Sutherland Club House

I noticed a difference from insight to 20/20 From piecing together reviews I don't think it would be as big a jump to the DUO.

It's the only thing left in the chain that tempts me though. Everything else I would want would be out of my comfort zone.
I’m really trying to build an end game system. The Duo has me covered as hopefully will the Technics SL-1200G when it shows up hopefully sometime this summer.
 
I’m really trying to build an end game system. The Duo has me covered as hopefully will the Technics SL-1200G when it shows up hopefully sometime this summer.
I've said before and I'll say it again. I think 1200G + Duo + Hana ML might be the ultimate low maintenance system.
The cost to squeeze out more for that would not only require so much from your vinyl rig, but also so much from your whole system.
 
I’m really trying to build an end game system. The Duo has me covered as hopefully will the Technics SL-1200G when it shows up hopefully sometime this summer.
Well, I'm close to what I will call "end game unless I won the lotto". I could see a DUO or speakers when the room is big enough. One of those Dr. Feickert jobs is not totally unreasonable at some point in the future, but otherwise I'm good.

You feel strongly enough about those Wharfedales to land there huh?
 
Well, I'm close to what I will call "end game unless I won the lotto". I could see a DUO or speakers when the room is big enough. One of those Dr. Feickert jobs is not totally unreasonable at some point in the future, but otherwise I'm good.

You feel strongly enough about those Wharfedales to land there huh?
I feel strong enough about them that I could happily live with them very long term. The Tannoys I’d love to own (Turnberrys) are $8k and a long term goal. But if that never happens, I’m good. There’s really nothing out there other than the Tannoys or the upper end Spendors ($25k which will never happen) that I’d buy.
 
Has anyone ever asked Ron Sutherland what he thinks the sonic difference is between his SMPS and LPS versions? Ron is a brilliant engineer and I find it hard to believe he overlooked this in the original designs. He went from batteries to SMPS, bypassing LPS altogether in the beginning. That looks like a very well-considered decision to me.

My thought is that he is producing LPS versions purely because of customer demand, not because he thinks it makes for an inherently better product. He worked hard to get ripple down to less than 1 microvolt on the original 20/20, per his 2011 Stereophile interview - that's an incredible amount of power supply filtration.
 
Has anyone ever asked Ron Sutherland what he thinks the sonic difference is between his SMPS and LPS versions? Ron is a brilliant engineer and I find it hard to believe he overlooked this in the original designs. He went from batteries to SMPS, bypassing LPS altogether in the beginning. That looks like a very well-considered decision to me.

My thought is that he is producing LPS versions purely because of customer demand, not because he thinks it makes for an inherently better product. He worked hard to get ripple down to less than 1 microvolt on the original 20/20, per his 2011 Stereophile interview - that's an incredible amount of power supply filtration.
iirc the original LPS was produced by a third party with his blessing, and I guess they sold well enough that he decided to take it in-house.
 
There's a new product from Sutherland
Hmmmmm, very interesting. At that price point I wonder what "slice" of the pie they're targeting?
 
Hmmmmm, very interesting. At that price point I wonder what "slice" of the pie they're targeting?
This feels very much like a fix for the tentative market for the Loco series. I'd imagine there are several buyers that could afford the Little Loco, or the Phono Loco, but the price point is enough to make them sweat about jumping to the other TZ designs. If you look at the number of people in this thread that start with the KC Vibe and quickly jump to a higher model, I could see the same for buyers interested in the TZ design. More of a break even or a loss leader to support the higher TZ designs.
 
This feels very much like a fix for the tentative market for the Loco series. I'd imagine there are several buyers that could afford the Little Loco, or the Phono Loco, but the price point is enough to make them sweat about jumping to the other TZ designs. If you look at the number of people in this thread that start with the KC Vibe and quickly jump to a higher model, I could see the same for buyers interested in the TZ design. More of a break even or a loss leader to support the higher TZ designs.
I’d like to hear the Phono Loco. I can’t imagine things could get better than the Duo for the money. Of course, these limit one to low output MC, and not many here are running them. The number is growing though.
 
There's a new product from Sutherland
Exciting! Might be enough for me to try transimpedance technology; the cost of the Little Loco was too much of a leap for me to move off my Insight. I’ve completely switched to a MC Hana SL and cannot see myself going back to a MM cartridge on my main rig.
 
Has anyone ever asked Ron Sutherland what he thinks the sonic difference is between his SMPS and LPS versions? Ron is a brilliant engineer and I find it hard to believe he overlooked this in the original designs. He went from batteries to SMPS, bypassing LPS altogether in the beginning. That looks like a very well-considered decision to me.

My thought is that he is producing LPS versions purely because of customer demand, not because he thinks it makes for an inherently better product. He worked hard to get ripple down to less than 1 microvolt on the original 20/20, per his 2011 Stereophile interview - that's an incredible amount of power supply filtration.
There is an interview where he won't really say either way. He does say something along the lines of... some have said they can tell a difference and if they can that's good. (paraphrase) It wasn't inspiring to me.
 
This feels very much like a fix for the tentative market for the Loco series. I'd imagine there are several buyers that could afford the Little Loco, or the Phono Loco, but the price point is enough to make them sweat about jumping to the other TZ designs. If you look at the number of people in this thread that start with the KC Vibe and quickly jump to a higher model, I could see the same for buyers interested in the TZ design. More of a break even or a loss leader to support the higher TZ designs.
I’m not sure that the TZ is a “loss leader”, but it can certainly be a “gateway drug”. The parts for the TZ are largely from the existing parts bin and the R&D for the design has already been amortized. He’s using that to target an attractive segment of the market that he could not do a clean sheet design to reach - smart business.

All those MC owners who paid $500 to $1500 for a low-output cartridge they already love are in his sights. The KC Vibe was targeted largely to first time phono buyers and those upgrading from basic MM designs for their first good MC cartridge.
 
Anybody know why the circuit boards in the TZ units are a different color than in the blue in the voltage gain units?
 
The old battery powered designs had yellow/green boards. The Insight, KC Vibe and 20/20 have blue tinted boards. But the linear power supplies and the TZ designs have yellow/orange boards. I don’t know if it’s significant to the engineering, but it is visually notable.

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The old battery powered designs had yellow/green boards. The Insight, KC Vibe and 20/20 have blue tinted boards. But the linear power supplies and the TZ designs have yellow/orange boards. I don’t know if it’s significant to the engineering, but it is visually notable.

View attachment 105946View attachment 105947View attachment 105948
The Duo has blue boards as well. Up from that, back to the yellow boards. The Duo boards are double the thickness of the lower models, but use the same chassis as the Insight.
 
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