slowGEEZR
Well-known member
Hi. I'm a new member and have read some great posts here. I'm looking for some advice from the forum members, who seem to have a great deal of knowledge regarding all things audio. Recently, I’ve decided to slowly get back into vinyl. I’ve got plenty of records that have been sitting for many years. My integrated amp doesn’t have a phono section, so I purchased the little Bellari Phono Preamp that Stereophile recommended. First, let me say that I was amazed at how good my records sound when listening through the headphone jack on the Bellari. The sound is every bit as good as the sound I hear coming from CD or SACD through my MF X-CAN V3 headphone amp. Now, here’s the problem. When I use the Bellari as a phono preamp to my amp, the sound coming from my speakers (ML Aerius) is not nearly as good. It sounds like the highs are very much attenuated and drums sound wooden. It’s like a blanket was placed between the speakers and my listening area. If the volume is turned up, I can then hear the highs, but then the overall sound is very loud. I should say here that the speakers sound very similar to my headphones when using digital sources.
Does anyone know if the headphone amp portion of the Bellari uses the same amplification circuitry as the Preamp portion? It’s hard to believe the difference in the sound quality between them. I changed interconnects, but the changes were minute. I guess I could try to roll some tubes, but I’m not sure that would make that much of a difference. I really like the headphone sound from the Bellari and will keep it just for that, but unless I can open up the sound on the preamp portion I’ll have to buy another phono preamp. I’ll give it another week of break in and see if there is any difference. Maybe that's it, it's not yet broken in. Any advice? Since records sounded great through the headphone jack, I think I can eliminate the turntable and cartridge as the problem. The amp (Krell) also shouldn’t be the problem, unless there is some impedance mismatch (possible?) or the circuitry (both the line in within the Krell and the Bellari itself) isn’t burned in (which is hard to believe could cause that much difference). Thanks, Steve.
Does anyone know if the headphone amp portion of the Bellari uses the same amplification circuitry as the Preamp portion? It’s hard to believe the difference in the sound quality between them. I changed interconnects, but the changes were minute. I guess I could try to roll some tubes, but I’m not sure that would make that much of a difference. I really like the headphone sound from the Bellari and will keep it just for that, but unless I can open up the sound on the preamp portion I’ll have to buy another phono preamp. I’ll give it another week of break in and see if there is any difference. Maybe that's it, it's not yet broken in. Any advice? Since records sounded great through the headphone jack, I think I can eliminate the turntable and cartridge as the problem. The amp (Krell) also shouldn’t be the problem, unless there is some impedance mismatch (possible?) or the circuitry (both the line in within the Krell and the Bellari itself) isn’t burned in (which is hard to believe could cause that much difference). Thanks, Steve.