What´s your phono preamp?

I agree and I did the same before. But I found out that I will never be able to wear my vinyl out (too many albums to play) and I just prefer the ritual of putting the album on the table and watch it spin while I listen. Otherwise what's the point of having the vinyl in the first place. Same with cds, I rip them all but I prefer to put on the actual physical media.

 

This seems like an awful lot of effort for reasons that aren't very compelling to me.

My wife once bought a NAD ADC for me. I used it once and took it back in trade for something else. It was too much hassle and didn't really buy me much. I wasn't going to play them instead of the vinyl versions and I wasn't going to go through the time and effort to build up a digital library I don't listen to that much.

 

I've been seriously considering getting a phono preamp for my 70s Sansui and Pioneer receivers but not really sure if it would be worth it. Are the stock preamps generally considered inferior on most of these receivers?

 

I added a separate phono pre to my Sansui Eight. Definitely made a difference. More clarity for sure.

 

Those integrated phono stages in consumer grade receivers tend to be very basic and minimal, and have little or no facilities for configuration (loading, gain, etc) , especially with respect to low output cartridges (if they even support those). You can almost always do better with a dedicated phonostage, even if it's not an expensive one.

 

To each his won. I just don't want to wear out my vinyl specially those that are hard-to-find titles that are hard to find and so expensive to replace. Of course, needle dropping them using high-quality ADC and turntable/tonearm/cartridge assembly captures the analog sound of the vinyl more than the CD counterpart. I still play my vinyl from time to time but having the digital copies of the vinyl, slows down the deterioration of the vinyl grooves due to repeated plays.

 

I enjoy putting vinyl on my turntable and staring at the album artwork while listening to the music as much as you enjoy your vinyl collection but I feel better when I am aware that the music on those vinyl will still be heard in the future with their best sound as captured when they were recorded during the first few plays when the deterioration was still minimal.

 

I don't know what you are doing to wear out vinyl records. I don't have such an issue. I'll never be able to play any of my records enough to make a perceptible difference. Of my 3000+ LPs that I've collected over the last 45+ years many are classical and jazz records that are decades old, some up to 60 years old. Many of those that are favorites have been played a lot of times over the years and they still sound great. The ones that had a little noise still have a little noise. The ones that were quiet are still quiet. However, that's all a function of pressing and vinyl quality, rather than of age and use.

 

I don't wear out my vinyl I don't have that issue at all. My turntable is aligned perfectly. What I am trying to say is I want to preserve the pristine sound of my vinyl by recording them digitally at high res during the first play or the first few plays.

 

Fair enough, but I'm also not losing anything perceivable "pristine" quality by playing my records. My system is more resolving of such details than average, and would expose any non-negligible loss of quality pretty quickly.

My point is I think your implication that playing records diminishes their perceivable quality is unfounded, given a reasonably good TT and setup, so others here should take your reasoning with a grain of salt, IMHO.

 

There's always some degree of deterioration every time the stylus touches the grooves regardless of how perfect your cartridge and/or tonearm were aligned. It's a physical contact and wearing the groove and stylus is always there no matter how small or inaudible the effect of the repeated plays specially if it's a back-to-back playback. We are different. I am not trying to convince you or anyone to do the same thing. It's my own preference and pleasure to capture the best possible pristine condition and sound in high-res digital of my vinyl collection and hand them down to the next generation of listeners (e.g. children's children's children, etc. or whoever find those albums in the future.).

 

I like the ritual of playing records. Digitizing them is not in my audio world view. Maybe my 40 year old Steely Dan albums don't sound the same as they did when they were new but whatever deterioration they've suffered is minimal to my now 40 year older ears.

People tell me I'm an "audiophile". I'm not, I'm a music lover who plays his various media (LPs, CDs, and cassettes) on mid-level gear. True audiophiles border on the insane.

Oh, and to *prove* I'm not an audiophile, I play my records through the phono inputs in my Yamaha receiver and Marantz integrated amp (see profile). No external phono stage for me.

 

Exposure 13, made to work with a Linn Troika cartridge.

 

About a month ago I purchased a Little Bear T11 preamp to go with my JVC JR-S600 receiver...which is from the ‘70s...and I’m really pleased with the outcome.
It gives the music a wider more defined soundstage, and it enhances the layers of instruments and vocals.
So for me it was well worth the $200 investment.

 

Thank you all for your information and help. I'm definitely going to purchase one to test out, the question is SS or tube? My budget is $400 max right now.

Does anyone know if either a SS or tube preamp can help tone down harshness?
Both of my receivers sound incredible at lower levels but when I crank them up a bit they can get rather intense/harsh, and fatiguing after a while. With my particular setup I prefer using loudness and increasing the bass and treble frequencies (I know, I know ), they just sound better to my ears using them. Disabling them helps a tiny bit but I'm hoping I can keep those settings and find something to help.

I've been looking at the following preamps:
Parks Audio Puffin
Musical Fidelity V90-LPS
LCR MKIII
Pro-Ject Tube Box S2
Little Bear T11

I've been really tempted by the Puffin due to all of the high ratings, different settings, and Shannon saying on a youtube comment to return it if you don't like it.

 

The harshness you experience, only when turning up the volume, could be because your amp is not powerfull enough for your speakers . I experienced the same thing before I switched to another amp.

 

+1 as above...
Most likely, the problem is when you turn it up your speakers are asking the amp for more current than it can provide, and the load causes the amp to become unstable (clipping distortion). That's what you are hearing. Push it hard enough and it will fry the drivers. Your remedy is to get a more powerful amp.

 

Also depends on the sensitivity of your speakers (look up the specs on yours), usually a less sensitive speaker (mine are 87db, not pretty spectacular) would ask for a more powerful speaker as I understand it. I went from a 45 something watt amp to a 125w. Norah Jones' voice and piano suddenly became enjoyable at higher volumes as well .

 

My upgrade path: HK Receiver (built in phono) >> Project Phono Box (SS) >> Parasound PPH 100 (SS) >>Manley Chinook (tube)

 

People put way too much stock in "watts per channel." Not all XXX WPC amps are created equal.

What counts is how much stable current the amp can produce under transient loads. For example, my amp is 80 WPC into 8Ω (~125-145 WPC @ 4Ω), but it is capable of producing a stable 400VA of current down to 2Ω. There are many amps rated at higher power than don't have that kind of stability, but it's also what makes my amp expensive. It's also what gives me the ability to drive large, low sensitivity, low impedance (87db, 4Ω) speakers at concert volumes with large scale orchestral music. That would bring many amps to their knees, including many that are rated for high WPC.

 

A huge improvement. I’ve done it with a Sansui 9090, a pioneer SX a couple different Fishers and a MAC 4100. It’s not hard to beat the internal on a 40 year old receiver.

 

Most recent: Tron Electric Seven-Ultimate spec
Very pleased with it

 

I get the same result using headphones so maybe it's the caps needing replacement? It still sounds great turned up, it can just get fatiguing, almost like it's too bright.

So anyway I ended up getting a cheap Yaqin tube preamp and it made a big difference, it definitely helped tone down the harshness! I can crank it up pretty loud now and it sounds more lively and musical. It doesn't seem to be fatiguing anymore. The only downside is I get some occasional deep bass rumble so I have to be careful turning it up. I have a speaker kind of close to the TT so that could be it. I'm gonna try some other placements for the speaker to see if that helps.

I would like to try some other tubes but I'm at a loss where to start... NOS, reissue, brand, etc. The stock Chinese tubes sound good to my ears, even out of the box and now going on about 20 hours burn in, but I would love to find something a tad bit warmer. If anyone has any recommendations throw them my way! I probably don't want to spend more than $100 right now.

 

Graham Slee, Era Gold V

 

Parasound JC3 Jr. Great sound, great price. I never knew vinyl could be so dead quiet. I ended up getting a Vinyl Cleaner Pro Ultrasonic record cleaner after hearing how quiet vinyl could be.