EMIA LR Phono Corrector (review)

bazelio · Mar 22, 2020

On the future of a handmade Emia MC phono cartridge: tl;dr don't hold your breath right now.

Dave says he wants to offer a field coil MC cartridge. He has spent a fair amount of time prototyping and also modding the Denon 103, only retaining a few of the metal peices. It will be quite some time before something is available as now he is starting from a blank slate. He's going through every part and assessing the sonic attributes, currently comparing Alnico, Neodymium and Samarium Cobalt magnets since even though the final goal is a field Coil… a permanent magnet version should also be an option.

CKKeung · Apr 29, 2020

Raymond, my friend in Hong Kong has got his ordered Emia LR Phono Corrector last week.
Serious burn-in is in progress.
A relief to know that Dave and his family/frds are well during this difficult period of COVID-19 outbreak.

Here are some photos and I will invite Raymond to post some comments on WBF asap.

The PSU :

He uses a Lessloss C-Marc supercord powercord with a Lessloss C-Marc Firewall filer for it :

The purple colour VDH MC Sliver IT Mk2 connects it with the preamp :

Taken from the manual :

bazelio · Apr 29, 2020

Nice. @CKKeung is this the all-silver version?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just noticed the "Ag LR Phono Corrector" on the back. Double nice!!

CKKeung · Apr 29, 2020

Yes, it's a full silver version.
I will persuade/poison him to get the Emia silver SUT too.
There must be synergistic effect!

howiebrou · Jun 7, 2020

CKKeung said:
Yes, it's a full silver version.
I will persuade/poison him to get the Emia silver SUT too.
There must be synergistic effect!

CK, what’s the rest of Raymond’s system?

CKKeung · Jun 7, 2020

howiebrou said:
CK, what’s the rest of Raymond’s system?

Thorens Prestige TT + 1) Elite 12” arm with VDH Black Beauty +2) Thorens 997 arm with MCH II.

Another set up of Basis Debut Signature TT with EMT 929 +EMT TSD15 cartridge.

awsmone · Jun 7, 2020

bazelio said:
On the future of a handmade Emia MC phono cartridge: tl;dr don't hold your breath right now.

Dave says he wants to offer a field coil MC cartridge. He has spent a fair amount of time prototyping and also modding the Denon 103, only retaining a few of the metal peices. It will be quite some time before something is available as now he is starting from a blank slate. He's going through every part and assessing the sonic attributes, currently comparing Alnico, Neodymium and Samarium Cobalt magnets since even though the final goal is a field Coil… a permanent magnet version should also be an option.

I think field coil for cartridge is very interesting as it can effect compliance which is so dependent
will it be based on a Denon? I am a fan of conical styli for older lps ?

bigdish · Sep 11, 2020

CKKeung said:
Raymond, my friend in Hong Kong has got his ordered Emia LR Phono Corrector last week.
Serious burn-in is in progress.
A relief to know that Dave and his family/frds are well during this difficult period of COVID-19 outbreak.

Here are some photos and I will invite Raymond to post some comments on WBF asap.

The PSU :
View attachment 64663

He uses a Lessloss C-Marc supercord powercord with a Lessloss C-Marc Firewall filer for it :
View attachment 64664

The purple colour VDH MC Sliver IT Mk2 connects it with the preamp :
View attachment 64665

Taken from the manual :
View attachment 64666

Hi CK, how's your friend's phono corrector performance? Could you let me know? Many.thanks.

dwhistance · Oct 8, 2020

I'd also love to hear any updates from owners of the Emia LR Phono Corrector and also the remote autoformers. I have one on loan here at the moment together with an Emia manual autoformer (I'm feeling amazingly lucky as I'm in the UK!) and am very much enjoying listening to them. I haven't done a proper comparison with my own valve phono/line amplifier yet as the Emia units have been sitting unused for a while so I want to give them a chance to bed in, however if first impressions are anything to go by it does look as though I will be spending some money in the new year.

bazelio · Oct 8, 2020

The Emia LR phono is a long term keeper for me. I originally bought the copper version, and upgraded the inductors to silver a while back. At some point in the future, I'll upgrade the output transformers to silver and then will have a full silver version at that point. One thing I'll say is that the Russian tubes that came with the unit weren't my favorite. I've long since switched them to D3a tubes and personally feel this to be a mandatory change. But horses for courses. I haven't yet heard another phono that I prefer over my current Emia. The phono is designed to be used with the autoformer, and while they sound great together, I'd love to see an integrated unit some day that perhaps obviates the need for OPTs altogether. (Though I'm not sure if it would as this idea is half baked at best). The silver autoformer is definitely recommended over the copper, IMO, having had both. Mine is also the manual "Elmaformer" and I don't really miss having a remote, but I can see why other people would.

bigdish · Oct 9, 2020

Thank you bazillion for your sharing. Possible to share also which phono amp you owned before, so that I can have an idea how the Emia phono compared with others?

dwhistance · Oct 9, 2020

Thank you Bazelio, that's good to know. I'm not one for regularly swapping out gear and would much rather look for long term keepers. David

bazelio · Oct 10, 2020

@bigdish I demoed several. But once I demoed the Emia, I never sent it back.

. Others that came and went were EAR 88pb, EAR 324, VdH Grail, Pass Labs XP25, Alnic, Merrill Audio Jens, CH P1, Sutherland. I'm probably forgetting a couple as it's been a couple years or more now.

For solid state phonos, I think I'd give a slight nod to the Merrill Jens. The CH P1 was good too, but there was just something about the Jens - it was the most captivating solid state unit, I felt. Also easy to demo, like the Emia.

bigdish · Oct 10, 2020

bazelio said:
@bigdish I demoed several. But once I demoed the Emia, I never sent it back. . Others that came and went were EAR 88pb, EAR 324, VdH Grail, Pass Labs XP25, Alnic, Merrill Audio Jens, CH P1, Sutherland. I'm probably forgetting a couple as it's been a couple years or more now.

For solid state phonos, I think I'd give a slight nod to the Merrill Jens. The CH P1 was good too, but there was just something about the Jens - it was the most captivating solid state unit, I felt. Also easy to demo, like the Emia.

Thank you so much for your valuable sharing.

Jeffy · Dec 14, 2020

bazelio said:
@bigdish I demoed several. But once I demoed the Emia, I never sent it back. . Others that came and went were EAR 88pb, EAR 324, VdH Grail, Pass Labs XP25, Alnic, Merrill Audio Jens, CH P1, Sutherland. I'm probably forgetting a couple as it's been a couple years or more now.

For solid state phonos, I think I'd give a slight nod to the Merrill Jens. The CH P1 was good too, but there was just something about the Jens - it was the most captivating solid state unit, I felt. Also easy to demo, like the Emia.

bazelio how do I send you a personal email?

Mike Lavigne · Apr 16, 2022

ordered my EM/IA phono corrector on Feb 17th. it arrived today......57 days including a week to ship across country. speedy actually. mine has silver wound transformers and two power supplies. i'm told i have the first one with both, the second with dual power supplies. if you look on line at pictures, or even in this thread; the phono corrector is the 'anti' of a shiny new toy. but i have to say i'm impressed by the serious packing involved. large boxes of foam peanuts with pelican cases inside. serious stuff. normally you get one big box, but with two power supplies you get two big boxes. super easy to unpack and set up. i already had my EM/IA SUT on hand.

this post is just to show the unpacking pics, but i just listened for 4 hours tonight and i have been entranced. wow!!!! many thanks to Jeffrey and Dave.....this is awesome!!! but i will get to that part later.....

bazelio · Apr 16, 2022

It arrives! Wow, the dual PSUs option is new since I got mine. Looking forward to hearing more as you settle in to the sound. Enjoy!

Mike Lavigne · Apr 16, 2022

bazelio said:
It arrives! Wow, the dual PSUs option is new since I got mine. Looking forward to hearing more as you settle in to the sound. Enjoy!

thank you Brian, i followed yours and Jeffy's lead. thank you for the coaching and info.

my session tonight was epic. it's late and will try to get into it tomorrow. mid day tomorrow i'm dropping it (phono corrector) off at jazdoc's for the afternoon for him to listen for a few hours. feeling really good about this.

Audiophile Bill · Apr 16, 2022

Congratulations, Mike. That is a very serious phono you have acquired! Bet it sounds otherworldly. Those guys know what they are doing without a doubt.

Silver permalloy transformers throughout

.

Ron Resnick · Apr 16, 2022

Congratulations, Mike!

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