vivianbl

I’ve had the electronic components in my main listening system on the side wall for decades as it sounded better that way. I also like to see the stage and performance visually un-interrupted!! This has necessitated cables from 5m to 9m in length to the speakers. I’ve used Naim Naca 5, Chord Epic and a few others . Currently use 6m lengths of Lenehan Foilflex ribbon speaker cables from PSE valve amplifiers to Quad ESL 57s that have a complex impedance character. Mike Lenehan recommended that I keep the double ribbons on each length close together to minimise capacitance.

Hi Markus, apologies for late response. I just picked up your post. That was exactly the issue, I agonised over and left the decision to the last minute! My view was that the least number of connections the better. Consulted with a few Linn people in the UK who recommended the seperate Din cable connect for the Linn. I think it was to do with the suspension, but also flexibility to use different Tonearm cables. Then spoke with John Neilson himself, who gave me the impression that a continuous run would be the best, but the difference was marginal as the Cardas Din plug was very good a

Two questions; How old is the unit? Does it need a seperate psu? thanks

“What is subjectively perceived is the truth. Science try’s to explain it, not deny it.” Confucius...just saying!😉

That’s interesting info. I haven’t heard that. Don’t know about the third party products, but I heard there was no problem other than the size of the hole on the early Valhalla. Will check out further. Thanks

The decision the go with the Stack Audio stuff was made long before the decision to indulge in the PU7Ti. Discussed it with a few people in the UK who had the PU7 and they also had the Serene Subchassis and Armboard, so didn’t think there would be a problem. I think I discussed that with AO (Johnny Neilson). The Armboard was cut out for my Linn Ekos. didn’t consider the Audion Innovation one

Have you decided on a turntable/ Tonearm?😊

I changed from a thick Linn felt mat to a thin Collaro mat, didn’t like the much thinner and brighter presentation. Had the arm lowered a fraction to get parallel. Voila! Much better tonal balance and body. 😃🤷🏽‍♂️ Maybe some cartridges are more sensitive to SRA/ VTA.🤔

The culprit was me!😱 The issue was the optimum VTF level on the same cartridge. I happened to mention that when I got my turntable back from the service technician, the VTF was set at a much lower level 1.9g rather than the 2.3-2.6 recommended.( I had it at 2.5g). When I phoned back the service guy, he said that he used the rake angle (SRA) as the primary focus for the setting. When I recently had anew Tonearm installed a couple of weeks ago, the new person setting up put the VTF at 2.3g. I hadn’t intended getting into a technical discussion about the process of choosing the best car

Yes, at those levels they are really good. You are listening to difference in presentation within your own system and listening environment and personal preferences in what you like in music. Running the Audion Select MC1 through the VTL Ultimate MM and rec out to power amps gave vocal renditions that were exquisite - gave me goosebumps and shivers, but didn’t have as much scale and dynamic as the Audion Premier MM. Would have been quite happy with that( Ultimate MM/ Select MC1 combination and will try it again after I have run in the Audion Premier (60 hrs)a bit more.

I haven’t tried the phono stage and turntable with or without either, but sure improved the reproduction from the valve power amplifiers and CD player. Both the CD player (Naim CDS3) and the Linn LP12 - ARadikal- have seperate power supplies that are plugged to the regenerator.

I’ve been using a 1988/9 VTL Ultimate Dual Mono Preamp for about 17 years now and the moving coil phono stage specifically for vinyl. In 2019 had it serviced and brought up to spec, using better capacitors, resistors, valves etc, so really sounding good. Recall Arthur Salvatore in his “Reference components” saying that it was the best phono stage that has been produced by VTL. Plenty of options to adjust cartridge load levels using dip switches. I bypassed the line stage by going to power amps via Rec Out, because it sounded better that way! My only concern was the level of valve/ resistor h

Yes, features and facilities on the Stellar really great. All it needed was custom loading dials on the remote Control as well. 😉

Thanks for that report. Really interesting. I had the opportunity to try out the same PS Audio Stellar Phono Pre in my system with the Kiseki Purple Heart during the lockdown period. The Pre had a great feature set, that made these sort of experiments easy. My findings were different in that I found the “best” sound at 200 Ohm. I had also tried 100, 200, 450, 500, 800 and 1000. The higher level results seemed to be the same as yours, but the lower levels not. On the VTL Ultimate the “best” was 470 Ohm. Don’t understand why the difference in “best” sounding settings with differe

Would be good to hear feedback about load changes as well, when you get a chance. Note that you have used the 800 Ohm loading. Because I use a Audion Step up Transformer I only have the Choice of 1:10 or 1:20. According to Andy the 1:10 is equivalent to 420 Ohm max. When I recently tried out another Phono pre, I tried 100, 200, 450, 500, 800, 900 and 1000. I settled on 200 with that phono pre. I don’t fully understand all the variables that determine the best loading, but I too judged it by ear!🤷🏽‍♂️