Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Dilly,

I have a Syrah and have been through about a dozen
power cords, most of the Shunyata, a few Electraglides,
PS Audio,Z-squared,HMS & Oyaide.
In my system, imo the Harmonix Studio Master I am using
now is really nice with the Syrah.
Just sounds right - if I replace it, I always
end up going back to it.
Rgds Simon

Hi Dilly,

I have found that I really like the Michael Wolff Carbon Ribbon Gain power cord with my Cortese.

I too had experimented with PS Audio, Shunyata, Virtual Dynamics, VH Audio, MIT, and Nordost. Fortunately for me, I found my "cord" with this http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/shopexd.asp?id=351 I followed the "Asylum Power Cord" recipe from the late Bob Crump and bought the connectors for it from here http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=78&cat=Schurterand http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=73&cat=Furutech

I am pretty sure that "different strokes for different folks" applies but for less than $100, I think it is a no brainer to try this recipe.

I am not affiliated to the manufacturer/store mentioned above.

Anyone have any idea of the typical gain delivered by the stage in the Syrah ?
Mick replied with an explanation about pre/power matching etc but no figures & try a higher output cartridge.
I set my Syrah's gain to the highest I can without any tube rush and surface noise is a real pain with any of my tables.
I put them thru the Quicksilver step up & stage and the surface noise vanishes
to my mind that means the Quicksilver has more gain?
Not keen to buy a higher output cartridge, I already went for broke on a zyx and went for the Syrah as it's supposed to be ideal for low outputmc's. I didn't think 0.24mV was mega low in any case.
I love the pre and the internal phonostage is fine if just
a bit overhyped imo but I really hate hearing surface noise
to this extent when it's never been a problem in my system before now.
Anyone know if it's possible to change resistors or the like to up the gain in the Syrah??
Rgds Simon

Hello Simon,

I am using a Denon 103R (0.25mV). My Chenin was set to Low gain. The phono section currently have the Mullard M8080 and Siemens 6922. I have plenty of gain! The phono gain knobs(pair) are just 1/3 setting and I can get 89 to 90 dB SPL with the linestage volume control to almost half. That is a lot! I have no tube rush or hum. I can put the phono knobs at max (both) and linestage max and cannot hear the hiss (all tubes does you are right) at about 4 feet away from a 90-91 dB sensitivity midrange driver actively driven of my Orions. If I placed my ear next to the speakers, yes there's some tube rush but no hum. That's it.

I think, its either you have a very noisy phono tubes or the FET input is out of whack. Just my opinion of course.

Goodluck