Darlington Labs Phono Preamps

I figured it would be useful to give the MP-7 its own thread where I'll be adding more subjective comparisons against other units. Wrote about my experience with the MP-7 vs MoFi StudioPhono to kick it off: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/darlington-labs-mp-7-comparative-review.11262

 

Both of your current cartridges are low-output units (the Pickering a rare low-output MM at 0.31mV), and the AT a 2006-model LOMC) so both would be paired with our upcoming SU-7 or SU-6 head amps. The SU-7 features front panel adjustable resistive loading with four different settings.

For users who switch MM cartridges and have rare units that demand higher Capacitance (manufacturer recommended minimum of 300pF based on our user feedback), we offer an externally- switchable option which is now available on Special Order. Please email us for details if interested. This could be added to existing units 'in the field', if the unit does not already incorporate a Mono switch. Note that there is limited real estate on the rear panel.

Multiple MM-5s, each customized, are another option to consider for someone with extra, rare, oddball, but beloved MM cartridges like the Shure V-15-III.

 

Thanks for the reply Keith and it's nice to see British and American gear made at home employing our own people instead of using Asians paid peanuts by greedy bar stewards who I consider are nothing less than traitors to their own countries.

I bought the Pickering 7500S that was effectively NOS from another WAD forum member about 15 years ago and only got round to using it a year ago. Most of the after market stylii are only just OK but there is an American retipper who uses stylii that are near identical to the stereohydron produced by Pickering and Stanton. What a bloody shame they could'nt have held on for the vinyl revival.

If only I had known that Kenwood were going to sell their KD/KP production line for scrap in 1990. Could probably bought it for around £20K and shipped it to the UK. The bearing assembly operates to tolerances that if they were any finer the whole thing would seize up. About the only thing that could be improved in these Japanese super decks is a simpler design of the Control PCBs - such is life.

 

Your example is not about production in general but one off small time business. Well before the end of the 19th century the USA and Germany put up massive tariffs against British manufacturing, if they had'nt they would never have got off the ground in industrialising their countries. China puts up lots of barriers to foreign production and the only way around it is to produce these products in China, that the Chinese will allow.

Having said that those who are anti-Chinese would do well to remember that the Chinese were civilised and producing first class products when those anti-Chinese had ancestors were only just past loping along on the Steppes at that same time. So to me it's no surprise that Chinese 5G is far ahead of the west. I watch NHK World TV and I see how advanced the Japanese are in medical research, engineering and so many other areas, one of them being audio. I'm not against trade but if ARM had been a Chinese company do you think they would have allowed it to be sold to foreigners - no way. ARM chips are used in so many digital products. It was one of very few British success stories in this field.

I see there is an American company that has developed a brilliant process for storing alt. energy produced electricity - Form Energy, they have patents - will the Chinese honour those patents.

Europeans are not being told the future by their politicians (now there's a surprise) it is rapidly being left behind and in so many ways are Americans. Look at the education systems of South Korea,Taiwan,Japan and Russia. I have a friend who was an areospace engineer in Russia, he left as soon as he could. He is married to an Euskadi (Basque) nurse and at the time his daughter was 10 and I heard her playing Mozart on an electric piano. Igor said "my daughter will never go to university in Spain, she will go to university in Russia, because in Russia you have to work hard, very hard". At the time his daughter spoke Euskadi, Spanish, English and was learning Russian. If you look at the world's top universities there are only a few in the USA as in the UK, most are in the countries I have mentioned.

We have been living in an electronic age since the 1960s' why hav'nt children in the West been studying electronics from age 7. Nearly everything household is made in China,Vietnam, Taiwan., Malaysia, my excellent Marantz CD6007 was made in Taiwan. When I was young there was loads of jobs and living costs were low, now the young face a life of stress unless they are children of the elite. America's economy is virtually totally dependent on consumers buying and what they are buying is mostly foreign made, this can only end badly vamos a ver.

 

PRODUCT UPDATE ANNOUNCEMENT: AVAILABILTY OF A SHARP-CUTOFF SUBSONIC FILTER

We have developed a fixed custom-slope low-frequency filter that is sonically transparent enough to be left in the circuit at all times, but is intended only for users who need it. We foresee three main scenarios where this could be of potential benefit: 1) Subwoofers with a gain structure optimized for digital sources, 2) Limited turntable acoustic isolation, 3) Moderately-to-substantially-underdamped tonearm/cartridge resonance.

We now offer this fixed Subsonic Filter per client request at no cost. It is available for the MM-5, MM-6, and MP-7. As we expect relatively limited interest, buyers can place a regular order via our website and then email us with the order number. Products — Darlington Labs

This filter is nominally a 12dB/octave low-cut (‘high-pass’) using a transfer function of our own design. It is optimized to provide good transient response, and minimum excess phase shift, while being musically unobtrusive.

Specifications are as follows:

70Hz +0.05dB; 50Hz 0dB; 30Hz -0.5dB; 25Hz -1dB; 20Hz -2dB; 17Hz -3dB; 12Hz -6dB; 10Hz -8dB; 5Hz -19dB.

The existing gain elements are used as buffering nodes to eliminate filter section interaction. This means NO additional active gain elements in the circuitry for the best sound quality. The curve is also unaffected by external loading, because the output stage does not contain a section of the filter.