- Joined
- May 1, 2013
- Messages
- 7,163
- Location
- Australia
- Tagline
- Those who enter the man cave will get WOPLed
It was time for an upgrade from the Cambridge Audio 651p, which was my first external Phono Pre.
Diving into the land of valve pres since building that Line Level preamp, I was curious about how valves would sound in a Phono Stage, only one way to find out and that was to buy one.
The Project Tube Box DS came with one Valve branded Telefunken, which I hear are well respected. The other valve however, had no brand name on it, but had a number printed on the top similar to the Telefunken. Considering it is a second hand unit, the valves would have been broken in nicely. The originals sounded great to my ears, however I really wanted to hear Genalex Gold Lion ECC83 valves which are also installed in the line level Pre. I swapped these over with good results, and there are 3 sets of spares up my sleeve (Telefunken, Sovtech, Electro Harmonix, Branded Valves). I may swap them back from time to time to compare a bit more.
The results are good, much smoother than the Cambridge, mind blowing bass, I really like the effect a Valve Phono Pre has. Every record revisited offers something more that wasn't there before. Isn't it great fun to revisit your favorite albums through new gear? Big part of this hobby that never ends.
You can change Gain, and Capacitance (pF) settings using the jumpers at the back of the unit. Connectors are gold plated, the unit is quite heavy for its small size. The dial on the front is for adjusting of input impedance (moving coil only).
I have this running off the Atten APS3003S-3D DC regulated power supply @ 18.5 Volts
Diving into the land of valve pres since building that Line Level preamp, I was curious about how valves would sound in a Phono Stage, only one way to find out and that was to buy one.
The Project Tube Box DS came with one Valve branded Telefunken, which I hear are well respected. The other valve however, had no brand name on it, but had a number printed on the top similar to the Telefunken. Considering it is a second hand unit, the valves would have been broken in nicely. The originals sounded great to my ears, however I really wanted to hear Genalex Gold Lion ECC83 valves which are also installed in the line level Pre. I swapped these over with good results, and there are 3 sets of spares up my sleeve (Telefunken, Sovtech, Electro Harmonix, Branded Valves). I may swap them back from time to time to compare a bit more.
The results are good, much smoother than the Cambridge, mind blowing bass, I really like the effect a Valve Phono Pre has. Every record revisited offers something more that wasn't there before. Isn't it great fun to revisit your favorite albums through new gear? Big part of this hobby that never ends.
You can change Gain, and Capacitance (pF) settings using the jumpers at the back of the unit. Connectors are gold plated, the unit is quite heavy for its small size. The dial on the front is for adjusting of input impedance (moving coil only).
I have this running off the Atten APS3003S-3D DC regulated power supply @ 18.5 Volts