As the title states , I received my Vista Audio Phono ll today .
I had an el-cheapo 12VAC 500mA transformer for a doorbell lying around and took the correct size power jack from an aftermarket laptop PSU that comes with interchangeable connectors and soldered and heat shrunk the lot together . Cool ready to go ! I also plugged the transformer into a lead from my pc , instead of my line conditioner for a worst case scenario , nothing bad happened !
I'm using :
Rega Planar 2
RB251 with Mitchell Techno-weight , wired with 32 AWG Litz
Empire 1000 ZE/X with Pfansteil aftermarket elliptical tracking at 1 gram , output of 5mV
Vista Audio Phono ll with default 47k loading and default 40dB gain
Electrocompaniet EC 4.6 pre
DIY 250w/c LJM L25D Class D power amp
DIY 65l 2-way sealed cabs w Seas Prestige H1280-06 22TFF tweeter and 2x 7" Focal Woofers from Revel F50 ( recalled drivers that have been repaired with proper pigtails )
My test vinyl is The Stranglers - Best Hits ( 1977-90 ) , I often use this LP to test equipment , and know it well , it also has a varied array of songs which mostly seem to be well produced . All I can say is WOW!! , simply incredibly detailed sound . Solid and powerful bass , clear and distinct mids , articulate highs . Good channel separation and wide , deep soundstage . There's a vocal section in "Golden Brown" where the voices seem to weave themselves through the air towards you ... amazing ! I don't think I've ever noticed that this clearly . Good 3-d soundstage check .
On to some classical , the first LP in a Deutsche Grammophon box set of Viennese chamber music is Hugo Wolf's compositions for string in D minor performed by the LaSalle string quartet . Good distinction between the 4 string instruments ( 2 violins , 1 viola and a cello ) . Neutral and accurate portrayal of recorded instruments . Excellent ! Good check for neutrality , which for me is of utmost importance .
There we go , just a quick first impression , I'll post my findings with different loading ( higher and lower ) for the various vintage MM/MI cartridges I possess later on . For now I want to get used to the phono ll with default settings . Boris was kind enough to ship my phono stage with 0 ohm default loading in order for me to try higher loading than 47k too . Set up this way , my phono ll always needs a load resistor " loaded in the slot , the nice bit is that the resistor I insert is the exact load of the resistor .
Thank you again Boris for this beautiful design , that works so very well !
