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Phono amp gain too high? (EAR 834p)

Hi everyone,

I have long been interested in trying the EAR 834P, and I recently came across the old Stereophile review of it.  In the measurements section, the gain for MM carts was 49.2db and 68.2 for MC.  That seems to be an inordinately high gain if I'm not mistaken.  I don't  know how to determine whether this would overload my integrated amp.  I am running an LFD LE V and a Clearaudio Maestro V2 (3.6mV).  I can't find specs on the integrated as far as gain and input sensitivity.  As I understand it, there is no active preamp in the LFD, but I can't even confirm that.  Is there someone with better technical understanding who can help?   

Thanks for your thoughts,Scott
smrex13
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
2,678 posts
 
@randyhat
You can lower the gain of the EAR if you relpace the 12ax7 with 5751 tubes. The 5751 has 30% less gain than the 12ax7. I had the same problem (too much gain) with my Quicksilver phono and the 5751 did the trick!
randyhat
138 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestion.  I need new tubes anyway so I may just try that.  Think it would be best to replace all 3 with 5751s?
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
2,678 posts
 
@randyhat
If the EAR has a separate gain tube then that is the only one you would need to replace. If not you can replace the 3 tubes with 5751’s. My phono has a gain tube so I only replaced that one tube to lower the gain. Here is the info about a 5751 tube!
https://www.tubedepot.com/products/jj-5751-preamp-tube
frogman
4,637 posts
 
Second yogiboy's suggestion.  I have a trio of nos GE triple mica 5751's that I rotate in my modified (Singerman) 834P and can verify that they do noticeably reduced gain although I sometimes use them because I like their sound in the preamp not because I need to reduce the gain.  Not terribly expensive and I found them to be pretty available a couple of years ago.  
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
Frank Van Alstine used 5751's in his redesign of the Dynaco PAS 3, preferring it's gain structure, low noise, and distortion characteristics to the stock PAS' 12AX7.
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