[Lady Jane]

One of my dad's favorite groups and one of their favorite songs. Where were you in 1972?

"When I listen to this song, so do the neighbors."

[HFW003]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

One of my dad's favorite groups and one of their favorite songs. Where were you in 1972?




Attachment 3673808

"When I listen to this song, so do the neighbors."

I remember my dad getting the Magicians Birthday album when it come out, that was about '72.

I'm old!

[zx10guy]

So I haven't spun vinyl for a while. One of the things that bothered me a bit with my setup was some of the sonic character of my vinyl system. I went through the trouble of getting a very good turntable, tonearm, tube phono preamp, and high output moving coil cartridge.

At any decent volume, I kept hearing "edge" in the midrange particularly around voices and at the upper octaves with pianos. There was also a haze that I couldn't put my finger on the seems to dull out whatever I was playing.

A couple of days ago I decided to follow through with my research on the Vincent Audio PHO-700 tube phono preamp. Based on what I've been reading others have also complained about the sonic signature of this phono preamp. The common suggestion was to replace the stock 12AU7 tube with something better. One reviewer suggested using a PSVANE. I ultimately settled on a Genalex Gold Lion tube ordered from Amazon.

Since I haven't spun any vinyl for a while, I decided to run an album by Tony Bennett and Diana Krall through as a baseline. While it was good to hear the sonic signature that we all love about vinyl again, the complaints I had listed above popped back into my head. I then swapped out the stock unknown sourced tube with the Gold Lion. I did hear differences pretty much immediately. The "edge", grittiness, raspiness in the vocals are pretty much gone. The biggest thing I can pick up on is the dullness/veil I had noticed with the stock tube is now gone. There was no muddiness. Just a nice clear vocal presentation that just hung out in the soundstage. Pianos were also crisper without being shrill.

I'll have to spend some more time with the new tube with the phono preamp properly warmed up for more listening evaluations. So far for just under $60 for the new tube, I'm pretty happy.

Phono preamp with the stock tube:


The new Gold Lion tube. The Gold Lion is on the left of the stock tube:



The phono preamp opened up to gain access to the tube. Had to pull the front panel off because I couldn't get a good enough grip on the tube from the top:




Everything buttoned back up:



Spinning some Tony Bennett and Diana Krall:

[Maynard]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

So I haven't spun vinyl for a while. One of the things that bothered me a bit with my setup was some of the sonic character of my vinyl system. ...

Looks like some very high end hardware so this may be stupidly obvious, but have you maximized the isolation of that turntable from sonic vibration? Do you get the same problems via earphones?

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Maynard

Looks like some very high end hardware so this may be stupidly obvious, but have you maximized the isolation of that turntable from sonic vibration? Do you get the same problems via earphones?

The turntable is sitting on 4 Audioquest Sorbothane feet/pucks. Isolation is pretty decent.

I don't have headphone capability with this system. I probably never will add it. Just don't see the need. The turntable is part of a bigger system that's set up in a dedicated room with multiple speakers and subs along with acoustical treatments on the walls/ceiling.