2023 latest price I think is a little more and looking forward to exploring one in early 2024.Read the description maybe something for you, last price i know 9.5 k€
Thanks! I’ve seen Leben’s integrated for sale in the Canadian market but admit ignorance of this preamp. Very interesting option. Thanks!Don’t forget the rather special looking Leben RS28cx pre amplifier. Comes with an excellent built in mm tube phono stage and a separate matching power supply. I use a Coincident SUT to raise the gain to suit my Airtight PC1 supreme mc. Superb sound quality (IMO) for the money. Search for Jeff Day’s detailed review for further information.
The EQ500 is known as a VERY Dynamic phono pre so you must have set up your MM cartridge wrong…As an update I purchased a Luxman EQ-500, into which I run an Allnic AUT-2000 SUT. I was considering adding a second tonearm and the Luxman has the necessary inputs, plus a lot of effort has gone into the MM input, so I picked on up to try out. The pairing is pleasant-sounding, but maybe a bit dynamically flat. In the end I decided to keep it simple so no second tonearm, which makes the Luxman overkill for my needs, so I have just swapped it out for a Lejonklou Slipsik 8, which is their “reference” standalone MM phono pre. I hooked it up just last night for the first time so I’ll refrain from making any comments on the sound. But it does beg the question whether a high quality MM phono preamp paired with a high quality SUT can sound as good as a decent MC phono pre, but in a simpler package.
A lot to unpack in your post but I’ll try.The EQ500 is known as a VERY Dynamic phono pre so you must have set up your MM cartridge wrong…
It should sound like a Nuke with inner glow…
I’m not very Good with settings and such but this was peculiar. There should be dynamics galore.
Look into settings because Something is off with your observation…
But now you don’t have it anymore? The EQ500?
So, you Are using MC’s with SUT’s into MM phono amplification and you want to Get as Good sound as a very Good MC phonoamp Setup can achieve?
I’m confused here, that is what you want to achieve?
Kiseki has 42 ohms coil resistance …
Etsuro has 3 ohms..
How about a transimpedance current amplifying phono for the etsuro? That must be a lot better than trying SuT MM phono!!
Running a very low resistance phono mc cart into a MM Amp Even with a SUT is, not Vulcan Logic in My book at least. I’m a vinyl noob, but this seems just like … wrong?
How about you look at the AQVOX PHONO 2 Ci MK I/MKII . It is like a gem. really old but a real toolRead about what the aqvox can do... chest of wonders..
You could then:
Run with SUT into MM input - Voltage source
Run without SUT into Current/transimpedance MC input - Current source.
One box... No tubes...cheap.. some reviewers loves it. And for you needs it provides for a test rig for your experiments.. I would assume this would be fun.
Your travels is way above My vinyl insights, but I think it is cool that you hunt for a Good combo.
Funny, I've been having this very debate with myself. I auditioned the Luxman EQ-500 a while back in a big phono stage shootout. It's a really well-made unit, and it's features are totally on the money for what I want. (Multiple inputs, mono switch, capacitance adjustment for vintage MM carts.) I've actually been thinking about getting one again....A lot to unpack in your post but I’ll try.
No setup errors were made. While the Luxman MM has a couple of adjustments, I didn’t use them since I was running the SUT into the MM input.
The goal is a simple MM phono pre matched with an adjustable SUT which achieves equal or better sound to a good MC phono pre. Don’t get me wrong - the Luxman does a lot of things right - but I only need a bare bones setup with one input, not six (three inputs, each MM or MC configurable.) And the MC input on the Luxman pails compared with the Allnic SUT into the Luxman MM. I still have the Luxman, as well as the EAR 868pl, so I’ll do some comparison listening in due course.
I won’t be doing anymore phono pre purchasing for the time being. I’m sure I will get set with one of the three, although using the EAR requires swapping out my LTA integrated for the XA25.
Yes. They matterFunny, I've been having this very debate with myself. I auditioned the Luxman EQ-500 a while back in a big phono stage shootout. It's a really well-made unit, and it's features are totally on the money for what I want. (Multiple inputs, mono switch, capacitance adjustment for vintage MM carts.) I've actually been thinking about getting one again....
A couple years ago, I found that an Allnic H7000 beat the Lux in most areas. No surprise, I suppose, given the price difference. But I also found, like @Tangram , that the using my Bob's Devices and Slagle SUTs into the EQ-500 MM stage was quite a bit better than the built-in SUTs in the Lux. I think, as transformers for MC carts, they're just okay. In many ways, I preferred an external SUT into something humbler like the EAR 834P.
But, then, how do I get a stage with multiple inputs that can also do MM capacitance adjustment. There aren't many phono pres out there--at least not tube pres--that can do that. On the other hand, it seems like total overkill--and lots of boxes--to run three separate SUTs into the Lux.
Just musing really. The Lux is a cool unit. But I really do think the quality of SUTs matters a great deal.
More important than any other thing in MC cartridge amplification.But I really do think the quality of SUTs matters a great deal.
That aligns with my experience. In two recent cases (Luxman EQ-500 and EAR 868pl), my Allnic SUT enhanced the sound just the way I like it. The improvement in dynamics and bass “plumpness” compared with the internal SUTs of these pretty decent phono preamps was an eye opener. I’ve used the Allnic with a Lejonklou Slipsik 8 MM phono pre for several extended session and am now firmly in the camp that SUT+MM phono pre is an excellent setup, especially if multiple inputs aren’t needed. The additional percussive slam I get is as if the drummer is pissed off. I like that!More important than any other thing in MC cartridge amplification.
I find SUTs seem to lack the bandwidth; I get less bass impact with them. It also seems that going direct gives a more 3d image.But it does beg the question whether a high quality MM phono preamp paired with a high quality SUT can sound as good as a decent MC phono pre, but in a simpler package.
Loading is for the benefit of the phono section if that phono section has problems with Radio Frequency Interference. The Stereophile article linked misses a point, which is that the electrical resonance set up by the cartridge and capacitance of the tonearm cable can indeed go into oscillation due to energy provided by the cartridge even though its no-where near the same frequency.Yes. They matter
Also there is another aspect of this. It is like almost 50 years since all this was detailed and laid bare, but very few into Vinyl seems to know or undestand how all this is connected, I include myself in this of course.. I'm a noob.
But I did see something here the other moment...
Jim austin on cartridge loading, dispelling myths (Article in Stereophile)
I will quote the important fact now:
"A second source of confusion may be the use of step-up transformers (SUTs). Just as a transformer reduces the effective load resistance by an amount equal to the turns ratio squared, a SUT multiplies cartridge capacitance by the same amount. That's enough to bring the resonant frequency much closer to the audible range."
Yup. So one could also think that the ability to vary this value might be of interest in setting things up.
A SUT can also, by design, be wound to acomodate varying types of coils in the cartridge. Some SUTS will NEVER give full benefit to some pick ups. And some SUTs can be adjusted on the fly to do just this. Adaptability. It is crazy that vinyl is so complex when you start to look deeply into it.
I find SUTs seem to lack the bandwidth; I get less bass impact with them. It also seems that going direct gives a more 3d image.
In My youth for a School project I hand wound
- electromotors, coils, inductors chokes and what have you, They Are still on display I believe there in the physics lab. (Also I made a funtional rail gun, a cannon - also on display still ..They were tiny and You discover
How all this work. Interleaving and magnetic fields.
I made speaker drivers, from scratch, got sound and it was fun.
So that is it you know. To have fun.
Most just do that. Deeper insight is for the few.
Mostly I think that a method, a recipe is good.
It may not be all there is, but thus works High end..
Put A component in B product and load it with C value and Get D sound. Utterly correct? Maybe not, but sellable as it is repeatable in the field, mostly, and mysterius and again … fun
Vinyl should be a bit of a mystery, it is the allure
The magic,
I have never built a pickup, but I know how its done, and it would be fun, someday..
Well, tubes Are of course always better.So @Imperial are you saying that if the rail gun goes out of control, and turns into an electromagnetic pulse generator, then a tube phono is better?![]()