Sutherland Club House

Hemotep said:
I know this has been covered on the forum before, but what is everyone's preference between upping the gain on their preamp vs. turning the volume up and using the amp to do the work? I feel like I get better sound when I put the work more on the phono stage over the amp, but that could just be because of the amp I'm using. Either way, as I fiddle with different settings on the Sutherland I'm curious what others are doing.

For example, with how great the SUT is that I just bought, I'm keeping the Sutherland set for an MM cart so that I can swap tables without changing the jumpers. And honestly it sounds significantly better to me through the SUT than just set for an MC cart.
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It varies based on the cart and phono pre for me.
 
Hemotep said:
I know this has been covered on the forum before, but what is everyone's preference between upping the gain on their preamp vs. turning the volume up and using the amp to do the work? I feel like I get better sound when I put the work more on the phono stage over the amp, but that could just be because of the amp I'm using. Either way, as I fiddle with different settings on the Sutherland I'm curious what others are doing.

For example, with how great the SUT is that I just bought, I'm keeping the Sutherland set for an MM cart so that I can swap tables without changing the jumpers. And honestly it sounds significantly better to me through the SUT than just set for an MC cart.
Click to expand...
This is what I'm doing now that I have an actual SUT. Mostly because my 20/20 is in a narrow cabinet and I wanted to be able to swap tonearms without much futzing.
 
Hemotep said:
I know this has been covered on the forum before, but what is everyone's preference between upping the gain on their preamp vs. turning the volume up and using the amp to do the work? I feel like I get better sound when I put the work more on the phono stage over the amp, but that could just be because of the amp I'm using. Either way, as I fiddle with different settings on the Sutherland I'm curious what others are doing.

For example, with how great the SUT is that I just bought, I'm keeping the Sutherland set for an MM cart so that I can swap tables without changing the jumpers. And honestly it sounds significantly better to me through the SUT than just set for an MC cart.
Click to expand...
With the SUT, a fixed gain of ~40 dB in the Sutherland should do the job for most MCs. I would not push it higher unless the MC was very low output. You get more noise-free gain in the SUT than in the Sutherland op-amps.

On the first question, I'd also recommend not maxing out volume in the Sutherland to avoid input overload into the integrated amp. The Sutherland might sound "cleaner" in some passages, but when the music gets very dynamic, the peaks could cause clipping in the preamp section of the integrated if the Sutherland is set too hot.
 
Angsty said:
With the SUT, a fixed gain of ~40 dB in the Sutherland should do the job for most MCs. I would not push it higher unless the MC was very low output. You get more noise-free gain in the SUT than in the Sutherland op-amps.

On the first question, I'd also recommend not maxing out volume in the Sutherland to avoid input overload into the integrated amp. The Sutherland might sound "cleaner" in some passages, but when the music gets very dynamic, the peaks could cause clipping in the preamp section of the integrated if the Sutherland is set too hot.
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It was a little lacking at 40, but at 46 it seems to be the sweet spot.
 
Hemotep said:
Seeing at my SUT cost more than the 20/20, I think it's a valid setup. I tried the Sutherland set for the MC cart, but it sounds a lot better going through the SUT and set for an MM cart than the other way. Nice thing is that I can change it around as I want.
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Ah so MC still involved just not directly. I misread as you had the Sutherland only doing MM duty and another phono for MC
 
Hemotep said:
Seeing at my SUT cost more than the 20/20, I think it's a valid setup. I tried the Sutherland set for the MC cart, but it sounds a lot better going through the SUT and set for an MM cart than the other way. Nice thing is that I can change it around as I want.
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was your SUT really spendy or was your 20/20 really cheap?
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Having trouble deciphering this SUT business. What did you buy exactly? I did read this SUT: The Moving Coil Step Up Transformer
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I bought one from these guys after reading a lot of stuff I only kind of understood. The model I bought isn't on their website yet, but they told me it's just the newest version of this one. Honestly it's the single biggest sound difference I've noticed in my system compared to any other piece of gear or cart I've demoed. Definitely the purchase I've been the happiest with.

Fonolab

www.fonolab.com www.fonolab.com
 
Hemotep said:
I bought one from these guys after reading a lot of stuff I only kind of understood. The model I bought isn't on their website yet, but they told me it's just the newest version of this one. Honestly it's the single biggest sound difference I've noticed in my system compared to any other piece of gear or cart I've demoed. Definitely the purchase I've been the happiest with.

Fonolab

www.fonolab.com www.fonolab.com
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Interesting. Your gear signature is like a maze so I almost need a map of what pathways you’re using and for what. Do you plug both the Mani and the 20/20 into your NAD and operate a 2 turntable system them? One with MM, another with MC? Or merely swap out.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Interesting. Your gear signature is like a maze so I almost need a map of what pathways you’re using and for what. Do you plug both the Mani and the 20/20 into your NAD and operate a 2 turntable system them? One with MM, another with MC? Or merely swap out.
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Yes. I have an Ortofon OM30 cart on my NAD turntable that I keep set for 45s now and that runs through the Mani into the NAD amp. And Schiit table has the Goldring Elite set for 33s that runs through the SUT into the Sutherland, then the NAD amp.

Since they are both belt drives and are a pain in the ass to change from one speed to the other, this works for me. One day I might change the NAD deck to a mono cart.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
I've been going through a major clean-up on my notes app. Very satisfying. Basically updating everything I have. Found out I had like 6 other carts/styli lying around that I was never gonna use. Off to eBay they go.
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Eventually I could see me downsizing and getting rid of gear I don't need, but I'm using everything except a couple spare carts atm and it's been a lot of fun to have the two tables to see how big of a difference the sound is on each. It's made close listening to albums multiple times more fun too. But it is total overkill and unnecessary. I just scored on some used deals so didn't need to sell my old gear to cover my upgrades.
 
Hemotep said:
Yes. I have an Ortofon OM30 cart on my NAD turntable that I keep set for 45s now and that runs through the Mani into the NAD amp. And Schiit table has the Goldring Elite set for 33s that runs through the SUT into the Sutherland, then the NAD amp.

Since they are both belt drives and are a pain in the ass to change from one speed to the other, this works for me. One day I might change the NAD deck to a mono cart.
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You should see if you can get one of those Project or Music Hall speed boxes like @kvetcha has to let you button switch between the two speeds!
 
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