Preamp Deal of the Century

Patrick,

Sorry to hear your trouble. I am no expert but would like to offer my thoughts as I have the Chenin. Assuming that you already replaced the tubes in your Syrah, my question is:

1.) Are you using a step up tranny?
If so, please bear in mind that the Syrah can only take 2.5 mV input max. Unless your cart is 0.5 mV and below and your setting is 1:5, then you will have a problem. I know this because I tried with my Shelter 901 at 1:5 setting.

2.)When you said "distortion", does it have a symptom like one channel cutting out as well?
Because this is exactly what happened to mine everytime a tranny is connected to it.

3.) With the tranny, does it get better at say 100 Ohms setting instead of the 47k on the Syrah? Also, if you do not use a tranny, do you hear the same symptoms (disortion)at the 47k, 1K, and so on (depending on your cart)?
If so, you are definitely overloading the phono section.

Hope this helps.

Amandarae,

No, no step up transformer involved. I emailed Mick about my specific cartridge and he said no problem using it as that's the same cartridge he uses. It does sound like an overloaded phono stage to my ears. No difference between channels either. I'll try to explain in slightly different words what's going on. It sounds okay from initial play until the unit warms up for about 45 minutes. Then the sibilance sets in and gets worse, pretty quickly (5 minutes or so), until the sibilance is so pronounced it effects everything which sounds like distortion to me.

Hi Patrick. Yes, sounds like a classic case of phono overload to me too. Are both Syrah's using the same tube topology in the phono stage. Some used a combo of the 6j5 and 417a/5842 and others with a 6dj8/6j6. Are there any gain options on them ei: high and low. You mentioned you are using a high output mc... what is the manufacturers loading recommendation?

Don't think I'm not anxious to answer these questions and get some input but I've got a really busy day going. Company is arriving today for a weeks stay. I don't have the tube layout memorized. Maybe Steve will post about the two preamps and their minor differences. One point to consider is that in the other system with a 901 cartridge it sounded bad too. In both systems and with both cartridges it had, at one time, sounded as wonderful as this thread talks about. Anyway, the factory loading spec for my cartridge is 47K. Again, this cartridge (same one I have) is one that Mick uses.

Hi, Ecclectique, both amps use the 417a/6GK5 or 6FQ5 tubes. I am pretty sure it is not the phono stage that is causing the problem. The first amp went bad in the line stage functions too. It acted the same for the phono as well as the pre amp functions.
Having two Syrahs with the same problem would make me think it is something we did or another problem with both of our systems. We have spent a lot of time ruling that out.
Remember, the first Syrah sounded wonderful in both systems, and for over a year.
Thanks for your time and responses.