New toys: Parasound JC3 phono preamp & Lyra Delos cartridge

Fortunately, it looks like those are more for speakers than for my use here. I've built my fair share of speaker crossovers for car stereos so I'll save the link. Usually I get my expensive speaker crossover parts from Madisound.

 

Priceless.

I love the smell of burning solder in the morning!!!

 

As I wrap up this thread, it's time for some beauty shots of my system. A flashlight illuminates the attenuator in the second picture. That's why it glows. I like it. Maybe a string of LEDs are in order.


hi res version


hi res version


hi res version


hi res version

 

In the end, the attenuator I built was essentially the same as the one I designed. The overall resistance I posted up thread for my T-pad attenuator ended up essentially the same. The final result varied a couple of ohms from both spec and the initial values but the changes are much less than the 1% tolerance of the resistors themselves and are meaningless.



With the change out to the Vishay resistors, the values of the individual components changed. I created a diagram of the attenuator I built.



Here is the final parts list. I'm not including freight but all of these companies charge it. Parts Express will take returns. The other two companies won't. Order wisely.

From Parts Connexion:
6 – Vishay 180R VAR Series Z-Foil 1% resistors (180Ω) $15.95 ea. <> $95,70
4 – Vishay 1K2 VAR Series Z-Foil 1% resistors (1200Ω) $15.95 ea. <> $63.80
2 – Vishay 680R VAR Series Z-Foil 1% resistors (680Ω) $15.95 ea. <> $31.90
1 – Cardas SRCA male RCA plug $23.22 ea. <> $23.22
1 – Cardas GRFA Thin Short RCA jack $17.58 ea. <> $17.58
4’ – Cardas 2x21.5 AWG twinaxial shielded cable $4.68/ft. <> $18.72
2’ – Cardas 21.5 AWG white hook up wire $1,79/ft. <> $3.58
2’ – Cardas 21.5 AWG blue hook up wire $1.79/ft. <> $3.58
2’ – Connex 20 AWG green hook up wire $.75/ft. <> $1.50

From Angela’s Instruments:
16 – solder posts $1.39 ea. <> $22.24

From Parts Express:
2 – Hammond 1590B Aluminum Diecast Case $7.50 ea. <> $15.00
1 – Strain Relief, ½”, 20 pieces, black $1.79/bag <> $1.79

Total: $298.61

I actually bought 17 solder posts and wish I'd purchased a couple more. Over tightening one, I broke it. Another post failed on its own and I had to glue it back together. They're cheap enough. Buy 20.

I also expressed my dissatisfaction upthread about the Cardas wire and plugs. They are a pain in the ass to use. But the result sounded good. I'd think long and hard about what I'd use if I did this again.

And I might do this again. A second attenuator around -8dB might be necessary in the future. My favorite moving coil cartridges have historically had around 0.3mV of output, which is half of the Delos' 0.6mV rating. Cutting voltage in half means a 6dB reduction in gain. Less attenuation would be appropriate. I'd juggle the figures, trying hard to end up with only one resistor on each leg of the T-pad instead of the two required here. That would cut $100 from the price of the second attenuator.

I want to thank everyone at Lyra and Audioquest who helped get my Delos cartridge repaired. They gave me exceptional service, sending the cartridge back to Japan and essentially rebuilding it. I'm sure a technician must have rebuilt it because of the significant break in I had to do upon its return. Thank you, Alasdair Patrick, customer service at Audioquest. Thank you, Jonathan Carr, designer of the cartridge. Thank you, Stig Bjorge, president of Lyra. All of you and others worked hard to make sure I was satisfied with my purchase. I appreciate all of your help no end.

Thank you, Galen Carol, of Galen Carol Audio in San Antonio, Texas. I called Galen because he had a cheap price on a discontinued Parasound JC3 on his website. Ask him and he'll tell you the cartridge was an add on. I really wanted to buy the JC3 and he really wanted to sell it. If I hadn't purchased the Delos and simply used the JC3 with the Dynavector 20x2 high output cartridge I owned at that time, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have experienced gain problems and built the attenuator. At one point early on when my stereo sucked, I called Galen. Hearing how down and disappointed I was, Galen reminded me to enjoy the journey. That was such wise advice. With help from others, it turned out to be a great adventure. This is one of the things I do for fun. And it has been fun.

Finally, a lot of that fun has been because of you folks. I learned much from you, including about the gain issues with the JC3 and a cartridge mismatch. I couldn't have done it without your knowledge, help and support. Thank you for all your contributions to this thread.

Enjoy the journey.

 

Very nice pictures! I am glad that everything worked out at the end. This was a great thread from the beginning to the end

 

Agreed - a very well constructed thread.

 

This was one of the most enjoyable threads that I have read here. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. I hope you enjoy your system for many years.

 

Glad to hear the Z-Foils worked out, for nearly $200 they aren't a cheap gamble!

Other high end loading options for those interested: http://hifiheroin.blogspot.com/2014/03/getting-loaded.html

Dave winds really high quality transformers, I imagine his wire wound resistors are great.

 

Agree- terrific thread and Ggergm- you look very relaxed in that pic. Hvbias-hifiheroin is one of my favorite audio blogs, particularly the antiquarian stuff. JazzDoc, who posts here, has Jeffrey Jackson's preamp and phono stage- looks like something from a Jules Verne movie.

 

Did you ever try the Frickert protractor again and if so what were the result?

TIA

M~

 

The question should be how many times since I did this write-up have I gotten out the Frickert protractor and gone through the whole arm set-up again.

I think the answer is twice but I'm not sure. It may be three times. These things need a while to settle in...and drift out of precise alignment.

I ended up with a conventional Baerwald alignment. I remember trying Stevenson for a cup of coffee once when I had a lot of inner groove distortion. I didn't like the sound and I can't remember why. Instead, I raised the anti-skating some. It's still not much but is definitely more than I had initially. I also fiddled with the azimuth quite a bit until I got that right. About the only thing that hasn't changed is tone arm height. It's stayed the same for quite a while, between 9 and 11 complete revolutions of the VPI scaler. Somewhere in that range the sound almost always pops into focus. And of course I kept right at 1.75 grams of tracking force as recommended by Lyra.

I'm really pleased with the sound I'm getting out of my turntable although I can tell you already that my next cartridge will be a romantic one. On just the wrong record, my system can exhibit an aggressive high end. The Delos is very revealing, sometimes too much so. It isn't bright as much as it is always right there. It's an admirable quality for a cartridge but my previous cartridge, a Dynavector 20x2 high output, for all its limitations, never bit me in the ears. The Delos can. I'm spending way too much money this summer on a new septic system and well for my house so hi-fi toys will have to wait, but I know there is a cartridge with the sonic signature of an overstuffed, comfy chair out there with my name on it.

 

Thanks for the update. I'd recommend getting a second arm tube and slapping a Goldring GL 2500 on it. It is not warm and comfy but very musical and plays very well with the Classic 10.5i arm. I have one on mine. The money here says that you will love it. I will probably try a Audionote IQ3 next. I was going to go with a Nagoka MP500, but that Audionote is calling me. If all else fails I have my M97XE/Jico combo which is killer and mutlifuctional for the price.

Thanks again for the info. I will use my M97XE/Jico to test the setting of the protractor. As for the height I will be measuring the distance from two points rather than "trusting" the knob turns.

M~

 

Thanks. That Goldring you're using would be a contender. Others would be a Sumiko Blackbird or a Clearaudio Maestro v2 Ebony. They would all have to wait until next year. I'm in a hole right now that is soon to be filled with a new septic tank.

I should be clearer about what I'm looking for although I think you got it completely the first time through, macster.

As a reader of The Absolute Sound since the mid 1970s, I think in terms of the yin/yang description they've used for decades. For those who don't read TAS, it is a way of describing two types of sound using the classic Chinese symbol.



As with the Chinese, these aren't opposite forces but both part of a greater whole. Exploring one leads to the other. You can't have yin audio without yang audio, too. Yin and yang are tendencies, not definitions. They are the way things lean. Because you can physically lean left, that also describes what it's like to lean to the right.

Again as with the Chinese, in audio yin is dark, earthy, overcast and shady. Yang is light, open and airy. Yin is more feminine, yang masculine. Yin is seductive and yang is aggressive.

Yin is warm and mid-bassy. Yang is fast and trebly. Yin is the left hand on a piano. Yang is the right. Yin is a drum resonating. Yang is the sound of the drum stick striking the skin. Yin is a violin played with a bow. Yang is a violin played pizzicato.

It may be tempting to say with audio, yin is tubes and yang is transistors but that would be a mistake. Yes, qualities of tubes vs. transistors are there, but notice how I just wrote that. It shouldn't be versus. It should be and. A warm sound with a lot of bass is good but without high end detail, it's just muddy. A fast, snappy transient attack only works when you have full bodied music following it. One of the standard descriptions of my Plinius 9200 amp is that it doesn't sound like either tubes or transistors, and not really something in-between, either. It's different. It gives you both. It's the reason I keep it in my system.

The Delos cartridge is solidly yang. I like that. It's one of the elements that has attracted me to moving coils over the years. But just like I enjoy spicy food, I want fruit afterward as a refresher. I am completely satisfied with the Delos until I can afford something different but my next cartridge will have a tone that's more yin. The Dynavector 20x2 I had before is a yin cartridge. It's easy on the ears. I think the other three we were discussing at the beginning of this post are all yin cartridges.

I bounce back and forth between yin and yang audio. Many of us do.

 

G- what's worked for me- admittedly in an entirely different system with a different sonic character than yours, is an Airtight. I really like Lyras and have had a few, including the original Parnassus with the unobtanium magnets and the Titan i, which I bought shortly after it came out. Jonathan Carr is a classy guy, and is willing to step into the fray to help his customers. FWIW, and though I'm not sure: (a) how this would interact with the VPI type arm or (b) whether the sonic character is consistent among the various cartridges in both lines, is the Lyra (Titan i) was very spectacular, I found the highs spotlit, great bass and transients. The Airtight sounds duller- you think- until something happens in the program. It has richness and decay, a sort of harmonic character that some have likened to those old London Deccas (which I never had the stomach to use). Albert Porter, who posts on Audiogon, has directly compared the Atlas and the Supreme from both companies and his characterization of their differences is consistent with what I found on the other models I tried. (Myles Astor, a well known reviewer) didn't really get along with the Airtight, but I'm wondering whether that was because of a VPI arm. So, it may not be worth exploring but it I throw it out there. I totally get the yin yang, and perhaps the only way around it is multiple arms/cartridges.

 

I see another armwand in your future

I also see another armwand in your future, he he he. Having two armwands makes things so much easier and having a cartridge that allows me to change it's character by changing the stylus is also nice. I like the Shure's V15V and type IV's, no love em. No matter what other flavor of the moment cartridge that I have, I'm always thinking about the Shures. Now I can just slap that puppy on and rock on, till I get tired. But the Goldring is special also. I need another armwand also.

M~

 

Thank you very much for this thread.

I have ordered a Dr feickert protractor and will be using it soon to realign the cart in my clearaudio concept turntable.

I've noticed a distinct lack of "how to" videos on YouTube about using this thing, I would have thought Dr feickert himself would have at least made a video showing how to use it.

Have you ever thought of filming your setup and putting it on YouTube?

Your writeup was great but nothing would beat actually watching you set up a TT step by step! Especially for us beginners!

 

I have to say... while I'm perfectly happy with my Scout.... The Classic just looks perfect!

 

But it could be made even more perfect if you added the 3D printed tone arm...

News at 11.

 

Excellent thread , detailing what I think is a great hole in achieving great sound from your analog deck, especially when using a high end LOMC cartridge.....GAIN!!
I think that adjustment/setting is severely overlooked not only among users but also those who review them. It is rare to almost never that a reviewer discusses the gain setting they are using as well as the total capacitance of the cables they are using. Unless you jump in with both feet and read up on gain settings, the normal listener hi-fi junkie will not get it right......More gain is not right.

 

You said it.

 

Just thought I’d drop in after reading every single post in this thread and give the whole thing on big LIKE!
A very informative thread indeed.

Rick

 

I also read everything. Thanks @blakep for bringing me here.

 

By the way @ggergm if you want to get rich selling these attenuators, I'm a future buyer!

 

First, let me thank @Pythonman and you, @4011021, for your kind words, plus nice remarks other people from the past. I appreciate them all.

I'll pass on the business opportunity, 4011021. I think it's a DIY project. That's why I published the parts list and the schematic. Find a Brazilian friend who is handy with a soldering iron and mechanically inclined. He or she can build you one.

Instead of me getting rich, I'll help Lyra get rich. The attenuator came out of my system when I bought a Lyra Kleos SL. It has less than half the gain of my Delos, plus sounds significantly better. After four years of good use, the Delos was exhibiting signs of wear, both visually and audibly, and needed to be replaced.

I also changed integrated amps. The Plinius 9200 was retired in favor of a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP integrated. Tubes, baby! I also think it has better input headroom than the Plinius, which alone could solve the problem.

I'm not getting rid of the attenuator. It's a handy tool. I'm sure it will appear in my stereo again.

 

How do you like the Primaluna with your B&Ws?

When I auditioned my 805 D3s it was with that amp, and that is a sound I want to hear again! Planning to buy one when funds allow.