Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Russ I said:
@AnthonyI it's been a while since you posted about this cart, but I'm wondering if you have any recollection of the preamp settings you found to work best for you. I think I've got gain set where it needs to be (60db), but I'm not as confident with my load settings. Everything I've read seems to suggest a wide range of workable possibilities (100 to 25K?!*#@), and I suppose I'll spend some time trying different settings to see if I can notice any significant differences between them, but if you have any wisdom to offer, I'd be happy to receive it! :D (I currently have the Denon mounted on a SME 3009 II unimproved tonearm on a Thorens TD-125 mkII I've pulled out of my basement to utilize a recently purchased Feikert protractor. And as long as I'm trying to dial in perfection (ahem!), figured I might as well play with the phono pre settings as well.)
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The coil resistance is 14 ohms, so you’d want 140 ohms at a minimum. If memory serves correctly, the frequency response graph that Denon supplies is run at 1k ohms. What works best will depend on your system and taste.
 
AnthonyI said:
I think it depends on the system as you mentioned, sometimes a 100 ohm difference yields nothing of note, but sometimes it cleans things up a bit. That said, some pronounced shifts do bring noticeable results. When I had my Hana SL, the recommended load it 400, but running it at 800 brought an audibly positive result.

To your point, if you can adjust the load easily there's no reason not to play with it a bit, it's not going to hurt anything ;)
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Definitely system and listener’s ears dependent. I do very much like the ability to adjust gain and load settings with the Rhea’s remote control.
 
OMC said:
Think of the load settings as a small level of tone control. From low to maximum load levels the actual sound differences are not that great, not nearly as profound as a bass or treble control. If your phono stage has easily accessed load settings then experimentation is a snap. The differences are there but minimal in most setups. General rule of thumb is if your system is a little bit thin or treble forward then lower capacitance can add a little body at the lower frequencies and if your system is a might too full bodied a higher load - 10k or higher - might add a little sparkle. Another thing that makes analog fun for those into tweaking.
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AnthonyI said:
If memory serves, and I'm like 99% sure, I was running it at 65db with a load of 100 on the Manley and it sounded perfect. I will say, I think I started at 60db because optimal is 62db, but the small bump up did wonders on my set up.
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AnthonyI said:
I think it depends on the system as you mentioned, sometimes a 100 ohm difference yields nothing of note, but sometimes it cleans things up a bit. That said, some pronounced shifts do bring noticeable results. When I had my Hana SL, the recommended load it 400, but running it at 800 brought an audibly positive result.

To your point, if you can adjust the load easily there's no reason not to play with it a bit, it's not going to hurt anything ;)
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HiFi Guy said:
The coil resistance is 14 ohms, so you’d want 140 ohms at a minimum. If memory serves correctly, the frequency response graph that Denon supplies is run at 1k ohms. What works best will depend on your system and taste.
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Thank you! The load options on the Gold Note Ph-10 are 10Ω, 22Ω, 47Ω, 100Ω, 220Ω, 470Ω, 1000Ω, 22KΩ, 47KΩ. 140 isn't an option, but I'll try the others above 100. Changing the settings is just a matter of turning and pushing a knob on the face of the unit, so that should be easy enough (and I have tried some different settings, but not yet in a methodical enough way to make any definitive determinations about what sounds best). The MC setting has a built-in gain of 65db, so I've set gain to -3db to give me 62, which I believe is ideal for this cart (though given @AnthonyI 's input, maybe I should try leaving it at 65db). Thanks again for the advice.
 
Lee Newman said:
Well this won’t end well when I get there. $5k huh: I think it looks good, bet my wife will hate it. Especially the knobby styrofoam crap.

The clap test around 15 minutes floored me though
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I suppose that you don’t necessarily need to go to an installation company and pay for them to measure your room and then fit whatever brand they carry themselves. You also don’t necessarily need to do all of it or the ugliest parts. I watched that video and he was essentially in a whitewashed concrete cavern beforehand with nothing in it. You could hear the echo on a crappy YouTube feed through a phone.

My experience when I emptied my living room recently for redecorating was that it went from no echo and quite nice acoustics to sounding echoey as hell. All those records and all my stuff definitely makes a huge difference. So you could buy the stuff you feel you need most from the best value company and fit it yourself.
 
Joe Mac said:
I suppose that you don’t necessarily need to go to an installation company and pay for them to measure your room and then fit whatever brand they carry themselves. You also don’t necessarily need to do all of it or the ugliest parts. I watched that video and he was essentially in a whitewashed concrete cavern beforehand with nothing in it. You could hear the echo on a crappy YouTube feed through a phone.

My experience when I emptied my living room recently for redecorating was that it went from no echo and quite nice acoustics to sounding echoey as hell. All those records and all my stuff definitely makes a huge difference. So you could buy the stuff you feel you need most from the best value company and fit it yourself.
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Oh yeah, for sure (and the company installed for him, not their usual practice and not part of the 5k)… but they did some analysis on the room though.
 
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Lee Newman said:
Oh yeah (and the company installed for him, not their usual practice and not part of the 5k)… they did some analysis on the room though.
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Yes I think them doing it themselves was because they were based in the same country as his room and his existing relationship with them.

They do seem to be a company that more partners with professional acoustics installers than offers to the public. Their only distributor here is a room treatment company that from their portfolio is 99% providing solutions for music studios and in events realm.
 
Joe Mac said:
Yes I think them doing it themselves was because they were based in the same country as his room and his existing relationship with them.

They do seem to be a company that more partners with professional acoustics installers than offers to the public. Their only distributor here is a room treatment company that from their portfolio is 99% providing solutions for music studios and in events realm.
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I think he has a point though, that 5k did more for his sound than any piece of kit. (The room sounded pretty awful with stuff in it too though). My room is less than ideal. Like I said, im a long way from thinking about that.
 
Lee Newman said:
I think he has a point though, that 5k did more for his sound than any piece of kit. (The room sounded pretty awful with stuff in it too though). My room is less than ideal. Like I said, im a long way from thinking about that.
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He did to a point. And let’s be honest the stuff was just a sofa and a few bits of gear. My sofa was the bit of furniture left in the room during the redecoration and it made no dampening effect. If was the 1100 records that made the huge difference lol.

I think in a more domestic setting with more shit, as opposed to his very minimalist room with nothing bar a sofa, the difference will definitely be dialed back a fair bit.
 
Joe Mac said:
He did to a point. And let’s be honest the stuff was just a sofa and a few bits of gear. My sofa was the bit of furniture left in the room during the redecoration and it made no dampening effect. If was the 1100 records that made the huge difference lol.

I think in a more domestic setting with more shit, as opposed to his very minimalist room with nothing bar a sofa, the difference will definitely be dialed back a fair bit.
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Diminishing returns. WE’RE ALL CHASING DISAPPOINTMENT.
 
Lee Newman said:
Diminishing returns. WE’RE ALL CHASING DISAPPOINTMENT.
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Hahaha! This is true but I suppose I’ve reached a point where I actually like what I’m hearing and am just tinkering around the edges. Could it be better? Probably. Do I need to spend what I’d need to make a perceptible improvement. Nope.

Perhaps an upgrade on the phono stage is the limit of my curiosity right now, beyond consumables like tubes and cartridges.

I’m guessing that stuff could theoretically have some impact but equally it looks crap and I like my living room to still feel like a living room lol.
 
Mather said:
Oh trust me, I get it. But definitely if you're getting that amp with the option of the Dirac module. Try that first before you start dropping thousands on room treatments. It really does do a pretty major amount of sorcery when it comes to fixing room deficiencies.
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Room treatments will be the very last thing I do. Dirac next. Then fancy pretty marantz sacd thingamabob. Then external phono. then speakers. then fancy turntable. Then room treatments.
 
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