VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

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VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby mandym » Thu Sep 30, 2010 9:28 am

In the Seventies there were some audiophiles that removed the load resistors from their preamps and transfered them to the headshells. This was supposed to improve cartridge damping. Instead of having the interconnect L,C and R have their effects on the damping, why not put the load resistors right next to the cartridge?

"...ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die" as the saying goes. I tried it out and it gave me better sound. Better definition? Less "ringing"? Increased focus? Who knows/cares; just more pleasant and relaxing listening experience :D .

There are many ways to skin a cat but DO NOT EVER SOLDER ON DIRECTLY TO THE CART PINS or your cart is skinned! I did the conversion with a DIY adapter with pins salvaged from a junked computer connector. Users of removable headshells will have an easier time since the resistors can be soldered right on the headshell leads.

The adapter with load resistors soldered in place:
Image

Cartridge with adapter in place:
Image

This tweak was well worth an evening or two at my workbench.
BTW, for MM carts, don't forget to "lift" one end of the original load resistors (normally 47k) in the preamp input to take it out of circuit. Use a pair of good quality 1/4W (better is 1/8W) for the external load resistors.
For MC, the original resistors can probably be left alone, just use low-valued (30 to 300 ohms) at the cart end.
The resistors go between "hot" to "ground" of each channel.
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby audiostar » Thu Sep 30, 2010 11:01 am

Congrats on another fantastic tweak :clap: :clap:
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby Squirrelnutzipper » Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:19 pm

What would be the technical difference? Is it because the loading is at the cartridge and the capacitance of the cabling after the resistance, as opposed to before it? In other words, does the cartridge "see" something different, electrically speaking?
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby alexg » Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:46 pm

Squirrelnutzipper wrote:What would be the technical difference? Is it because the loading is at the cartridge and the capacitance of the cabling after the resistance, as opposed to before it? In other words, does the cartridge "see" something different, electrically speaking?


Capacitance of the cable and the loading resistor shunt to ground forms a CR filter, affects the lower frequency (small attenuation and phase shift). That's how I understand it. :lol:

Rearranging the components avoids this filter.
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby mandym » Thu Sep 30, 2010 5:32 pm

alexg wrote:
Squirrelnutzipper wrote:What would be the technical difference? Is it because the loading is at the cartridge and the capacitance of the cabling after the resistance, as opposed to before it? In other words, does the cartridge "see" something different, electrically speaking?


Capacitance of the cable and the loading resistor shunt to ground forms a CR filter, affects the lower frequency (small attenuation and phase shift). That's how I understand it. :lol:

Rearranging the components avoids this filter.


That sounds very reasonable, but I have thoughts about cartridge resonances being "nipped in the bud" (being dissipated by the load resistor) before they can proceed to excite spurious electrical resonances in the cable. Am I overextending my imagination in an attempt to explain the phenomenon :?: ?

Help, our in-house recording Engineer Sir JackD201!
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby Squirrelnutzipper » Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:15 pm

mandym wrote:
alexg wrote:
Squirrelnutzipper wrote:What would be the technical difference? Is it because the loading is at the cartridge and the capacitance of the cabling after the resistance, as opposed to before it? In other words, does the cartridge "see" something different, electrically speaking?


Capacitance of the cable and the loading resistor shunt to ground forms a CR filter, affects the lower frequency (small attenuation and phase shift). That's how I understand it. :lol:

Rearranging the components avoids this filter.


That sounds very reasonable, but I have thoughts about cartridge resonances being "nipped in the bud" (being dissipated by the load resistor) before they can proceed to excite spurious electrical resonances in the cable. Am I overextending my imagination in an attempt to explain the phenomenon :?: ?

Help, our in-house recording Engineer Sir JackD201!

Interesting. Then the question is, whether this difference is indeed audible. I suppose Mandy can comment on the magnitude of the change.
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Re: VINTAGE TWEAK revisited

Postby mandym » Thu Sep 30, 2010 8:17 pm

Squirrelnutzipper wrote: Then the question is, whether this difference is indeed audible .


Indeed, that is the question.

The difference is subtle, but quite audible. It is not an ear-popper or jaw-dropper. After some "analytical" listening, the most improvement seems to be in better delineation of choral voices. The usual caveat "your mileage may vary" applies.

Is it worth the trouble? To the seasoned tweaker, it certainly is.To mere mortals, get your feet wet and start your metamorphosis :) . To lesser mortals, it is not worth the hassle.

I am making another adapter to go with my Denon 103. We'll see (hear) what happens.
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