Riaa curve

Eldartford, its my opinion that in high end audio you build the equipment to do the job, then figure out how much it costs when you are done. It is a bit different from targeting a bomb :)

If tighter tolerances make a difference...why not design 100% accurate phono?

Phasecorrect
...Don't encourage him!! :-)

Ultimately, the accuracy of the inverse RIAA equalization on a phono preamp is only meaningful to the point it is equal to the accuracy of the equalization used on the cutter in the production process.

Look at it this way. I can't add "about 2" plus 2.00000 and expect an answer of 4.00000. The "about 2" in the left hand side of the equation limits my answer to "about 4."

If one looks back to the "golden age" of LP production - the 1960s - which produced in particular jazz and classical recordings that are still revered to this day, I seriously doubt that much of the production equipment was much more accurate than 1 dB.

One has to be careful to not chase one specification to the exclusion of others. That happened in the 1970s when amp designers went after ultra low distortion numbers. They overused feedback which gave good looking static test numbers but gave audibly poor results with dynamic music.

Yes, a flat frequency response is a worthy goal. But then so are lots of other characteristics. The goal is not how each one tests by itself in a static environment but rather how they operate in unison when playing music.

Dear Mlsstl: +++++ " Yes, a flat frequency response is a worthy goal. But then so are lots of other characteristics. " +++++

absolutely right, I agree.

+++++ " The goal is not how each one tests by itself in a static environment but rather how they operate in unison when playing music. " +++++

I agree here too.

Both statements are ( between other things. ) an almost a " routine " in the eletronic design whe the designer really cares to improve the quality performance of what already are in the market. IMHO almost no one designer works as if his " unit " lives or will live in a stand alone " stage "/aisle/ static, everyone know the multiple relationship that exist through the whole audio chain and the synergy that is a must to have to otain/achieve a top quality performance.

That's why anyone: customers and designers have to take care that in each link on the audio chain not only exist synergy but that in each link we lose the less on the signal and add the less too trying to preserve the source signal integrity with minimum degradation. IMHO tight RIAA accuracy help to meet those goals.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.