My MM only phono pre died (kept blowing main fuses), and when I swapped in an MC cart through the MC only input of my integrated amp, found R channel gone (I sort of knew that already but was hoping I hadn’t connected up the cart properly last time i tried it).

my MC cart is a Denon 103R and was already on a headshell attached to my Yamaha YP-D9 TT, so swapped TTs rather than faff around taking the Ortofon 2M Black off the Linn LP12.

so, while my “good” gear is off for repairs, hooked up my old Denon 3806 HT amp (been in storage in the shed for at least 7 years) in Stereo only mode.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, but using my middle of the road Shure M75ED cart through the phono section of the 3806, the quality of the playback was quite superb.  Yes, some inner detail and separation lacking, and perhaps sound staging not as good, but overall it all made satisfying music.

the 3806 was circa $3K + when it came out in 2006, and it garnered great reviews at the time for its stereo performance.  I guess Denon don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to phono stages, and were probably able to pull something rather nice off the shelf to put in this amp?

will have to take the  2M Black off my Linn, and try it on my Yamaha to see if the 3806 is up to noticing the step up in quality.

Plug the LP12/2M Black into the Denon 3806?

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Sept 11, 2019 17:09:27 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

Plug the LP12/2M Black into the Denon 3806?

Yes, should do that first, getting ahead of myself in my planning.  I need some cash, so am thinking I may sell the LP12 if the 2M Black sounds ok on the Yamaha- well at least within 5% of the quality of sound.   Tried selling the Yamaha a while back, but no takers.  Needs must, but will wait for my regular equipment to be back up and running, when I will try the definitive shoot out!

Hooked up the LP12 with Ortofon 2M Black, and the Denon does pick up on the extra nuances of detail, scale, soundstaging and separation. Perhaps not as refined as via my usual rig, but satisfying nevertheless. Playing LPs with phono stage set to “Pure Direct”, bypassing tone controls etc, and turning off display. Direct mode leaves display on.

When I first bought the 3806 I was right into movies, but also wanted good sound as well, so had a hybrid system with Perreaux 200iP integrated amp for music, with the Denon connected via HT loop to enable the Perreaux to control front L & R. Had Dynaudio Audience 85s for fronts, Misssion 753s for rears, a KEF Reference (with hyper tweeter) for centre, and a SW I can’t remember the name of. Man it brought movies to life! In Top Gun you were right there on the flight deck as those jets took off.

My girlfriend at the time was right into Pink Floyd, and we put one of their SACDs on, turned the volume up and up and up! Ended up apologising to the neighbours. It was almost stadium like - impressive!

PS, the outstanding thing was, the sound was clean without distortion, which says a lot for the equipment I was using!

I thought you sold your LP12 at about the same time as you sold your Plinius Jarrah?

That was my first LP12, an early model pre Valhalla. I bought the one I have now about 2 years ago, has Valhalla power supply and Ittok LV11 arm.

I should have said, when describing my then set up with the 3806/Perreaux, for vinyl had an early LP12, Ittok arm, AT0C9 cart, and Jarrah phono. Sold most of it when I retired, but have gradually rebuilt things concentrating on vinyl.

Heard a few more albums through the Denon, and with tracks I know well I can hear differences that I would not like to live with long term. Yes, the phono stage of the Denon does make satisfying music, but it makes changes to some things that my educated ears recognise. For example, it changed the timbre of Neil Young’s voice - still recognisably Neil, but lacking that high nasal tone. Also reverb notes don’t decay in quite the same way I am used to. But I can hear why many with less critical listening habits would be quite happy with the sound,

I will hang on to the amp when my “good stuff” is back, as I still have a hope that one day I will have a separate HT set up, having bought, several years ago, and stored in the shed, a pair of Energy bipolar surround speakers, and a rather nice Dali centre spkr with a ribbon tweeter.

The 3806 has only an opamp for the phono stage (NJM2068) with 3 electrolytic caps in the signal path. Things have moved on since it was designed!
Later opamps have far lower distortion. So I’m not surprised you can hear the tonal anomalies.

AMR-iFi R&D

i had a 3808 briefly but never tried the phono stage.

my current marantz sr6012 is mediocre.