CONUNDRUM

Handymann, I think I already responded to another OP that you started about this issue. As previously mentioned, I own an ARC PH-7 and Ref 5. Jfrech's advice is ok, but the PH-7's gain output cannot be adjusted. There are no switches or knobs to do this. As I see it, your "obvious" choices are simple if you are clipping your pre: change the pre, change your phono stage,or change the cartridge.

At one time, I also owned the Maestro. It's may very well be the best MM cartridge on the market today. I'm sure you are not excited to lose it, but a carty is less expensive than a pre or phono stage.

I have two suggestions that you may want to explore for viability. I've never gone down this road, but it be may worth asking. Call Tom Tutay at Transition Audio Design in Florida and ask if he can rig: (1) some type of an attenuator to cool down the PH-7's gain without degradation of the signal to the pre; and/or (2) a SDT (step-down tranny) to reduce the output signal of the Maestro that is fed into the PH-7.

FWIW

Addendum: Tom Tutay is very solid. I used him to build a very custom impedance buffer that summed L/R channels and corrected an asymetrical loading problem. That's about as "custom" as it gets. I reiterate my suggestion to call him. Perhaps other folks who know Tom could weigh in with approbations.

Handymann: In the event of signal overload, I sometimes use interconnect cables that have a built-in two-resistor network that attenuate the signal by a fixed amount. Since only two resistors are used (one series, one shunt), and the attenuator is built into the RCA connector plug right before the line stage input, there isn't much degradation in sound.

You need to determine by how many decibels you need to attenuate the signal from the PH-7, figure out (or ask someone) a resistor network pair that attenuates the signal by the desired amount without stressing the PH-7, then build (or have someone build) that resistor pair into the RCA connector of a decent-quality interconnect cable.

Since the modification will be to the interconnect and not to the phono stage or line preamp, the work should be fairly simple, and won't affect the resale value of the ARC or Aesthetix.

hth, jonathan carr

Handyman,

It's a shame you ended up with a mismatched cart and phono stage, but that certainly sounds like the problem. Adding a transformer is a terrible idea IMHO, and clearly avoids the root cause.

If the PH7 is designed for LOMC cart, then get one or sell the phono stage and get something with more flexibility. When evaluating carts, you need to consider the combo of the cart & phono stage for gain; you also need to consider the combo of arm/cart for compliance compatibility.

By reading about what carts PH7 owners use, you will probably be able to quickly get a sense of what output range to consider. Then you can use online interactive chart(vinylengine? somebody help me here, please) to evaluate compliance compatibility for various arm masses vs. carts. Now you will have a list of viable candidates, and you can narrow it down by price and the sonic attributes for each model vs. your goals/preferences.

Perhaps ph7 owners can chime in...cheers,
Spencer

Spencer, As I have already mentioned 3 times, I own the PH-7 and owned at one time the Maestro. By itself, the PH-7 has no problem with the Maestro. The real problem here is that the PH-7 is overloading the line stage and the PH-7 does not provide for gain attenuation.

IMHO, the real solution and the best solution is that the PH-7 -- which btw is a very very good phono stage -- would do a great job with pretty much any carty (except those with outputs less than .5mV) IF the PH-7 was matched with an ARC line stage. The synergy is perfect, as would be expected.

I will not repeat the advice I gave above, other than to say that I would ditch the PH-7 and/or the Maestro as a last resort, of course taking cost/benefit into account. This is a practical problem that demands a practical solution.

One last point. Almarg mentioned in another OP that capacitance may be an important and possibly choice limiting factor when selecting MC carties. As I recall, MC carties are sensitive to aggregate capacitance of the phono stage and I/Cs between the TT and phono stage.

The ARCDB web site reports that the input capacitance of the PH-7 is 200 pF. That may be the upper limit of some MC carties. If so, very low capacitance and short I/Cs would be called for.

I had this problem when using a DV 20Xs H carty. I was using long (12') cheapo Radio Shack I/Cs. The DV didn't sound very good -- almost listless and dull. I bought a shorter pair of custom I/Cs from Tom Tutay (16pF/ft) and the TT/carty combo was much improved after break-in.

I reiterate for the last time that a converation with Tom Tutay may be worthwhile. A call to Calvin at ARC may also be warranted.

Good luck. If Almarg catches this thread, perhaps he can weigh in with better advice.