Just purchased a brand new Superline in Australia and connected it to a NAC52 via a 5pin SNAIC.
Initially I used the 500 ohm resistive plug and 1nF capacitance plug.
Turntable is an LP12/Aro/Kleos (not the SL version)
Rest of the system is Active NAP300’s into SL2 speakers
When I first listened to it I thought it sounded like the stylus had a lot of dust on it. I cleaned the stylus and it still sounded very distorted. At that point I tried the Lp12 into another phono stage (KandK) and it sounded fine. I then plugged the Lp12 back into the Superline and tried different combinations resistors/capacitors and I am still getting a lot of distortion. I am talking about serious distortion in both the left and right channels that renders the Superline unlistenable as opposed to talking about distortion in the audiophile sense.
I could try the Superline powered by the Supercap/Burndy that’s currently powering the Snaxo but I’m thinking it’s probably not worth it as it should sound fine directly from the 52.
The Superlines serial number is 500298 and according to the web that means it was manufactured in 2021.
It’s the weekend and the dealer that I purchased the Superline from will be closed so I cannot get in touch with them until Monday so in the meantime I would very much appreciate any advice from fellow Forum members?
Allan, sorry to hear this. First thoughts are that the Kleos is not ideal with the Standard Superline (better with the Superline E), or use the Kleos SL with the standard Superline. However, provided you aren’t playing a very loud/hot cut, you should not be getting serious distortion - that seems to indicate a different issue.
Your best bet here is to liaise with the dealer and explain the issue and see what they propose to resolve it.
p.s. I assume you are connecting via the BNCs? I ask because some replace the BNCs on the Aro cable with RCA Phonos, and here you can sometimes get issues with the connection to the WBT Next Gen phonos on the Superline which can result in poor sound and distortion as the plugs can’t make a good enough contact.
The plugs are the standard RCA’s for the Aro tonearm cable and as it happens I have a kleos SL on order. I’m confident the current Kleos or the RCA plugs are not the issue though. I’m not playing the music at a high volume and the distortion is noticeably bad.
I have a Teddy phono stage as well with WBT Next gen RCA’s and the Lp12 has always sounded fine with that. I can look at getting BNC’s later on.
I would change back to original 50 Ohm BNC’s on the Aro cable,it’s a big upgrade over RCA’s,and
will probably solve the problem with distortion of having ordinary RCA’s into WBT’s on Superline ( I’ve had that problem myself)
Hello everyone, I have a SuperLine with a HiCap and I’d like to know, in your opinion, what is the best plug for a Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua cartridge that I’ve just bought for my Linn LP12 with a Supatrac arm.
453R for the Dynavector moving coil cartridges. That’s what I use with the XX-2A (not too dissimilar to the TKR). There are airplug and airplug cryo options out there - not sure if Naim/AV Options still do them.
Might also be worth a very small capacitance plug from the supplied set if earth loops/pickup is an issue (it has been for me - I’ve been known to pick up French radio if the conditions are right ! Almost qualifies as a NAT..)
The Aro cable had 50 ohm BNCs fitted as standard. Anything else is non-standard. If the RCA Phonos aren’t the corresponding WBT Next Gens then you may well be getting a poor connection, thanks to the rather unique construction of the socket, resulting in poor sound, distortion etc.. (plugs that allow you to tighten the collar really tight can get around this though). I would recommend you either have the 50 ohm BNCs re-fitted to the Aro cable, or else fit some WBT Next Gen RCA plugs to it.
Thank you, Dynaudio1. Since I don’t have a 453R and I’m not a specialist, this is my first time using my Superline, which is one of the latest products. I suppose I should use the 500R? Just in case, I’m attaching the technical specifications for this cartridge:
To try out my Superline, I’m giving you the cartridge specifications. Since I want to test my Superline, I’ll start with the least unsuitable plugs. If you think I should have a custom one made, I believe Peter Swain from Symbiosis makes them. I’ll also have a look at AV Options. Thanks in advance.
Yes, if using the supplied set of plugs I would go with the one which most closely matches 453 ohms so that would be the 500 I guess.
Worth contacting Peter at Cymbiosis to check out what is available for 453R matching plugs.
Update - Just to add also that I use Aro with the original tiny push connectors into the LP12 and BNCs into the Superline so this might influence my preference. I use the Airplug version of 453R and 1n ohm capacitance ( I think - will have to check. It’s the smallest cap value supplied). Never had any problems with instability. The Superline is powered by a Supercap DR.
The only Dynavector I’ve used has been the 17D2 and 3, I tried a 453Ω plug but preferred the 470Ω with a 470pF, the Karats have a higher impedance than most Dynavectors however.
My superline is one of the early ones and I bought it ex demo at a year old, I remember the dealer saying that their first demo unit hadn’t sounded right and had gone back to Naim, mine was the second one they’d had.
There can be an issue with some arms causing instability, triggered by a transient, when a superline is powering it but the Aro isn’t one of them. The distortion in the OP is of a different nature I think as it doesn’t seem to be inducing the panic that a very loud rhythmic farting noise (motor boating) would. If it is related detaching the ground cable of my Korf made it less likely to be triggered.
I have an Aro, Schröder Reference and a Korf SF9R and only the Korf upsets the superline.
My Schröder has Elecaudio RCAs and these don’t always connect with the sockets on the superline.
Outer contact is a single strip, the plug sometimes needs rotating to get it into contact but I either have no signal or a good undistorted signal with these.
@jdesark I have a Superline powered by an old but recently serviced chrome bumper hicap and my cartridge is a Dynavector XX-2A. I have only used the standard plugs but of these my preference is for the 220 ohm resistor with a small capacitance plug required to eliminate the motor boarding issue highlighted by @Yeti . I found the 500 ohm a little light and the 100 ohm a little dark with the 220 ohm the best compromise. Of course this just my opinion and the VdH cable on my SME V tonearm may require different loadings to your Supatrac to obtain optimum results.
I will just add that when I first installed the Superline with an Ortofon cartridge I also had a very few records that induced the motor boarding issue but this was fully resolved by using a small capitance plug in the Superline which did not seem to affect sound quality at all. I have not tried the Dynavector without the capacitance plug.
Thank you all for your feedback. I have spoken with Peter Swain, and the TKR requires a specific 470-ohm plug rather than a 453-ohm one to perform properly. I will therefore get one in order to optimise the performance of my SuperLine.
It is a phono preamp that works well — actually very well — but it really needs to be set up correctly.
