Who uses a Phase Linear 1000 in their system?
- Thread starter Justin Case
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I have several of these, and I run them in any system with a cassette deck or R2R. My Pioneer RT-707s and RT-909 do not have Dolby NR, and the PL1000 cuts hiss out completely. It also does an AMAZING job on 8-tracks. It's redundant for the cassettes i record - quality Cr02 tape with Dolby NR. But it works amazingly on pre-recorded cassettes, with or without Dolby.
I've also used it to remove the hiss on the David Bowie Live Santa Monica 72 CD, when recording it to R2R. (No sense recording more hiss than a tape is already going to give me).
There are both Series I and Series II units. The Series II looks nicer and sounds better with no modifications. The stock Series I has troublesome buttons that are really difficult to deoxit, and the solder joints on the motherboard for the connectors to each daughter board are often cold and cracked. This is easily fixable though. The Series I has a little more gain, and can push things into distortion when the range expansion is used. I prefer using the Series I only as noise reduction, not as range expansion, for this reason. The Series II does not have this issue, it sounds clean and undistorted, and the range expansion actually helps with noise reduction as well. That said, there are upgrades to fix the Series I, and make it much, much better. Check it here: http://home.onemain.com/~jvandyke/id9.html
I actually have a tech working on one of my series I noise reduction units now. (I have two Series I and two Series II units, three R2Rs and four tape decks)
Charles.
I've also used it to remove the hiss on the David Bowie Live Santa Monica 72 CD, when recording it to R2R. (No sense recording more hiss than a tape is already going to give me).
There are both Series I and Series II units. The Series II looks nicer and sounds better with no modifications. The stock Series I has troublesome buttons that are really difficult to deoxit, and the solder joints on the motherboard for the connectors to each daughter board are often cold and cracked. This is easily fixable though. The Series I has a little more gain, and can push things into distortion when the range expansion is used. I prefer using the Series I only as noise reduction, not as range expansion, for this reason. The Series II does not have this issue, it sounds clean and undistorted, and the range expansion actually helps with noise reduction as well. That said, there are upgrades to fix the Series I, and make it much, much better. Check it here: http://home.onemain.com/~jvandyke/id9.html
I actually have a tech working on one of my series I noise reduction units now. (I have two Series I and two Series II units, three R2Rs and four tape decks)
Charles.
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Big fan of the PL 1000's.
They can be very useful on certain badly recorded material.
Mine was just dropped onto its back and landed on the cables to the RCA jacks which are now loose.
Damn it.
Need to decide whether its fixable or just move to another one.
Seems the Series II may be worth looking into.
They can be very useful on certain badly recorded material.
Mine was just dropped onto its back and landed on the cables to the RCA jacks which are now loose.
Damn it.
Need to decide whether its fixable or just move to another one.
Seems the Series II may be worth looking into.
I have 3 autocorrelator preamps ( two PL 4000 and one Carver C4000 )
The system works very well with vynils and tapes .
Not always works well with FM tuner in case of severe multi path .
Also Peak Unlimiter is good . ( it's more natural than Dbx )
PL 1000 has the same boards of PL 4000 .( six boards ) .
I suggest you to replace all caps .
From this point of view generally the most critical board is log amp .
Ciao
Marco
The system works very well with vynils and tapes .
Not always works well with FM tuner in case of severe multi path .
Also Peak Unlimiter is good . ( it's more natural than Dbx )
PL 1000 has the same boards of PL 4000 .( six boards ) .
I suggest you to replace all caps .
From this point of view generally the most critical board is log amp .
Ciao
Marco
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Mark ,
it's strange also for me that PL 4000 and Carver C4000 have no a great reputation .
For me are simply the best due to their special functions .
To be honest the Riaa and line amp are very simple , but for me killing the noise and improving
dynamic range is the right thing to do .
From circuit point of view I believe that AGI 511 A and Yamaha C2 are the best ,
but if there is noise in the sources , slew rate , noise ,etc . are negligible .
IMHO , of course .
Ciao
Marco
it's strange also for me that PL 4000 and Carver C4000 have no a great reputation .
For me are simply the best due to their special functions .
To be honest the Riaa and line amp are very simple , but for me killing the noise and improving
dynamic range is the right thing to do .
From circuit point of view I believe that AGI 511 A and Yamaha C2 are the best ,
but if there is noise in the sources , slew rate , noise ,etc . are negligible .
IMHO , of course .
Ciao
Marco
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It may be that it's a little noisier than other preamps? I have nothing else to judge it against. I play records- no tape, sometimes I connect an iPod, but I mainly play records. Generally speaking, phono stages are a bit noisier than other inputs because the signal has to be amplified more, low level cartridge outputs are to blame.
One classic failing of the PL 4000 / C4000 is the motherboard / daughtercard construction. It's a weak point, often the solder connections crack or break.
To be honest- it sounds fine to me! I have a PL 3000 that isn't working, don't know whether it's worth a repair, but I'd consider a Carver C1 in the future.
One classic failing of the PL 4000 / C4000 is the motherboard / daughtercard construction. It's a weak point, often the solder connections crack or break.
To be honest- it sounds fine to me! I have a PL 3000 that isn't working, don't know whether it's worth a repair, but I'd consider a Carver C1 in the future.
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Mark ,
the critical point of PL 4000 ( first series only ) are the rear Rca connectors .
I had to replace them with an other type . Long and boring job.
My mother boards are O.K. , but the units are assembled with the second version of the mother board.
( the transformer is located on the rear panel ) .
Probably this is the reason that my mother boards are O.K.
About your PL 3000 my suggestion is the restoration .
For preamps , in my opinion , it's better DIY ,
because restoration generally takes many hours of job .
Ciao
Marco
the critical point of PL 4000 ( first series only ) are the rear Rca connectors .
I had to replace them with an other type . Long and boring job.
My mother boards are O.K. , but the units are assembled with the second version of the mother board.
( the transformer is located on the rear panel ) .
Probably this is the reason that my mother boards are O.K.
About your PL 3000 my suggestion is the restoration .
For preamps , in my opinion , it's better DIY ,
because restoration generally takes many hours of job .
Ciao
Marco