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Post by farfam on Feb 19, 2018 23:04:51 GMT -5
Hello to all, love the board here! I've currently got an onkyo p-3160 preamp driving an emo bass a-300 amp. My question is whether I will notice an appreciable improvement with the pt-100 phono section with my yamaha yp-d6 turntable with nagaoka mp-200 cartridge. Thanks in advance!
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Post by novisnick on Feb 20, 2018 0:13:36 GMT -5
Welcome aboard, the more the merrier!
ive found the phono preamp in the PT-100 to be as good as Emotivas stand alone phono preamp. I highly recommend it. Ive owned many a Yamaya AVR at all price points but never a Onko, sorry I can’t help you there.
Emotiva has a 30 return period and that unit has no amp so it would be very inexpensive to ship back if you didnt like it for some reason. I have the TA-100 and its a keeper as far as im concerned.
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 0:41:42 GMT -5
Welcome aboard, the more the merrier!
ive found the phono preamp in the PT-100 to be as good as Emotivas stand alone phono preamp. I highly recommend it. Ive owned many a Yamaya AVR at all price points but never a Onko, sorry I can’t help you there.
Emotiva has a 30 return period and that unit has no amp so it would be very inexpensive to ship back if you didnt like it for some reason. I have the TA-100 and its a keeper as far as im concerned.
View Attachment Thanks for the info. I just recently picked up a pair of psb stratus goldi's, which are a great sounding speaker, but a difficult load. My a-300 drives them fine with CD as a source, but it seems to struggle with the turntable, so I'm hoping the pt-100 will help with that. |
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Post by knucklehead on Feb 20, 2018 0:52:57 GMT -5
If you like your Onkyo preamp but don't care for the phono equalizer why not try the XPS phono preamp?
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 1:29:12 GMT -5
If you like your Onkyo preamp but don't care for the phono equalizer why not try the XPS phono preamp? The onkyo doesn't have digital inputs, the choice of mm\mc carts, and the fm tuner--all things I may take advantage of in the future. I've read that the phono pre in the pt100 is the same one emotiva uses on all their stuff, so it seems the pt100 is a good value also. Besides, it may help all my sources sound better! |
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Post by jason05216 on Feb 20, 2018 7:42:50 GMT -5
I've got a PT-100 and an A-300, one thing I have noticed with mine is that the gain on the phono stage is lower than the other inputs. I don't have any issues with it but I d have to run the volume setting higher in order to get similar volume to the other inputs.
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Post by stads77 on Feb 20, 2018 8:11:24 GMT -5
I've got a PT-100 and an A-300, one thing I have noticed with mine is that the gain on the phono stage is lower than the other inputs. I don't have any issues with it but I d have to run the volume setting higher in order to get similar volume to the other inputs. This is true of nearly every phono stage I have used. |
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Post by jason05216 on Feb 20, 2018 8:33:31 GMT -5
I've got a PT-100 and an A-300, one thing I have noticed with mine is that the gain on the phono stage is lower than the other inputs. I don't have any issues with it but I d have to run the volume setting higher in order to get similar volume to the other inputs. This is true of nearly every phono stage I have used. I hadn't experienced that before on other equipment I have had. As far as I am concerned I think the phono stage sounds great. |
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Post by brutiarti on Feb 20, 2018 8:55:04 GMT -5
I've got a PT-100 and an A-300, one thing I have noticed with mine is that the gain on the phono stage is lower than the other inputs. I don't have any issues with it but I d have to run the volume setting higher in order to get similar volume to the other inputs. Pretty normal situation |
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 9:13:56 GMT -5
Sounds like the phono stage on the pt100 is a winner. I've got a couple pieces to unload, then I think I'll pull the trigger. Hopefully they'll still be in stock!
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KeithL
Administrator 
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Post by KeithL on Feb 20, 2018 10:41:48 GMT -5
The gain on the phono stage is actually MUCH higher than on any of the line level inputs. But the level of the input signal coming from the phono cartridge is extremely low. And different phono cartridges have very different output levels. And, finally, different albums may also be recorded at different levels. The difference you're hearing is a combination of how all of those factors relate to each other. (And it really makes no difference - since all it means is that you'll end up with the Volume control at a slightly different setting for that input.) This is true of nearly every phono stage I have used. I hadn't experienced that before on other equipment I have had. As far as I am concerned I think the phono stage sounds great. |
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Post by jason05216 on Feb 20, 2018 11:24:17 GMT -5
The gain on the phono stage is actually MUCH higher than on any of the line level inputs. But the level of the input signal coming from the phono cartridge is extremely low. And different phono cartridges have very different output levels. And, finally, different albums may also be recorded at different levels. The difference you're hearing is a combination of how all of those factors relate to each other. (And it really makes no difference - since all it means is that you'll end up with the Volume control at a slightly different setting for that input.) I hadn't experienced that before on other equipment I have had. As far as I am concerned I think the phono stage sounds great. I agree that it makes no difference other than that first time I switched from the phono input to the optical input and the volume was much louder. Lesson learned to pay attention to that. |
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 13:29:53 GMT -5
I've always had a drop in overall volume with phono, it's just that now with the pan's being a hard load to drive, the a-300 kinda struggles it seems. I was hoping may be my old onkyo phono section was getting tired and the pt100 would help. Otherwise I'll have to get a beefier amp. The pan's can drop to a 2 ohm load at times. Can the a-300 handle that?
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 13:30:57 GMT -5
I've always had a drop in overall volume with phono, it's just that now with the pan's being a hard load to drive, the a-300 kinda struggles it seems. I was hoping may be my old onkyo phono section was getting tired and the pt100 would help. Otherwise I'll have to get a beefier amp. The pan's can drop to a 2 ohm load at times. Can the a-300 handle that? That's psb's not pans. Damn autocorrect! |
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KeithL
Administrator
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Post by KeithL on Feb 20, 2018 14:34:22 GMT -5
I'm a little confused with what you're actually saying here..... What do you mean when you say: "the A-300 kind of struggles"? Is it distorting when you try to turn it up? (I'm guessing not.) Gain structure (which is a fancy way of saying "how much power you get with what Volume knob setting") is just a design choice. It isn't more difficult to design an amplifier with more gain, and it doesn't cost more; the choice is usually based on a minor tradeoff between gain and noise floor. Many speakers drop below their rated impedance over part of the frequency range.... and most good quality amplifiers have no problem with it. The ability of the amplifier to drive the speakers really has very little to do with the signal source you're using. (If an amplifier were really having trouble driving your speakers, it wouldn't have more trouble with vinyl than with a CD or FM.) If you had a situation where the Volume knob was literally all the way up, but you still couldn't get records to play at full volume, then you could have a mismatch in gain structure. (And, in order to fix that, you would need more gain somewhere - whether it was an amplifier with more gain, or a phono preamp with more gain, or a cartridge with a higher output.) However, as long as that's not the case, having to set the Volume knob a little higher with one source than with another does NOT mean that "something is trying really hard" or "something is having trouble". I've always had a drop in overall volume with phono, it's just that now with the pan's being a hard load to drive, the a-300 kinda struggles it seems. I was hoping may be my old onkyo phono section was getting tired and the pt100 would help. Otherwise I'll have to get a beefier amp. The pan's can drop to a 2 ohm load at times. Can the a-300 handle that? |
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 15:05:08 GMT -5
I think part of the problem is that these speakers are much more revealing than the polk monitor 7's I was using previously. Bad pressings/recordings on vinyl may be the culprit. I still may order the preamp for it's added features and if it helps this problem so much the better!
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Post by Soup on Feb 20, 2018 17:42:46 GMT -5
Sounds like the phono stage on the pt100 is a winner. I've got a couple pieces to unload , then I think I'll pull the trigger. Hopefully they'll still be in stock! What do you have to sell? Free listings at the Emporium............ emotivalounge.proboards.com/board/12/emporium |
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Post by farfam on Feb 20, 2018 18:48:08 GMT -5
Sounds like the phono stage on the pt100 is a winner. I've got a couple pieces to unload , then I think I'll pull the trigger. Hopefully they'll still be in stock! What do you have to sell? Free listings at the Emporium............ emotivalounge.proboards.com/board/12/emporiumI'll check it out, thanks! |
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Post by farfam on Feb 26, 2018 13:45:33 GMT -5
Pt-100 arrives today! I ended up finding a used one with half the warranty still left and saved a good chunk in the process. I'll report back after I've given it a test run.
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Post by farfam on Feb 26, 2018 22:18:17 GMT -5
Listening to quadrophenia on vinyl now, sounds very good! Still trying to find my way around on the remote, but I'll get it figured out.
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