If one needs only MM and no headphone output, does the Solo do what the Duo does as far as measurements?
If one needs only MM and no headphone output, does the Solo do what the Duo does as far as measurements?
I doubt that anyone here has measured the Solo. But you might want to check the owner's manual (one manual for the two products). Oddly enough, the Solo and Duo differ in the spec for RIAA Curve accuracy. +/-0.65 dB for the Solo, +/-0.3 dB for the Duo. The subsonic filters also differ. You can download the manual, e.g. here --
https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CASOLO
Input impedance is pretty much standardised at 47k for MM cartridges. What isn't standardised is input capacitance, as that depends very much on the cartridge, and the capacitance of the arm cables and arm-phono stage interconnect cables. Capacitance makes a considerable difference to a cartridge's frequency response, so should be switchable, or have loading plugs. However, unless one tunes by ear and chooses what sounds 'best', one needs an accurate frequency response test record and a means of measuring level accurately, i.e. an audio millivoltmeter.Please excuse my ignorance but I'm fairly new to phono equipment and all the testing and I'm trying to understand all this better.....
Wouldnt it be better if the Duo had settings for input impedance? Do they basically just use a generic factor that should work for every cartridge? If so does that mean you will see different volume levels with differed cartridges (that have different output voltages). For instance if my cartridge output is 3mv and another is 5mv wouldnt the 3mv have a lot less volume?
And if so, would distortion go up and down with this? Where having adjustments kind of levels everything out to keep everything in a sweet spot of low distortion? I read somewhere that different cartridges need to see certain amounts of impedance load to perform their best and operate at their spec distortion levels.
If that's true then wouldnt the input impedence adjustments be very important?
Input impedance is pretty much standardised at 47k for MM cartridges. What isn't standardised is input capacitance, as that depends very much on the cartridge, and the capacitance of the arm cables and arm-phono stage interconnect cables. Capacitance makes a considerable difference to a cartridge's frequency response, so should be switchable, or have loading plugs. However, unless one tunes by ear and chooses what sounds 'best', one needs an accurate frequency response test record and a means of measuring level accurately, i.e. an audio millivoltmeter.
Some MM cartridges may benefit from a different load to 47k, combined with capacitance, and that's even more complicated, so very much a labour of love to get it right. Obsessives might prefer a phono stage with external loading plugs rather than switchable loading so any combination of R&C can be tried.
Fortunately low output MC cartridges are much less sensitive to loading, to the point where it hardly matters. As long as the load is 10x the cartridge's own resistance, it makes hardly any difference. If a LOMC cartridge has, say, a 20 ohm resistance, then as long as it gets more than a 200 ohm load, its frequency response will be what it is, regardless. High Output MCs are slightly more sensitive, but nowhere near the levels that MM cartridges are, and as with MMs, most HOMC are designed for a standard 47k loading. In the case of HOMCs, capacitance matters much less, so is seldom catered for as phono stages that offer switchable capacitance offer something between 100pF and a few hundred pF, which will have little effect on a HOMC and no effect on a LOMC.
S.
That's right. Every MM cartridge I know of is designed for a load of 47K.I just didnt want to get a Duo or Solo then a year later want a cartridge that isnt 47k....but your saying 47k is nearly a standard so it shouldnt be a issue.
That's right. Every MM cartridge I know of is designed for a load of 47K.
S.
Fortunately low output MC cartridges are much less sensitive to loading, to the point where it hardly matters. As long as the load is 10x the cartridge's own resistance, it makes hardly any difference. If a LOMC cartridge has, say, a 20 ohm resistance, then as long as it gets more than a 200 ohm load, its frequency response will be what it is, regardless. High Output MCs are slightly more sensitive, but nowhere near the levels that MM cartridges are, and as with MMs, most HOMC are designed for a standard 47k loading. In the case of HOMCs, capacitance matters much less, so is seldom catered for as phono stages that offer switchable capacitance offer something between 100pF and a few hundred pF, which will have little effect on a HOMC and no effect on a LOMC.
S.
Thank you for all the info! I appreciate it
Up to now I just plugged a turn table into a receiver and didnt give much thought to it. Now going with seperates and a seperate phono pre and all that, I have to actually understand some of this lol.
Total bollocks, but then why would I be surprised?And yet there have been millions of words written in the audio press about how particular LOMC cartridges are to loading. Hmm.
In case somebody else wants to know: I recently asked the Cambridge Audio support for the Duo's RCA output impedance, as I would like to connect it to an 'RME Adi-2 Pro' [the series has an - unbalanced - input impedance of 9,000 Ω].
I was told that, unfortunately, the output of the 'Duo' is around 20,000 Ω. This seems a bit high to me but they verified the information; I was hoping for something below 900 Ω...
With its 20,000 Ω output impedance, connected to an 'RME Adi-2 Pro', the signal loss would be 10.16 dB and this is a lot to recover. Any idea for a (simple) workaround?
Probably coil whine from the integrated switching power supply. I've had several (older) PC monitors do this, it seems to be getting rather worse with age (secondary-side capacitor ESR?).I picked this up on the recommendation of the forum. Mine has a high-pitched whine when it's turned off, surprisingly - it goes away when it's powered on. I don't know if I've ever had a piece of electronics act like this.
Anybody know what would cause this? I asked Cambridge customer support and they have no idea.
Thanks for the reply back. I sent it back to Cambridge with a note asking the tech to let me know what they found, but no word back yet...<1 kOhm does in fact seem way more likely.
I noticed this one hadn't received any answer yet:
Probably coil whine from the integrated switching power supply. I've had several (older) PC monitors do this, it seems to be getting rather worse with age (secondary-side capacitor ESR?).
You'd think that the power supply in a unit like this would be low enough in power for coil whine not to be a major issue. If this is not typical, I would suspect that a coil may have a loose winding (people have tried to quieten them down with some success), or a secondary-side electrolytic cap being bad.
Looks like Cambridge Audio's tech support may be outsourced just like their designs.
I think they got it wrong, even if they did 'verify' it. Unless they're taking the output from a pentode's anode, NO SS output will have such an output impedance unless really perverse.In case somebody else wants to know: I recently asked the Cambridge Audio support for the Duo's RCA output impedance, as I would like to connect it to an 'RME Adi-2 Pro' [the series has an - unbalanced - input impedance of 9,000 Ω].
I was told that, unfortunately, the output of the 'Duo' is around 20,000 Ω. This seems a bit high to me but they verified the information; I was hoping for something below 900 Ω...
With its 20,000 Ω output impedance, connected to an 'RME Adi-2 Pro', the signal loss would be 10.16 dB and this is a lot to recover. Any idea for a (simple) workaround?