phono stage - head to head

Penance, the Cornet looks pretty nice, plus I've always been tempted to do a bit of DIY audio. How easy is it to source the parts for it in the UK? Also how difficult is it to assemble, I'm not a novice at soldering but at the same time I've never built a complete component.

SCIDB, unfortunately the Creek is an MC phono stage where as I require an MM or MM/MC stage. The Gram Amp 2 SE looks like a pretty good option though, and seems to be highly regarded.

Thanks for the suggestions.

BL21DE3

 

It's fairly easy to build, patience and steady hand is all you need really.
Parts are OK to source in the UK, both basic and boutique flavours.
Also fairly cheap to import parts if needs be.

The standard parts from Mouser in the states fit very easy as the board was designed around those components dimensions.
Boutique parts are usualy larger, not to hard to fit with some carful lead bending

 

Penance, which UK supplier would you recommend for the components?

I've been doing a few quick calculations from the parts list base on the US prices and if I imported everyting I'd be looking at approx. £145 excluding shipping, which will probably be the killer. But that seems fairly reasonable for a tubed phono stage. Plus with this route I get the fun of building it and you get the option of 'cheap' upgrades by replacing the components with more exotic/upgraded items. Reckon I'll give it some serious consideration.

 

Farnell or RS should stock it.
I ordered from Mouser as it was cheap enough.
Is 145 inclucing components?
I think it cost me less than that for board and components with 2 lots of shipping.
I paid around £14 import on the board and nothing on components.

edit - i got the tubes in the UK

second edit - upgraded parts i also got in the UK but it can get expensive. Especialy as i tried quite a few different caps and resistor types. Ive ended up with Kiwame resistors, SCR polyprop to replace the 47uf lytics on B+ and not decided on signal coupling yet. I have tried Russian PIO, a nice sound but lost some detail.

 

Penance, yep the £145 was for everything (chassis, tubes, transformer, resistors etc.) excluding the shipping. I suppose the cost is dependent on the exchange rate and customs etc. I'll do a costing based on the UK suppliers and see how it compares. I'm severely tempted to give it a go though, especially since I've got plenty of free time (unemployment has it's benefits ) and cost wise it seems fairly reasonable.

 

I made my own chasis from half a maplin box and some wood from a pallet

I got the hammond Tx in the UK aswell, i think that was about 47 quid, but i cant remember the supplier.


piccies -

http://www.penance.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/IMG_0303.JPG


http://www.penance.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/IMG_0308.JPG

 

I have recently built a phono stage and power supply from kits supplied by White Noise. Total cost was about £170. The sound quality is superb and the kits are beautifully presented. I can recommend these kits as great value.
Iain

 

Nice pics. I reckon if I decide to go for it I'll just build it with the 'stock' parts and ship them from the US, saves time and hassle trying to track down the equivalents in the UK, plus knowing my luck I'd get the wrong thing. Just got to consider all the costs/options now and see if I want to go through with it.

 

I'm using the little Creek OBH 8SE with my P25,I found it better than the valved onboard one that was on the top of the range Copland valve amp,it suits the level of performance from the Rega very well,should be around £90-100 for a second hand unit.

 

Adam, thanks for the suggestion.

Penance, I've found a UK stockist of the the transformers and most of the Hammond bits actually, www.bluebellaudio.com. It looks like I might build the octal version of the amp as I've just discovered my father has an extensive collection of valves recovered from a variety of equipment. So I've now got 3 x Raytheon 6SL7 GT and 2 x Sylvania 6SN7 GT, so I'd only need the 5Y3GT rectifier though he reckons he might have one of those somewhere . And we always thought my father was mad collecting all those old electronics bits .

 

Ive hqad no experience of the octal version.
I imagine slightly harder to build as you need to hard wire the valve sockets off board.
The Hagerman forum has a fair bit of info on both ways -

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewforum.php?f=52

 

Penance, thanks for the link to the forum, it's helped to clear up a couple of queries I had about the modified resistor values for getting the octal version to run at UK voltage.

Now I just need to chase down a few of the resistor/capacitor equivalents from UK stockists.

 

malpin audio grade cap aint to bad for the price

KR78K for 1uf pp
but it doesnt look like they have the 0.47

I think i hasve the standard mouser parts still at home, ill check tonight. If you decide to go ahead with the cornet, your welcome to them.

 

Penance, thanks for the offer. I've actually managed to find most of the UK equivalents at Farnell. I just can't seem to track down 3 parts, the 0.001µF 630V PP caps, 300K 1W resistors, and 2.4K 1W resistors. For the 0.001µF caps I did find these 4002234 at Farnell, which I assume to be the same based on SI nomenclature i.e 0.001µF = 1nF.

 

I just want to 2nd what scidb has said about the 834p, I have said this elsewhere, but yes absolutely, the transformers of the ear 834 are the culprit, they are laid back in the top and a bit messy in the bass compared to others. they make a very transparent mm stage sound different. great mm, mc not as good.

you could go for an mm only, say tube like the cornet, the bottlehead and get a step up transformer. I picked up an audio technica for £20 and its fine.

check this guy out

http://www.vacuumtube.org.uk/

ones to try building that aren't too difficult are the

world audio ones, cult following

diyhifisupply good service I have heard

and what is on clives pages above

you could also try the john linsley hood, god save his soul, I had one and quite liked it, looking for another...

 

Funny you should say that.

I also have read several times that the transformers are the weakest link in the 834P.

A year or 2 ago, I borrowed a variety of step up transformers - Ortofohn, Tron and other step up bits of kit, and to be honest there wasnt anything in it to my ears. The 834Ps transformer seemed just as good as an expensive off-board one.

If I was starting over, I think Id go for a high output cart into a MM stage anyway, as getting rid of a transformer seems like a good compromise to me... not that theres a right/wrong answer of course

 

Lt Cdr Data, thanks for the link and the suggestions. I reckon I'll go for something along the Cornet design as I've already got all the valves to hand. The only drawback is the cost of importing the PCB, since I believe you get stung for import and tax, so I'm reckoning on just using the schematic and hard wiring everything. Depending on how it goes I'm tempted to try and build a full amp with the rest of the valves I've got.

 

Its 'official' now bottleneck, definately the weak link, they cock up the bass.

Suprised as TDP is really clever and skilled, goes to show you can't design something in as such.

 

hehe. In that case I retract my comment

 

BL21DE3
The import is minimal, around £14.
I need to get another Cornet board as mine is stuffed after many component changes.
We could order together and cut some costs if thats any help.
Not sure it would make it much cheaper, but an idea anyway.