I just went up two notches in resolution
Suspecting that my LP rig's 20+ yr-old Amber amp/preamp may be getting a little long in the tooth, I tho't I'd try out the Cambridge 640p phono stage. Since the Amber pre's other inputs were getting dodgy, I consulted the Shelf of Sidelined Preamps in the garage and settled on the Outlaw 950 A/V pre/pro as the new line stage. So 5 channels (out of 7.1) and all that surround processing is going to waste (but the whole thing was going to waste before). Unknown to many, however, is that the analog stereo bypass circuit in that unit is very fast, clean, and devoid of electronic artifacts. It also has analog bass management and I'm using a 2.1 sub/sat system in this rig.
Yowzah! Everything popped and jumped out of the speakers as never before. Everything was faster, more there, more transparent. This Cambridge unit slays for the money, and it accepts a very wide range of cartridge outputs. I was feeding it output from a Denon DL-160 HOMC, rated at 1.6mV output but typically measured at 2.2. It didn't take long at all for the Cambridge to settle in, but it just got more organic and musical when it did.
At this point I suspected that the 640p could reveal more than the DL-160 could resolve. After asking for advice here and playing a hunch, I replaced the DL-160 with an Audio Technica AT150MLX mounted on a new 12g LPGear Zupreme headshell.
What do you think you'd get with such a rig? It sounds like a recipe for disaster:
Technics SL1210 M5G DD turntable (oft-accused of glare, harshness, hashy noise, etc.)
+ Cambridge 640p phono stage (summarized as fast, detailed, and lean on these web pages)
+ Outlaw Audio 950 (not going to be compared to a tube unit anytime soon)
+ Audio Technica AT150MLX (described as more linear like master tapes and less warm than typical vinyl playback even by a reviewer who *liked* it)
= Lush.
What? That's right, I said "Lush." This chain sounds lush. But not woofy, indistinct, pillowy, or lacking initial transients. In fact, it's quite fast with big improvements in both macro and micro-dynamics. Big volume swings have plenty of jump; small dynamic changes convey plenty of nuance. You can hear Diana Krall's mouth forming the words. You can hear Stokowsky getting that last nth of expression out of the National Symphony Orchestra.
You hear the fingers scraping the strings of the harp, but you also hear the harp's resonance bloom throughout the room. And it sounds like it's happening in real time. This is no slow'n'thick bloom. It's quick risetime fast followed by a room-filling bloom. And all at 1.5g VTF until it breaks in, at which point I may take it down to a vinyl-friendly 1.25 to 1.35. Even at those low tracking forces, my trusty KAB fluid damper should keep stylus-rattle under control.
I don't know how many times my wife has said (when I'm playing music through the new chain) "It sounds like they're in the room."
Who'da thunk it?
Yowzah! Everything popped and jumped out of the speakers as never before. Everything was faster, more there, more transparent. This Cambridge unit slays for the money, and it accepts a very wide range of cartridge outputs. I was feeding it output from a Denon DL-160 HOMC, rated at 1.6mV output but typically measured at 2.2. It didn't take long at all for the Cambridge to settle in, but it just got more organic and musical when it did.
At this point I suspected that the 640p could reveal more than the DL-160 could resolve. After asking for advice here and playing a hunch, I replaced the DL-160 with an Audio Technica AT150MLX mounted on a new 12g LPGear Zupreme headshell.
What do you think you'd get with such a rig? It sounds like a recipe for disaster:
Technics SL1210 M5G DD turntable (oft-accused of glare, harshness, hashy noise, etc.)
+ Cambridge 640p phono stage (summarized as fast, detailed, and lean on these web pages)
+ Outlaw Audio 950 (not going to be compared to a tube unit anytime soon)
+ Audio Technica AT150MLX (described as more linear like master tapes and less warm than typical vinyl playback even by a reviewer who *liked* it)
= Lush.
What? That's right, I said "Lush." This chain sounds lush. But not woofy, indistinct, pillowy, or lacking initial transients. In fact, it's quite fast with big improvements in both macro and micro-dynamics. Big volume swings have plenty of jump; small dynamic changes convey plenty of nuance. You can hear Diana Krall's mouth forming the words. You can hear Stokowsky getting that last nth of expression out of the National Symphony Orchestra.
You hear the fingers scraping the strings of the harp, but you also hear the harp's resonance bloom throughout the room. And it sounds like it's happening in real time. This is no slow'n'thick bloom. It's quick risetime fast followed by a room-filling bloom. And all at 1.5g VTF until it breaks in, at which point I may take it down to a vinyl-friendly 1.25 to 1.35. Even at those low tracking forces, my trusty KAB fluid damper should keep stylus-rattle under control.
I don't know how many times my wife has said (when I'm playing music through the new chain) "It sounds like they're in the room."
Who'da thunk it?