Phono Preamp Suggestions?

hochpt21 wrote: »

msg wrote: »

Nice, Mike. Definitely interested to hear your impressions.
I must sheepishly admit that after five days, my curiosity got the better of me, and I broke down and ordered one, too, just this morning. I've got a problem, but "I swear, after this, I'm done. I really mean it this time."

Mine was unit #419. So you must have gotten the magic 420?

haha, I'll let you know in the afternoon, maaaaaaaan, if I remember.

that would be pretty cool, though.
Mike - what number is yours? be cool if we got three consecs

nice, haha, feels kinda like I'm waiting for a lottery drawing

@JuanR made this contribution on Mike's Music Hall ad. I thought it was pretty good, so quoting it here for those interested/following along.

JuanR wrote: »

I love the Budgie myself, My Budgie was modified with Mundorf capacitors. You must definitely switch out those EH Tubes, I use Siemens, Telefunken, Mullards and they all sound FANTASTIC! Believe it or not though, my Budgie is currently sitting on the shelf because I am using the internal phono that is in my Rogue preamp, but not because I don't love it. Hopefully the picture I attached comes out.

JuanR wrote: »

hehe, I was just meaning more was that an observation from a current session.
PG's a nice one for a vinyl session.
I'm going to be setting some stuff up tonight.

I present to you, Parks Audio, Budgie Phono Preamp #426...
This is what it looked like when I removed it from the box, and I swear there was an angel's chorus

Mikey081057 wrote: »

LOL
Working while listening... Trying to get my hours on the Budgie....and getting in a rhythm of getting up every 20

To flip sides, or too much coffee and the bladder of a woman on a roadtrip?

Okay, just got it set up. Using my practice/learning setup right now, which is an old weathered Technics SL-1510 with a very entry level AT10 cart of unknown history and condition.

Introducing the Budgie to the system - I have to say, it's pret-ty smooth right out of the box. Very pleasing and extremely listenable without any tweaks. I did a quick check for cart load setting, and didn't even have to change the Exacta - just running the default 1000 for 47Ω load.

Here's the weird thing. I'm noticing some odd intermittent background noise at system idle if I put my ear to the speaker. Something's not right. I need to check some cabling and get some stuff better organized. I'm a complete vinyl beginner at this point, and I think I'm running into some of those issues I've read about with cable shielding/interference.


A note to the original topic of this thread, having had some great recommendations on the phono preamps to get me started, and not being able to really decide properly based on the info and reviews I'd been reading, and completely obliterating my control boundaries on this project, I ended up picking up three phono pre's to audition for an indeterminate period of time at this point. Eventually I will settle on one or two, but for now, I'll be playing with the following on a proper Technics SL-1210 (that I still have to set up) and on a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon that a most generous friend here offered to let me borrow.

• Vincent Pho-8 << reviewed to be romantic
• Lounge LCR << reviewed to be one of the absolute best values around, and unbelievably underrated in terms of performance, and not just for its price-point. reviewed to be musical, dynamic, liquid, and just plain fun leading to album after album listening sessions
• Budgie << the buzz around here on this one, other members experience with Park Audio SUTs, and the fact that it's tubed - which was what I was originally looking for - is what tipped me into this one.

In the time its taken me to write this entry, I stopped a short while ago to flip sides on The Stone Roses debut release, and at idle, that intermittent background noise was absent. Warmup?

Lastly - and I was advised of this early on - I really think we're gonna need a RCM of some sort at some point, or at the very least some way of cleaning records. This is turning out to be the most incredibly involved leg of this hobby for me so far, but I have to say, I really think it's been the most enjoyable and engaging in my experience so far over the past two years. Not sure what to make of that quite just yet.

good tips all, and all currently neglected.

Quick question - do you guys notice that the input signal strength from the phono pre to the preamp/receiver seems lower that of digital inputs signal strength? Seems like it requires more volume knob with phono than with digital sources.