Beta Test Impressions for New Stellar Phono Preamp!

Quit picking on us Canadians Eh ! :rofl:

Loads of great Canadian artists like KD Lang, Leonard Cohen, etc. Just don’t think of Celine in that category. I also pick on my wife who is French Canadian… and then she laughs at me because I’ve got a fair bit of Nova Scotia blood in me.

And you know the old saying “opinions are like assholes, they all stink”. I hope this isn’t too raunchy for this forum!

Back to Stellar Phono Preamp reviews please. I’m just getting started with listening to mine after about a week of break in. Hope to report back later this weekend.

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I’m a Hamiltonian through and through but I live & work in Phoenix, AZ for the last 5 years. Not hurry to go back :cold_face: :cold_face:.

I’ll take melting outside (staying hydrated of course) over -40 Celsius up in Ottawa (but i miss free Health Care & The Rideau Canal).

Ok. Massive, and i mean MASSIVE shout out to @jamesh for going above and beyond, and also to the shipping folks at PSA.

This was a SAGA.

I was on the original beta, and the thing sounded great on the MM side. But I experienced some weirdness with noise on the MC side, so I sent the SPP back to PS Audio. Not sure what they found with my specific unit, but james said it sounded like some might have had some noise/interference issues that have since been sorted.

So, at the beginning of March, I decided to pull the trigger again. (Plus, I could get a black one, which was the color I wanted originally but they didn’t have available.)

Anyway, I had redirected the box to the local Fedex office like I normally do with expensive stuff, but by the time it arrived, the world had changed, and I was hesitant to go pick it up. (A little paranoid, perhaps.)

I kept checking with the Fedex place to see if they’d bring it outside, so I wouldn’t have to go in – but no go. Even thought I might go there with a pair of crutches and pretend i was injured and couldn’t lift the package. But we were in stay-at-home mode, and I just felt it was silly to go.

Anyway, it sat at the Fedex place until it automatically got returned to PSA. James and I were in touch, and he kept saying “no worries” and he said they’d just turn it right back around to me when it was delivered back to them. Which they did, and it just arrived today.

A quick wipe-down of the packaging with a clorox wipe and I was in business.

I’ve got my Thorens TD-126 with an Ortofon MC20 and SUT into the MM side, and my TD-150 with a Denon DL301 MKII into the MC side.

Both sound fabulous.

THANK YOU.

SPP is on the left, under the TD-126.

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Your elephant couldn’t carry it for you? Nice set up
Chas

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he’s only a baby

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Glad to hear, no animal cruelty. :smile:
Chas

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Damn…Darren’s Stellar Phono Pre is draining my wallet buying new vinyl! And I’ve got vinyl back to the ‘50s. But the in-my-room feeling is just putting my wallet on the line.

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Another recent owner of the SPP (technically not part of the beta program) and thoroughly enjoying the experience. Loads of vinyl passed under the stylus last night with “stellar” results. Sorry couldn’t resist! A fine balance of midrange warmth and top end sparkle. Noticed a bit more surface noise as compared to the Parasound JC3 Jr. this replaces. However this is likely a small price to pay for what is improved transient performance.

Will report back as more miles pile up.

Congrats to the SPP for the positive review in today’s “Part-Time Audiophile”.

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Yeah, it’s good once more, but somehow a little inexpressively. I expected more than that it sounds neutral.

OK I found what I was looking for as quoted from the HIFi News review " LEDs used to bias the constant-current sources". I am not sure if it is the same as the “LDR’s” which is used in the Tortuga Audio LDR Preamps which they say they use to control volume, see link below. Anyway I am intrigued by the Stellar so I just ordered one to try against my PH9.0 which I gotten to work with a outboard SUT but it introduces too much noise.

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Guess I killed the thread :cold_face:

Don’t worry. More likely folks are just awaiting more impressions.

I will also when I receive mine in black of course, Beef do you know the fuse size large or small, I see it is 250 volt 1.6A slow blow

5x20mm

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Anyone know how long is the current lead time is on the Stellar

The phono was very popular during this promo so we are expecting a pretty long lead time. I haven’t heard any exact ETA from ops, but if someone placed their order the last day of the promo, I wouldn’t expect it to ship until the end of this month.

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Thanks, yes I ordered it on 3/30 I did not realize the promo was ending, did it end 3/31?

Gotcha. In that case, you’ll probably be getting the tracking number for it later this month. Glad you were able to sneak in with the good pricing. Yes, it ended on the 31st.

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