Eddie Current "Classic" Phonostage

I don't work for EC anymore, so not going to post in the EC section. I will post here. I'll let either Craig or Judi do that (post in the vendor spot).

This is past prototype stage now. The board and design is production. The power boards might change a bit, but the circuit and parts won't change. The boards will be stuffed in old BW2 chassis with a different faceplate since the rest of the BW2 PCBs are unrecoverable, or at least not recoverable without a magnifier and hard work. The working name of this phonostage is "Classic".

I think 2019 is going to be a good year for Golden Schlongs. The DSHA-3F was surely impressive. And now we have this.



A few of you may remember a older two-stage version of this running 6SL7 and 6DJ8 that I brought to a few meets. Two-stage is great, but ultimately the problem is commercial viability. Gain was low and source impedance was too high. It's now 6SL7 to 6SL7 to 6SN7. The 6SN7 is the buffer and adds a bit more gain. Like the earlier version, the RIAA network is passive, not active. This means awesome deep soundstage. Like deep deep deep beyond my walls oh my goodness soundstage. I'm sure this will translate to headstage. I was initially afraid that going to two stages would impact immediacy, but it hasn't. The third stage was needed for more grunt. 6DJ8 is good, but 6SL7 is better.

I almost didn't get this. Craig whipped up two phonostages for a dear friend of his, the older EC Transcription Amplifier, and this. IMO this is better. It depends, if you like romantic and thicker, the Transcription (OOP, that was the last board and Craig can't find the files) is the way to go. If you want a lean, mean, ripped machine, the Classic is the better avenue. Anyway, Craig's friend picked up only the Transcription because he happened to have a load of 12AX7s and also because it was a known quantity in his system.

As configured, with the green lettering Philips JAN 6SL7 (known for being clean and lean - and neutral in the otherwise usually thicker sounding ZDS amp), a European ECC35/6SL7 (lettering came off), and a run of the mill vintage 6SN7 (forgot to look at what, but there is no such thing as a bad vintage 6SN7 with a black base really), the tonality is neutral/lean, but as I said also mean and ripped. The octal tubes aren't sissy soft limp dick things. This is like a lean OJ Simpson in his prime, who can rip your arms off if he wanted to - well, let's not go there.

The preamp is MM. If you want MC, you will need step-ups. I'm using the CHEAPO Jensens, and they are actually pretty damn good. I'll have to grab the pricey Jensens and compare. It's possible the pricey ones might be warmer. Finally, Craig and I suspect that either one of these Jensens sound better than the TOTL Cinemag SUTs, but we really need to do more structured comparisons to be sure of this.

If I could describe the the presentation, it reminds me of a modded TC-750 with a beefy LPS, with its incisive transients and clarity, but with blacker background, way deeper stage, significantly better resolving capabilities, and microdynamics and immediacy out of this world. If you want tubey or romantic go somewhere else.

This thing with the cheap Jensens destroys every $3500-$6000 tube phonostage that I have heard, including much heralded ones such as the Zestos Andro (which I thought was a huge turd and wished @brencho would have talked to me first before he bought that POS) and anything from Manley. I shit you not. There is a reason why I've been using a cheapo $129 Mani and didn't feel comfortable upgrading to a $5k-$7k phonostage which I know my system deserves. The downside is there is no plethora of loading switches on the back. If we want to optimize for specific MM carts, we will have to use an RCA splitter and wire resistors and caps on one end. (I can show you guys how to do this).

Call or e-mail Craig / Judi if you want in. He says a few weeks, but I think it might be more like 90 days. First batch is limited to four or five.

 

Andddd how much is this thing?

 

$799, but don't quote me on it. Craig is a strong adherent to Marx. That's likely the introductory / early-bird price.

He got excited about the Sol, and wanted to offer a high-end solution that didn't bankrupt people trying to get into vinyl.

 

Nice. I want to get in on this. What particular MM carts will work with the stock configuration?

 

I'll ask about the loading. I would assume 47k and find out how many poofs. I wouldn't worry about it too much. The majority of MM carts fit a similar profile. And TBH, it's hard to say without actually listening or measuring. The manufacturers don't publish this information.

The only one that I've used that needed a lower load was the Ortofon 2M Black: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-black-measurements-and-optimal-loading.1899/