The Gaio wins shoot-out between mm phonostages + head amps for use with mc cartridges.
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/pe ... -cartridge
Gaio wins shoot-out in Analog Planet
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Re: Gaio wins shoot-out in Analog Planet
Thanks for posting this, HansW!
The reason why nobody responded here was that the test you linked to was just then being discussed in another thread: 'Lejonklou Gaio'.
A Gaio owner just informed me of a problem with this particular combination: Apparently the Piccolo Head amp can produce up to +/-10 mV of DC on its output and this will make the Gaio bottom out and deliver around 10 V DC out and zero music. This can potentially destroy you amplifier and/or speaker!
In other words: This combination is possibly dangerous unless one completely blocks the DC voltage out of the Piccolo. This can be done with a capacitor, but not without a slight sound penalty.
The reason why nobody responded here was that the test you linked to was just then being discussed in another thread: 'Lejonklou Gaio'.
A Gaio owner just informed me of a problem with this particular combination: Apparently the Piccolo Head amp can produce up to +/-10 mV of DC on its output and this will make the Gaio bottom out and deliver around 10 V DC out and zero music. This can potentially destroy you amplifier and/or speaker!
In other words: This combination is possibly dangerous unless one completely blocks the DC voltage out of the Piccolo. This can be done with a capacitor, but not without a slight sound penalty.
Re: Gaio wins shoot-out in Analog Planet
I've tried notifying Michael Fremer of this, thinking he might inform his readers.
If anyone knows of a forum where this Head amp + MM stage test is being discussed, can you please notify them of this problem?
It's likely to affect more MM stages than Gaio, as many don't use a blocking capacitor on the input these days and therefore will not operate properly when being fed DC voltage.
If anyone knows of a forum where this Head amp + MM stage test is being discussed, can you please notify them of this problem?
It's likely to affect more MM stages than Gaio, as many don't use a blocking capacitor on the input these days and therefore will not operate properly when being fed DC voltage.