Review: Elekit TU-8500 Full-Function Preamp, Part II

Review: Elekit TU-8500 Full-Function Preamp, Part II
Brief Review: Sparkler S303 CDP, Part II
Talk Vinyl: Fidelity Research MC-202 MC Cartridge, Part II
Brief Review: Lyngdorf CD-2
Yumcha Diary 07-03-2015

Revised 9/2016

See Elekit TU-8500, Part I for Basic Info and First Impressions, and Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI for more.

For initial impression of Sparkler S303, see Part I. For my definitive view after run-in, see Part III.

Day 2 In my Reference System
On Day 2 I took the Elekit to my old house, and hooked it up in lieu of my trusted Leben RS28-CX. I mainly wanted a first glimpse into the phono section.

Equipment Used

Digital: Sparkler S303 CDP (120V; but using my 100V line)(Best Buy 2014; see here and here)
Analog 1: Thorens TD-124 MkI/SME 3009 series 2/Denon DL-103 (briefly mentioned here)
Analog 2: Garrard 301 (grease bearing)/Thomas Schick 12"/Denon DL-103 (Midas)
Comparison Phonoamp: Micromega MyGroov (Best Buy 2014; see here)
Preamp: Elekit TU-8500 (Gain 3x)
Amp: Wavac MD-300B
Loudspeakers: TAD TD-3401

Line Section With the CD (well recorded, as is usual with Daniel Lanois production) of Dylan's Oh Mercy, the Elekit capably served up the requisite jump factor, albeit at this point with a broad stroke. With music that I know this well, even from memory I am fairly certain the Leben resolves just a little more (it better, costing so many times more!). Also, there is a little smearing of the bass which I had not noticed on Day 1 - this could be due to the microphonics or a character of the GE 5965.

MC Phono Section Again, through the Thorens turntable, I played the vinyl (original) of Oh Mercy, which is one of my trusted Test LPs. First, I played it through the Micromega MyGroov (which had received some run-in as I had lent it to my shidi and also trazom), then through the Elekit. The two solid state phonoamps are more alike than different. The Micromega MyGroov might just be a tad sweeter and the Elekit a little lean, but I do think the Elekit resolves a little more detail and has a somewhat larger scale. Promising, considering that the Elekit phono section had not seen a signal before.

I left the Elekit in the house, to be used the next day.

Day 3 In my Reference System 
On this day, shidi came to my place, and we listened for 2 hours. I wanted to get a glimpse into tube rolling and understand the 5965.

5965 vs 6189 I dug out a pair GE 6189 (green letter), a 12AU7 variant. These are humble tubes, not at all the best of 12AU7, but still much better than current productions, and likely a real-world choice for Elekit owners. Actually I think this pair came with my TU-875 long ago, and I had not used them much. The difference is immediately felt.

The 6189 instantly provided a little more air, more fine details and in general a more sophisticated presentation. With the 5965 tube, through the razor-sharp Sparkler S303, CD replay with certain material was a just a trifle overbearing. For instance, the brass of Bruckner 9th (Solti/Chicago/Decca), which shidi requested because we had both recently attended a live performance of Dresden/Theielemann, sounded borderline strident with the 5965 tube, but swapping in the 6189 ameliorated that to a large extent. But there is the other side of the coin: shidi astutely pointed out that the 5965, although rawer, had a faster transient and, despite the lower-mu, more oomph factor. This surprised me a little, but it also shows tube rolling should be fun with the TU-8500. You will hear more about the 5965 later, but I will acquaint myself with the 6189 a little more for now.

MC Phono Section Suddenly I got only intermittent signal from my Thorens right channel, so I switched to the Garrard setup, As before, the Oh Mercy LP sounded distinctly better than the CD, more dynamic gradation and rhythmic finesse. We actually compared it to another more famous phonoamp (won't reveal it at present) and shidi thought the Elekit was better, a little less refined but more wholesome.

Short Note on Sparkler S303
Through the Sparkler S303, Dylan's band simply pulsates, full of electricity. The live atmosphere of the excellent Sarah Vaughn album was also well conveyed. This is a CDP that excels in Rhythm and Pace, hence a good choice for jazz and rock aficionados.

As mentioned above, when the going gets heavy, the CDP can be a little lean with classical and big orchestral stuff. Part of this may be due to the non-oversampling and minimalism. So partner with care.

Note 9/2016: after run-in, the Sparkler gained much ground! See Sparkler S303, Part III.

Yumcha - Audio Takeout
After the session, shidi drove me to Central, where I joined yumcha. After yumcha, I took the Elekit to match with the Spendor SP-100 (more description and previous visits here), but the attempt was not entirely successful. System:

CDP: Lyngdorf  CD-2 (official link)
Analog: Thorens TD-321/SME 3009S3/Fidelity Research MC-202
Preamp: YS Audio Balanced A2
Phonoamp: YS Audio Concerto Plus MC
Amp: YS Audio KT-120 monoblocks


Lyngdorf CD2 Playing the CD of Kondrashin's Scheherazade, although a little less resolving, imho the Elekit was more musical than the more matter-of-fact YS Audio Balanced A2 preamp. Here, I must mention that I have heard the CD2 before at the host's, and also the previous CD1. I think it is a very fine CDP, resolving, dynamic, yet relaxed (for analog lovers, the midrange is a little less rich, yet never wanting).

Fidleity Research MC-202 The resident LP system proved a foil for the Elekit. The Fidelity Research MC-202 had previously belonged to me (see my experience here). With the LP version of the same Scheherazade the sound was slow and lacking in spirit. Surely, the cartridge's low output of 0.17V was too low for the Elekit MC section (nominal 63 db gain; keep in mind the gain of the line section (9.8 db at 3x gain) is not very high either). Somehow, although the total gain is almost 73 db, it sounded like less. The hosts preamp/amp obviously had higher gain and brought the music to live. In fact, I think he got better sound from the MS-202 than I.

At this point, it seems to me the TU-8500's gain structure tends to be more suitable for higher efficiency loudspeakers (like my TAD 3401.)

Watch for Part III, coming very soon.

Talk Vinyl: Thomas Schick Tonearm, Part II

Talk Vinyl: Thomas Schick Tonearm, Part II

Talk Vinyl: Midas body for Denon DL-103, Part II
Talk Vinyl: 3 SUTs - Denon AU-250 and AU-300LC; Fidelity Research FRT-3G

After the initial round of testing (Part I), I decided to try out some SUTs in lieu of the active phono pre-preamplifiers. System remain unchanged otherwise:


Analogue setup: Garrard 301-Thomas Schick 12"-Midas Denon DL-103 (pic above)
Preamplifier with MM stage: Leben RS28-CX
Amp: Wavac MD-300B
Loudspeakers: Tannoy Canterbury HE

left pic: Denon AU-250 atop Leben RS28CX; click to enlarge. Right: AU-300LC


Denon AU-250 vs AU-300LC
Both are entry level SUT from Denon. The AU-250 is from an earlier generation and there is little information on the net.

Spec's Both have 1:10 step-up ratios with input impedance (40 ohm) tailored for the Denon DL-103, certainly the industry standard in Japan, if not the world. The later AU-300LC employs oxygen-free copper (hence the LC designation) and is still a current model. Here is a AU-300LC pdf file. Note that the AU-250 does not have a ground lug on the input side. I found in this setup the Schick does not need to be grounded, which makes life easy.

Sound First, let it be known that the two sound very similar. Both sound completely coherent with the Midas Denon DL-103 and in this setup outperform the active devices previously used. Indeed, on the replay of two seminal canto-pop albums (pics borrowed from my friend LeeHC, from the wonderful vinylparadise), the sound is some of the best analogue sounds I have heard from this setup (although the 12" still remains just a tad slow). As expected from the use of oxygen-free copper, the sound of the AU-300LC has a little more high-frequency content than the AU-250. This is similar to the difference between DL-103R (which also uses oxygen-free copper) and the regular DL-103. However, and this is important, the AU-250 is a little more fleshed out in the midrange. I am not sure which one is better; I think it depends on the system. This round I preferred the AU-250. This reminds me of my experience of the DL-103R: I have not yet personally tried it, but on several systems I heard the 103R tended to be a bit on the lean side and I have always suspected the regular DL-103 is a little more musical. On the canto-pop albums the voices are just a little more real with the AU-250. Keep in mind the differences, though audible, are small.

Denon AU-300LC vs Fidelity Research FRT-3G

Since we are on the AU-300LC, let me bring in another SUT, the FRT-3G, as I have previously compared the two. For this round I was not able to stage a re-match, as I have lent the FRT-3G to a friend.

Spec The spec of the FRT-3G can be found here. Comparison shows it to be very close to the more common FRT-3 in the excellent vinylengine SUT database. Please note that this transformer has two gain settings, and the low-gain one is more suitable for the DL-103. However, the step-up ratio, about 1:20 is twice that of the Denon AU250/AU-300LC. The recommended input impedance (15-40, likely 30 ohm) is likely commensurately lower.

Sound When I compared it some time ago in my own system using the DL-103, I preferred the FRT-3G to Denon's own AU-300LC. In my system the FR proved to be more richly hued. Then I loaned it to a friend. His system:


Analogue: Clearaudio Champion-modified Rega RB-300-Denon DL-103R
Preamp: Audio Research SP-11 MkII
Amp: Rogue Audio KT-88
Speakers: Dali

It is a balanced and good sounding system. On that occasion I also took with me the Denon AU-300LC and compared the two. The result was similar to my earlier findings. The FRT-3G simply sounded richer. Note that in both systems the difference is much greater than the difference between the two Denon's.

It is interesting that with my current setup, the AU-300LC does not really exhibit undue leanness. When I get my FRT-3G back, I am most eager for a re-match. I am also most eager to try the FRT-3G on the FR MC-202 cartridge, as it is a sure match.

Talk Vinyl: Fidelity Research MC-202 MC Cartridge Technics SL-1200 Mk 2

Click pic to enlarge

Talk Vinyl: Fidelity Research MC-202 MC Cartridge, Part I

Talk Vinyl: Technics SL-1200 Mk 2, Part II

Talk Vinyl: Ortofon MCA-76
Talk Vinyl: Audionix ADN-III

Revised March 9, 2015: Fidelity Research MC-202 MC Cartridge, Part II has been published.

Many moons ago, when it was hip to abandon vinyl, a colleague gave me his playback setup, which consisted of an Ariston TT, SME arm, the Fidelity Research MC-202 MC Cartridge and the FRT-3G Step-Up Transformer. I later gave the Ariston to someone else, but kept everything else. Over the years I had used the FRT-3G to excellent effect with my Denon DL-103: it proved to be more richly hued than my humble AU-300LC.

Fidelity Research MC-202 MC
I had promptly forgotten about the cartridge, until recently, when I found it loosely wrapped in a plastic bag. The cartridge does not have a stylus guard but had miraculously survived. Thanks to the Vinyl Engine Database, I found the relevant spec's for the cartridge.

As often with this DJ table, I had to add height to the cartridge by adding a 1 gm spacer. Given the SL-1200 Mk 2's effective tonearm mass of 12 gm, according to VE the resonant frequency tuned out to be okay at 7 Hz.

This is only my initial impression. I had lent out almost all my SUTs and ended up having to use an active pre-preamplifier. So far I tried two, and the results were quite different. Here are the Associated Gears:

Preamplifier: Leben RS28-CX with built in MM phonostage (review here)
Amp: Wavac MD-300B
Loudspeakers: Tannoy Canterbury HE

Alignment Position was very much like the AT-CN5625AL, accomplished in no time.

Tracking Weight I started with the minimum 1.5 gm and got somewhat prominent upper midrange. Using the maximum 2.0 gm the sound was a little slow. Finally I dialed in 1.75 gm, which seemed optimal.


Active Phono Pre-Preamplifiers
+ Ortofon MCA-76 (my previous write-up here) Since I have several Ortofon cartridges (MC3000/5000; Kontrapunkt C/H; all 5 ohm impedance), the Ortofon MCA-76 is the active step-up device I go to in a pinch. Its high gain and design for low impedance are particularly suited to the same companies' offerings. The FR MC-202 has a somewhat higher impedance of 9 ohm. The sound was quite sweet in the lower midrange, a bit too full in the bass and, no matter how I adjusted the VTA and tracking weight, audibly a little lean in the presence region. While quite a bit more detailed than the lowly AT-CN5625AL, the music did not flow as well or the whole fabric did not hang together as well either. I decided to try a different headamp.

+ Audionix ADN-III (spec's here) The Audionix is little known outside Japan. The company used to manufacture vinyl accessories but had long gone defunct. My unit is a 100V one. I had previously used it to good effect with my Denon DL-103. The match brought a more balanced sound to the MC-202: smoother presence region, less sweet lower midrange and a leaner bass. The sound took quite a while to open up, reaching optimum only when the unit is warm to touch. It was not quite as detailed as the MCA-76, but more musical. Hey, except for the loudspeakers and cables, this is afterall almost a total Japanese system!

Cabling is a headache with these active devices, influencing the sound unduly. The Kimber PBJ was just too exaggerated. Finally I settled for a longer than ideal run of Gotham. Much more balanced (as usual).

Initial Impression of the MC-202 is that it is a rather sweet cartridge, not quite as detailed as my Ortofon's nor as soulful as the Denon DL-103. Watch for Part II.