Hagerman Piccolo

The Hagerman Piccolo in DIY kit form arrived from USA by post today. From the photo of the pcb, the surface mounted FETs (6 pcs) are already in place. I purchased from them the 2 power supply ICs and they too were soldered on. The only components left were the capacitors and resistors. I intend to use it without the rotary switches which control gain and input loadings, so had jumpers in place of the switches S1 and S2.

Thorhauge MC step up pre-amplifier

I traded my Linn turntable (without arm) for a Thorhauge. It is a solid state discrete FET battery powered pre-amplifier with 26dB gain. In fact when this friend from Penang suggested it to me, I have already placed my order for the DIY kit of Hagerman Piccolo FET moving coil head amp which also recomended battery power supply.

On using the Thorhauge, I find it absolutely quite and noiseless, and eventhough the gain is high all the slight hum present when using transformer MC step up was completely gone. Changing the input loading between 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 & 250 ohms has the effect of some treble and gain boost or cut. Still have not got the optimum setting yet.

When the Hagerman Piccolo arrives, I intend to house it inside the Thorhauge and keep their individual set of inputs/outputs separate and only share a common power supply.

Phono cartridges

Now I have 4 cartridges:

1) Rega Bias MM cartridge

2) Benz Micro MC20E2L MC cartridge

3) Denon DL103R MC cartridge

4) Lyra Dorian MC cartridge

Three of them shown below:

Comparing the cantilever, the Benz Micro (red body) is no different from the Rega (green) which is an MM cartridge. The Lyra's solid boron cantilever is only about half the diameter.

With only one tonearm in use and the difficulty to rotate them, not to mention the risks involved in switching cartridges often, I decide to sell the first two. Since I have a Linn Itok LVII lying around, I will mount the Denon on it and add this second tonearm to my AS turntable. Suitable components are ordered or in the process of fabrication.

Lyra Dorian

Finally received my Lyra Dorian, bought used via Echoloft Singapore. My most expensive cartridge so far, it costs RM1,350 used and it is an entry level Lyra, in fact the cheapest LYRA and the stylus is from Namiki, not the usual Ogura. Talk about the embarrasing purchasing power of Malaysians using the Ringgit. Condition when received is good, and tested well on my AS turntable and Kuzma arm. The frequency response at both ends seems to be better than the Denon 103R and more detailed. The only setback is it sensitivity to groove noise making it unsuitable to play older/noisy records and the output is rather high - in fact too high such that I have to figure out how to reduce the MC step up gain without degrading the sound. The pictures below tell a thousand words.......

Room

The pictures show how the arrangement in the same room evolved over time. The AV equipment remains the same : BENQ PE7700 dlp projector and SONY AV333ES amplifier driving Arcaydis AK3 and center speakers and Wharfedale rear speakers.

In 2007:

April 2008:

October 2008:

January 2009:

Linn LP12

I still keep the classic old favourite : Linn LP12 turntable that has been fitted with many tonearms and cartridges over some 25 years. Here, I have pictures of it with Fidelity Research FR-12 arm, Linn Basik LVX (SOLD) and Linn Ittok LVII (current arm). The Ittok has been Cardas rewired and a joint removed.

Mullard M8137 NOS tubes

I have a pair of these Mullard tubes installed in my phono stage (SOFTONE Model 4) replacing the stock tubes - SOVTEK 12AX7LPS. These NOS Mullard M8137 are also milliatry specs CV4004 (equivalent to 12AX7) and are much sought after for pre amp use.

Tale of 2 cartridges

The renowned Denon DL103R has been around for 20 years and still in production. I have a brand new one fitted to Linn Ittok LVII.

And later I bought a lightly used Benz Micro MC20E2L (low output) moving coil cartridge from a friend in the US. The MC20E2L was fitted to the Kuzma arm.

Which do you think sounds better? They say the Benz is lacking low bass but not in my system. I find the bass wonderful and treble clear and airy. They both cost about RM600 to RM800 each.

Kuzma Stogi S univpivot tonearm

I bought the excellent tonearm from a friend in Penang and it comes complete with box, manuals and setting up tools. I never used a unipivot before so I thought I give it a try on my new Acoustic Signature Challenger turntable. This tonearm is quite highly rated by The Abosulte Sound magazine and is solidly built. Other famous current unipivots that comes across my mind : Graham Phantom, Naim Aro and JMW 9.


I need to machine the arm base hole on the Acoustic Signature from 28mm to 30mm and add 3 fixing holes of 6mm in order to securely mount the Stogi S.

Softone Model 4 phonostage

This is the Softone Model 4 phono stage, very well designed and made in Japan. It has ample gain for MC cartridges and muting function. It uses relays for switching inputs and MC cartridges are routed to a pair of step up transformers. Its stock tubes are a pair of Sovtek 12AX7LPS. I bought it used from a man from California and need a voltage step down transformer as it is 120V version, but its not a problem as the power consumption is a low 15W. The seller has already swapped the stock tubes with a pair of NOS Mullard M8137 (CV4004) which sounded excellent. The gain is a high 69dB and there is no noise and hum.

High quality inputs and components used throughout. Already a good value at the online price of USD650, I bought it for USD400.

Boston Audio Mat 1

This Boston Audio Mat 1 is 3mm thick solid graphite mat coated with special clear paint. It is relatively heavy and replaces the stock felt mat of the turntable. Records played with it underneath sounds clearer and cleaner. Sometimes I prefer it with and at times without the Michell record clamp.

Aragon 8008ST

Two months ago, I added a used Aragon 8008ST bought in Singapore to drive the stereo subwoofers of the Apogee minigrands. The 8008 is rated at 200W/400W into 8/4 ohms. The crossover point is 80Hz according to the manual of the Apogee active crossover, and now the Classe Audio DR9 power amplifier and Apogee bass panels are relieved of large signals below 80Hz. The sound is more relaxed and can be played at higher volume.

The 2kW torroidal transformer provided sufficient juice and control of the 2 units of 8" woofers per channel.

Promitheus Audio DAC and Bursons Discrete Op Amps

The above is the Promitheus Audio DAC which uses the non over sampling concept and has 2 separate output transformers, one for each channel. The DAC uses 2 IC Op Amps, one for each channel - the Phillips 4532.

The Bursons Audio discrete Op Amps replaces the stock IC Op Amps and a separate power supply capable of supplying +/- 18V regulated is added and the difference is clearly shown in the photos below. Before and after the changes.




This was done a few months back and the problem was the output of the Bursons Op Amps are not null (not zero) and cannot be adjusted. Hence a small dc voltage is fed to the output transformers. Although the output is still pure ac since the transformers block dc voltage from going to the secondary coils, the primary coils are slightly magnetised due to the dc voltage. I checked with Promitheus' Mr Nicholas Chua and he explained that a very small dc voltage is advantegous - small in the order of up to 20mV. But mine was way above that level. So, I ended up with dc blocking (coupling) capacitors - some 40uF each side, temporarily. I complained to Bursons, more on that later...

Acoustic Signature Challenger turntable

Now, the main source is from this turntable which was bought used from a Singaporean. The TT is equipped with its own outboard power supply unit which outputs 12VAC (frequency adjustable) and preset at 2 speeds 45 & 33.3 rpm. It replaces the Linn LP12/Ittok LVII that has been around since 1980 and still performing well.

A Boston Audio Mat-1 solid graphite platter mat replaces the stock felt mat.

The tonearm is a unipivot Kuzma Stogi S bought from a friend in Penang. Cartridge options : Denon DL103R and Benz Micro 20E2L both moving coils. Phonostage is Japanese made Softone Model 4 which uses built-in step up transformers for MC inputs and 2 Sovtek 12AX7LPS tubes for amplification. The stock tubes have been replaced with NOS Mullard M8137s (CV4004). More on these later ....