All change on the TT front

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Big Bastard PSU + Phono3

[zebbo]

Yes, yes, it's coming. Not that it will be huge as I am a man of few words!
Off to British Superbikes right now......

[zebbo]

Ok, BBPSU + Phono 3.

Had some friends round on Thursday night, (as the Mrs was out, ), for an evening of good music and a beer or three. All friends present are owners of decent hi-fi systems so know what they are listening to.

We started off using my Phono 2 and played a few albums of various genre from gentle folk, (Mary Black), through some blues, (Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Keb Mo), and some more contemporary stuff, (Imelda May, Dire Straits, etc). As usual the sound did not disappoint, lovely detail, not too much of anything, all pretty natural sounding, just what we've become accustomed to really. The soundstage, while quite nicely presented, has never been huge and often just hints at what might be beyond the confines of my room. I've always assumed that was the limitations of my listening room.

Well, changing over to the BBPSU + Phono 3 blew that theory into the weeds straight away! My god, I swear the back wall of my lounge disappeared! Nothing really changed much musically, the bass is pretty much the same, the detail is pretty much the same, maybe a tiny bit better, but the acoustic that it was all being played in was now just a huge open space. There is an EASE to the sound that is infectious and everything sounds even more natural, even more REAL than it did before. Some albums showed a greater improvement than others, which is to be expected I suppose, being dependant on the quality of production, pressing etc, but one album in particular now sounds absolutely stunning! It's probably just about my favourite album to-date and I have NEVER heard it sound so good - Janis Ian - Breaking Silence. If you don't own it, check it out, if you do then you know what I'm talking about. 100% analogue including the use of valves and it is amazing, musically and technically.

Concerns, questions, caveats?

Because the Phono 3 is different to the Phono 2, how do I know how much of the improvement is down to the new head unit or the massive PSU? I would like to try the Phono 3 with a, still substantial, but physically smaller PSU to see if the humungous BBPSU is completely necessary. Something that doesn't elicit a reaction of "what the hell is that bloody thing?!" would be nice.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

OK time for a fess up. DSJR knows this and I have hinted at it.

1/ NVA phono units are the same and have been for nearly 30 years, over that time it is people and their systems that have caught up with them.

2/ ALL NVA phono units use the same printed circuit board THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM FROM PHONO1 to PHONO3, same circuit, same components.

The differences are in how they are used and how they are power supplied. WHAT YOU ARE HEARING IS POWER SUPPLY!!!! The circuit consists of four gain stages, two per channel, they can be powered separately.

Phono 1 = 30va internal power supply - one voltage reg pcb supplying whole board.
Phono 2 = 120va external power supply - two voltage reg pcbs each supplying a channel + extra PSU adds another 120va external supply, each of the regs and each channel being driven by one each.
Phono 3 unit = four reg pcbs one for each gain stage. Now options for powering this. It could be powered by one or two external standard 120va PSU but extra umbilical leads would have to be added, and pretty much a waste of time. So the minimum would be four 120va external PSU (= 480va). That would end up being £1300, and you would be losing a lot of its potential. The Phono 3 loves big power supplies, it just grows with them, it needs the Big Bastard to make it give its best. The BBPSU is four 1000va transformers and masses of smoothing and bypasses, to the point that I dare not put a mains switch on it as in rush power would damage switch contact, and when new or off for a long time would trip your CU with the current surge, also the pins on the umbilical will burn out and melt each time you unplug and plug even when switched off. A slow start will stop the in rush but also make the unit sound worse.

So what you have is a prototype, it will not go into production as is. The Phono 3 is fine as is but the BBPSU will have to be split into two boxes with two 1000va in each so each can be plugged in separately, and the current XLR plugs on the unbilicals will have to be change for something much more substantial. Price for Phono 3 and two (smaller) BBPSU would be, I estimate, £1800 to £2000, so cost wise the extra £500 or so is a complete necessity in my opinion.

So there you have it, what I hoped to show and prove at the Uddersfield Bake-Off, but bugger it I will use you as initial proof, and Antonio, and others who have heard the range up to the Phono 2 plus extra PSU can also verify.

That is how important proper linear power supplies are and the bigger the better. Now go and read the power supply bollocks being spouted at AoS by Arkless (brainless).

[zebbo]

Ah-ha!
Well, it looks as if I'll have to live with the Phono 2 + 2xPSU for now, (not too much of a hardship), while I save up for one of these babies. I definitely want one and I would guess that anyone else who hears it will, I have no doubt, think the same. I would really like to use the Phono 3 / BBPSU to evaluate the Allnic Puritas I have here. What's the latest I can get it back to you?

For the record: The system used - Garrard 401/SME IV/Benz Gullwing SLR, NVA P90sa, NVA A80s/A60 bi-amping Cube 1

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I missed out an obvious option (gets complicated) a single BBPSU will power a Phono 2 as part of the upgrade process. Each BBPSU will be £650.00, so two traded back standard PSUs means upgrade cost of £250.00

BTW all this bit is now off topic and should be in a NVA room separate thread.

[Bigman80]

How do you find the SME?

[zebbo]

This is my second time around with the SME IV. It's always been a bit of a "lust after" product for me and I picked up a beautiful example to try on the Anniversary but, on there, it just didn't float my boat. It's performance was probably technically good but it sounded, well, just sort of "plain". Difficult to pin down what wasn't right but it didn't work for me so I moved it on. I was gutted. When I decided to build up the Garrard 401 I thought this is another chance to give my "lust after" arm another go. I picked up a reasonably priced, but not quite as pretty, example and got it mounted on the 401. It looks the dogs and this time around it really shines. I had my Wilson Benesch ACT 0.5 fitted previously and the performance of both was really quite close but the SME scored on the quality of the lower frequencies and being generally more "solid" sounding. Mind you, when you consider that the WB is under half the price of a new SME IV to be so close in performance is no mean feat.

[Bigman80]

This is my second time around with the SME IV. It's always been a bit of a "lust after" product for me and I picked up a beautiful example to try on the Anniversary but, on there, it just didn't float my boat. It's performance was probably technically good but it sounded, well, just sort of "plain". Difficult to pin down what wasn't right but it didn't work for me so I moved it on. I was gutted. When I decided to build up the Garrard 401 I thought this is another chance to give my "lust after" arm another go. I picked up a reasonably priced, but not quite as pretty, example and got it mounted on the 401. It looks the dogs and this time around it really shines. I had my Wilson Benesch ACT 0.5 fitted previously and the performance of both was really quite close but the SME scored on the quality of the lower frequencies and being generally more "solid" sounding. Mind you, when you consider that the WB is under half the price of a new SME IV to be so close in performance is no mean feat.

It's definitely a stunning bit of design and engineering. My thoughts on the SME I used were pretty much similar to your original impression. Amazing what difference the actual turntable makes isn't it!

[antonio66]

Any thoughts on the Puritas yet Zebbo?