[SCompRacer]

Thanks Jim!

Success!  No smoke and flames and both channels play.  Presently it is in the basement retro rig (Yamaha integrated, Polk 7A's w/Peerless tweeters).





Funny, I called Carl and was telling him how great I am and it is, and the speakers start crackling and hissing (Sounded like a bad tube..I hoped...LOL).  I hung up with Carl, shut it down and took a guess. I swapped the 12AU7 out and all is well.  After some hours I'll do voltage and attempt scope tests on it.  Sounds wonderful though.  High marks for Jim's design.

If it passes the tests (doesn't need any changes/adjustments), it will make the rounds with some of the vinyl guys in the Rockford Audio Society from the Club Polk forum.  Eventually, I am sure Carl will be asking for it.

EDIT: Update pictures.

[PatOMalley]

Looks like an old friend. I love that Cornet2 phono preamp with it's Jeep Jimmy WWII style.
You're going to be happy.

[analog97]

Absolutely a masterful job on that build, Rich.  Your attention to detail is beyond impressive.  Looks like your chassis drilling was perfect!!  That's the part that scared me and prompted me to buy that pre-made chassis when Jim had offered those a few years ago.  Congratulations on a job well-done!!  Enjoy the sound and look forward to hearing the reports of amazement.       

[SCompRacer]

Thanks for the kind words Larry.  I have a drill press and do have metal work/machining experience form a race car shop I worked at.  I did have to order a replacement top panel from Lansing ($17).  A burr had caught on the step drill and torn the protective layer of masking tape I applied before drilling.  That burr put some circular scratches in the anodzing around one of the tube holes.  It wasn't that bad, but it did detract from the overall appearance.  I handle this thing with surgical gloves so when Carl gets it, it will be like new.

[schwarcw]

Rich, this finely constructed piece of audio gear looks like a work of art.  It has no equal!    It's somewhat simple in the components, Auricaps, Vampire RCA connectors, a Furutech gold plated copper IEC.  I've got a nice home made cord waiting for it.  The Rectifier is a Bendix 6101, 2 - RCA (1958) 12AX7's, and one Tungsol 12AU7.  I've shipped Rich a pair of 7025 RCA cleartops and a pair of Fisher branded Telefunkens.  Both tested NOS.  Note the power switch is no where to be seen.  Rich did an experiement and tried moving it from front to back while the unt was runny.  NO NOISE!  The power wires are twisted, wrapped with foil and placed inside a conduit.  It is now mounted on the top, front right hand side corner of the chassis.  Ver ergonomic!

Rich's work is first class, I owe him big time.  Thanks Pal!

Carl

[analog97]

Carl and Rich,

One final tip:  A great way to make the Cornet2 look $1,000 better is to remove the tranny sticker.   

[SCompRacer]

Carl and Rich,

One final tip:  A great way to make the Cornet2 look $1,000 better is to remove the tranny sticker.   

Is that legal?   I'll leave that up to Carl.

Thanks for the kind words Carl.  Doug will be here today to hear it.  So I have to get to work and bring up the old Yamaha YP-D10 with AT 440MLa up as the 17D3 on the Nottingham is sub mV.

I edited my prior post # 20 and linked to the updated pictures with an appropriate fall doily beneath it. One with the front mounted switch, and I obtained a White on Black PTouch tape for the rear labeling. 


EDIT:  While doing voltage checks, I snapped a pic of the underside of the rectifier tube.

[schwarcw]

Well I have had the Cornet 2 in my rig now for about two weeks.  I have been burning it in periodically with Hagerman's "FryKleen" and the inverse RIAA filter.  Last night Analog97 came over my house and wanted to hear my new arrival.  Analog had loaned by the Hagerman "Piccolo" as my TT is using a Denon DL-160 which has a 1.6 mV output.  My preamp is a Parasound C2 HT controller and my gain was turned up very high to give me the performance I wanted.  I thought the Piccolo would give it some gain that the unit seemed to lack.  So we set it to 47K loading and 10 dB gain then gave it a spin.  The vinyl rig sounded really good.  However, my Both Analog and I were a little mystifed by the low gain.  Even at the 20 dB level it did not give me the performance that I would have expected.  We changed the loading from 47K to 1K then BANG!!!  At the 10 dB gain setting and 1K loading the whole system came alive.  Lots of gain at a reasonable preamp setting, low noise floor and stunning soundstage.  Both of our jaws hit the floor with the dramatic improvement with the loading change on the Piccolo.  We spend the rest of the night in vinyl bliss.  The Cornet 2 with the Piccolo worked extremely well with the Denon DL-160.  I'm doing an endzone dance!!!

[hagtech]

Excellent!  In my opinion some carts like Denon and Benz work better at 1k loading.  Others, like Dynavector can run really low, like 50 ohms.  My guess is that it is probably proportional to internal winding resistance.  But there are no hard rules.  You have to play with you setup until BANG!  Then you know.

jh