experience with subwoofers. That’s how I developed my distaste for electronic crossovers. (I’m sure modern ones are better.)