Vincent PHO-701 and upgrade to Telefunken

Thank you Steve Hoffman for the excellent data sheet with your listening reviews of the different tubes. I needed stage depth not width so I chose a Telefunken. I may play with some others.

The highs and mids are much brighter and clear with the Telefunken. I didn't notice much change in the bass (electronic crossover for the subwoofer may limit that).

NOTE for PHO-701 owners: Do not sit the tube stage and amp stage of the PHO-701 on each other as pictured. That delivered an irritating hum. Leverage the separate stages by separating them! I separated them by about 8" with a wood shelf in between and the hum is barely there. I'm still working on placement but some tube equipment deliver a slight hum that cannot be noticed in the music. With so many components it's hard to separate everything.

 

I just *finally* cleared up an annoying hum that I've been chasing for months on my 701 by moving my tube stage away from the power stage. I had done everything I knew to do other than simply move the damn thing. As soon as I started to move it away from where it was, the hum got less and less until it was completely gone.

 

Phono stage s really can be a pain in the bottom sometimes, glad it got sorted.

 

So with the hum gone, how is the performance of the 701? Have you compared it to other stages in that class?

 

I'm quite happy with it. The cost versus performance was spot on for me. I like the flexibility that's built in (MC or MM) in addition to the dip switches which allow for fine tuning (Input impedance/Input capcitance). You can also use the USB out to digitize your collection if so desired. The supplied tube sounds good but I've read some people have tube rolled and been quite happy with different tubes. I'm probably going to go down that rabbit hole soon.

The only other pre that I have used was the pro-ject phono box USB that was used with my previous system so it would be hard to compare the two.

 

Funny how they make the power stage and amp in two boxes yet show them stacked. The best thing I bought to eliminate hum and improve sound was a line cleaner. I bought the Furman Elite a5-i. The bass improvement was very noticeable. Much tighter (that's where the hum was so makes sense).

 

Yes funny all right. However since the cable from the power supply to the pre is about 6 feet long mine are about 6 feet apart!
NICE preamp by the way. Even nicer with an old Bugle Boy or an RCA clear top in it!

 

Bob,
You mention a Steve Hoffman listening reviews of different tubes.
Can anyone please send me a link. (I searched unsuccessfully)

 

OK, you intrigued me.
A search on posts by Steve Hoffman, with the word tube turns up 20 pages. A couple pages from the back (I started there) I found this:

Mullard vs. Telefunken shootout

 

and this

Steve, Could you tell us your ranking of the 12AU7's