What controls/adjustments are needed for phono pre

I have a Herron phono pre and there is only one switch, on/off. Herron feels any other option potentialy impacts the the signal. pretty hard core.

Hello, Generally speaking,you want to be able to adjust the resistive loading and gain for moving coil cartridges.Capacitance and gain on moving-iron/magnet cartridge.Some units have a high gain for coils and low for mm/mi.There are units that allow high frequency contours and even phase inversion,if desired.Hope this helps! Happy hunting.

Tpsonic
Not sure of the difference betwen control resistive loading and capacitance.Would it be on same control?pardon my ignorance of the basic electronics here.Also what about RIAA curves?I have a lot of 10" jazz lp's and heard that early LP's could vary in their RIAA setting.I know that if I was into 78's I could get a KAB made unit with all the different settings from 30's and 40's btu I imagine it wouldn't be as good sounding as some sudiophile phono stages.It seems more like an archivists tool.I just knoiw thatI am going to want a deck probably that can accomodate a stereo cart,a quality mono,and another with proabably a detachable headshell for beaters and 78's (I allready have a Denon DJ table to that end).Getting one phono section for about 4 diggerent types of discs ain't so easy!!!!!!

Chazz, what Tpsonic is referring to is "matching" your cartridge's characteristics to the phono. Your ears, the cartridge manufacturer, and users (A'goners) can point you in the right direction -- no worry.
As to the RIAA curve, yes, some pre-50's LPs do may have a slightly different compression --- but it will be difficult to have many different phonos!!! IMO, stick with the standard RIAA, one that allows you to adjust for a number of cartridges (including ceramic, if you use 78's).
Another point with 78's is the playing speed /hence pitch: some LPs are not cut to exactly 78rpm, and a speed control on the TT could be useful to compensate. A friend has one record that sounds correct @81 rpm!

Chazz, look up Kevin Barrett's phono transcription preamp. It has every equalization curve ever used on a record and two phono inputs. It is a high end preamp for under 1K, and he sells direct.

www.kabusa.com

Gregm-Have a second DJ table from Denon which is very cool toy.Has a big slider for rappers or scratchers or whatever the hell those kids call themselves.So you can use it to adjust pitch.But the slider can also be used to adjust key without adjusting pitch (great for musicians to make recordings from for practice.How is this done?It has a internal A to D converter and it's key is maipulated digitally.It has coaxial digital output to go direct to CD-R or computer.And has a line level as well as phono level output.Plays 78's.Awesome toy that makes transcribing Lp to CD-R a snap.They were $600 when I bought but I have seen them on ebay new for less than $300.As a heavy DD they are built pretty well too.

Animal-yeah I have seen them but wondering what the sonics are.If it was half the price I'd get it to go with my Denon aND cd-r and keep it in asecond system.But I don't have that many 78's so that is a lot of jack for my needs.But yeah for the true 78 collector it might be worth it.

Chazz, have no experience w/ the Denon you mention -- sorry! I'm not sure what the "key" adjustment you refer to is? Does it digitally change the musical key??? If so, it would be loading the digital musical info, after the A-D converter stage, on some sort of cache and playing with it there... Interesting!

I guess it must be a cache that is altered.Not sure if there are others like itI think that Stanton migh put out a simmilar product but not sure if it has this "key" feature (hee hee).Might be on a support web site but not sure.

Can't believe Keith Herron would compromise and put an on-off switch on his unit, but guess it does use fire bottles :-)....We just have two power cords on our unit, one for each supply....There is no switch like no switch especially in or across the signal path.....Best handled by either gold pin sockets for resistive and perhaps capacitive loads or soldering them in....Bengal Lancers!

Bob Crump
CTC Builders