Upgrading from Dynavector p75 mk3

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by rockness87, May 2, 2017.

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  1. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Hi all
    Since I no longer have a Dynavector cartridge I'm asking if it's not the case to try another phono preamp.
    I'm currently using an AT33PTG II.
    The results are not bad but maybe I can do better with another phono.
    Are there any phono bargain out there? I want to stay under 1k.
    Looking for big tridimentional soundstage, neutrality, prat and musicality.

    Any advice is very welcome
     
  2. mgmgrand

    mgmgrand Forum Resident

    Location:
    Queens, NY
    The best bargain in phono stages that I know of from personal experience is the Blue Circle Audio FLT (Fon Lo Thingee) or FLTiab (Fon Lo Thingee in a Box) if you prefer a conventional chassis. These can be further improved with upgraded power supplies. I've owned both version and found them better in most respects than anything else under and even over 1k. For what it's worth, I owned the first verse of the p75 and thought it was a good deal because it was only about $400 in those days, but in terms of musicality, I don't think it is not in the same class as the Blue Circle products. You'd give up some ergonomics, though, as loading on the FLT is done with loading plugs. And you'd have to wait a little while for it to be built. There's plenty of good products out there, which I'm sure others will vouch for.
     
  3. I just replaced my MkIII P75 with a Project Phono RS. I think it just scraps into your budget. There's at least one thread here with some excellent feedback and Fremers review on Analog Planet. In a head to head with the P75 both my wife and myself had no hesitation in picking the Project. In my system at least, the Phono RS took the focus away from the speakers with a bigger multi dimensional soundstage, a tighter, quicker bass response and a mid/upper tone that seemed to be less analytical and more musical if that makes sense. Of course it's always horses for courses but it's certainly a product with investigating.

    I should add that my back to back tests were done with a DV20XL2 and even though I'm shortly moving to a Dyna XX-2 I had no hesitation in replacing the P75 ,despite the synergy between company products.
     
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  4. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Hi nibor
    Just out of curiosity, which setting were you using with the p75? Did you run the 20x2 in pe mode?
     
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  5. Mainly in Enhancer mode but I did experiment with other settings. I'd owned the original P75 for several years (always in pe mode)before switching to the MKIII. For whatever reason I found that I liked the original more but by the time I'd worked that out it had been sold.
     
  6. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Interested to find out how many people upgraded from that preamp and what they chose which compared favorably against the P75.
     
  7. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Being candid, I'm *quite* surprised to read somebody's experience with a Pro-Ject product being superior to the Dynavector!

    I'm currently using one in PE mode and like the sound but I (of course) have nothing to compare it to so I don't know what I'm missing.
     
  8. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    had the p75 mkiii with a dyn 20x2l cartridge. the tonality and clarity were really nice but not the speed or dynamics. upgraded to a lehmann black cube se ii and the sound and transparency have improved slightly but the dynamics and punchiness are greatly improved. music is more life like and exciting.
    i credit the outboard power supply with its fairly large toroidal transformer which seems to be a consistent ingredient in high quality source components.
     
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  9. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    I went to a Moon 310LP, which compared much better than the P75, but of course the Moon was twice the price.

    John K.
     
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  10. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Which cart did you test both with?
     
  11. I wasn't surprised. Project are very capable of making quality gear. Worth reading if you haven't done so.
    Pro-Ject’s MM/MC Phono Box RS Is A Chronic Overachiever
     
  12. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    VAS Nova, and Dynavector 20x2L and XX-2 MKII.

    John K.
     
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  13. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    I don't tend to believe any review published on websites. There are no negative reviews to speak of of any product making it impossible for me to trust those opinions. Some people glorify this guy but I don't give any credibility to expressed opinions if they're always positive.

    I prefer reading feedback from members here who have nothing to gain and also are able to state a certain product was terrible or a huge downgrade.

    And before you take a defensive stance, this isn't a slam on you. Glad you're enjoying the upgrade on your system.
     
  14. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    What did it do better than the Dynavector? Was there anything the Dynavector bettered the Moon in?
     
  15. No problem.:) I do get a bit defensive with the amount of flack that Project get here sometimes. I know that some of it is deserved but the company is more than just entry level turntables.
    Getting back to the upgrade, the thing that helped form my mind was my wife having no hesitation in picking the Project over the P75. She has no idea of brands or even what the item was we were auditioning so there was no preconceived ideas there. I'm not putting down the Dyna phono but for whatever reason something just didn't gell when I switched to the MKIII.
     
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  16. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    In the end, you have to go with what sounds better to you. I ran into a similar situation with speakers a couple of months ago. The higher-end ones didn't gel with my system so I ended up selling them.

    No matter the angle that decision is looked at, it still makes sense to me. I prefer to listen with my ears than my wallet.
     
    nibor likes this.
  17. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I read great things about the parks audio budgie. How do you think it compares to the p75?
     
  18. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Who are you addressing?
     
  19. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Anyone who can answer my question :)
     
  20. Since we're speaking about the P-75, has anyone else found that the sound is a little too "hot" (i.e. too much gain) when running Phono Enhancer mode?

    I previously had been using the P-75 with a Dynavector 10x5 cart on my Scout (not in PE mode, obviously) and it sound pretty good. A few months ago, I upgraded my cart to a Dynavector XX-2 and put the P-75 in PE mode and the sound was a touch distorted due to too much gain, so I eventually took it out of PE mode. After some experimentation, I settled at 60 db for gain and 30 ohms for loading. Sounds much better to me than PE mode.
     
  21. Did you try different settings on jumpers 3 & 4. It appears they control the gain. I always ran mine set for the lowest resistance (DV20XL) but maybe I should have played around with that more. Maybe some of my problems with the amp could go back to using that setting but it is the one that seemed correct for the cart.
     
  22. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Are you sure the cause of distortion is the p75? Is the cart perfectly aligned? Azimuth too?
    60db of gain should not be that much to cause distortion..is it possible that because of the low resistance you are loading your cart the highs are tamed and consequently you are hearing less distortion?

     
  23. I did play with those jumpers. I set them at the lowest gain level, which is what was advised for the XX-2. I also played with the two higher gain setting and the distortion was worse. I think I have my alignment, tracking force and azimuth pretty dialed in, but will take another crack at it just to be sure.
     
  24. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    That'd be the first time I've read PE mode being inferior to loading it traditionally.
     
  25. rockness87

    rockness87 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    You know what I discovered today?
    In PE mode polarity is inverted
     
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