Al, actually his Cary SLP-05 preamp has 10 db of gain single ended but only 8 db of gain balanced. I know, this seems odd.
Gain Question
I may not understand what is going on with my vinyl setup.
The chain goes as follows -
Ortofon Per Windfeld Cart .3 mv output
Herron VTPH-2 phono stage 66 db of gain
Cary SLP05 preamp 10 db of gain.
Sound is great but in order to be at a moderate listening volume, the volume nob on the Cary pre must be almost maxxed out. How can I fix this?
The chain goes as follows -
Ortofon Per Windfeld Cart .3 mv output
Herron VTPH-2 phono stage 66 db of gain
Cary SLP05 preamp 10 db of gain.
Sound is great but in order to be at a moderate listening volume, the volume nob on the Cary pre must be almost maxxed out. How can I fix this?
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- 26 posts total
According to their website, the Harbeth 40.1 has a sensitivity of 84db/1W/1M. You could use a SUT, but it would probably overload your MC input on your Herron. You could however run it into the MM input. If you got a SUT with 30 db of gain, and ran it into your MM stage with a gain of 43/48 db, you'd have a total of 73/78 db. This could give you as much as 12 db more gain before the preamp. Cheers, John |
Your preamp is a low gain design. I find it interesting that the Cary website doesn't provide input sensitivity specs. It would help to determine where the gain mismatch is located. Either between the phono/preamp or the preamp/amp. Changing to a more sensitive speaker may correct the symptom(s), but won't cure the problem. |
Markus, methinks Hermann has a point about more power; your amp maxes out at around an extra 19dB. So, on paper your top undistorted amplitude with the 40.1 would be around 103-4dB. Question is, can the 40.1 take many more Watts? If you get, say, a 250W/channel amp, on paper you'd get something like 110dB peaks... not bad -- i.e. twice the top spl you're getting now. |
- 26 posts total