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CONUNDRUM

I'm fairly new to vinyl. In my haste to put together a fairly nice front end, I have created a mis-match between my cart, phono stage and my linestage. I have a Clearaudio Maestro cart feeding a ARC PH-7 feeding an Aesthetix Calypso. The PH-7 is over driving the Caypso with no way to reduce the output without sacrificing quality of sound. (attentuators don't work. In dropping the output, they also compromise the signal quality)) I can go to a low output MC coil cart, or change one of my preamps. I'm looking for a WARM sound with all the usual qualities one would want in a good sounding system. The MC cart seems like the way to go, but the $$ keeps piling up as it so often does in this hobby. Suggestions please.
handymann
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi Bruce,

I wouldn't expect load capacitance to be relevant to issues at bass or subsonic frequencies.

Yes, the Maestro isn't optimally loaded by the capacitance of the PH-7 + cabling, but I have no way of knowing how significant the resulting sonic effects may be with that particular cartridge. And of course it is an issue that is separate from the overloading problem.

With respect to the Zephyr, Mr. Ledermann does provide a load capacitance recommendation, 100 to 200 pf. See page 2 of this datasheet. Again, I don't know how critical that may be.

Best regards,
-- Al
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Al, I got us off topic, but I'll close the "capacitance" loop fast. Thanks for the info on the Zephyr. To my untrained journeyman ears, the Zephyr souns great, cables and all. I thought the Maestro did too. Something to be said for ignorance -- if I feel happy, then I guess I am. :)

I agree that the primary problem is line stage clipping. Al, do you agree with my suggestions above, particularly those relating to calling Tom Tutay and ARC???
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stringreen
6,470 posts
 
Handyman...I don't believe you are correct when assuming that the output can not be reduced without sacrifice. Call Audio Research, and I am quite positive that by substituting a resistor, (an easy procedure...but you need the right kind and value and position in the circuit which Audio Research will provide) your system will sing.
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tdaudio
201 posts
 
I am confident Stringreen is correct in that if you call ARC, there would be an option to replace two or four fixed resistors that would change the gain by at least 12 db (I don't know if that would be enough but its a fair amount) if not more. Thats a job I would do myself and any tech could do in minnutes. I would hope that there could be 18 to 24 db of reduction with no problem.

Keep the old resistors and it can be easily restored. And it would be cheap to do.
TD
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swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
TD is most likely correct, but if ARC says no, then I would go w Jcarr's advice. He designs some of the best carts out there and is a frequent and generous contributor to these forums. Just make sure you use good quality resistors. But I am pretty sure you will find that you can change the resistance internally to the phono stage.
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