Hana MH High Output MC Settings?

[cubbington]

Hi All,


I currently use a Rega RP10/Apheta 2 with Aria phono stage, which sounds great and bypasses the hiss issue many of us have found with the MC input on the internal phono stage.

My friendly dealer is sending a Hana MH high output MC for me to try on my RP10, as I want to reduce box count, and I believe there’s a good phono stage in the Devialet!

The MH has an out voltage of 2mV, so should I set the phono stage to MM with 2mV level or MC with 2000 microV?

Is anybody else using a high output MC with the internal phono stage, and has any suggestions?

Stay safe, and best regards,

Nick

[thumb5]

A quick look at the specs for your Hana MH shows that it likes to see a high-ish input load (47 kohm). So long as you configure the phono stage for high input load and 2 mV input, I'd guess it doesn't much matter whether it's set to MM or MC. For what it's worth, my Wilson Benesch Ply has similar specification to the Hana MH and I use it on the MC setting (1.6 mV input level, high load, 0 pF).

One day I'll do an experiment to find out whether the config file is any different between MM and MC given the same input level and loading. I suspect it might not be.

[cubbington]

Hi Ian,

Thanks so much for your input and to hear that you're using a similarly specified cartridge.

I'll play about and configure both analogue inputs as the MC & MM settings, so quick and easy to do a comparison.

Do you have any problems with hiss in your configuration?

Set to MC into the 220's internal phono stage with the Apheta it was almost unlistenable, whereas the Aria is virtually silent.

Luckily I'm able to listen at quite high levels, and often do, so the hiss is a definitely issue in my circumstances - wow, if that's all I have to worry about in life, then I'll consider myself extremely fortunate.

Thanks and stay safe,

Nick

[thumb5]

Nick, I don't have a problem with hiss. When listening to LPs I normally have the volume setting between -40 dB and -20 dB depending on the type of music (and what mood I'm in), although that doesn't produce very high sound levels because my speakers aren't particularly efficient. If I turn up the volume with nothing playing and put my ear close to the speaker then I can definitely hear some noise, although it seems to me to be more weighted towards bass than white noise would be. (By contrast when I have a digital input selected I can't hear any noise at all.) But in normal use when there's music playing I don't notice anything unusual, even in quiet passages - I guess that means the inherent noise level in my configuration/system is well below what's on the vinyl album itself.

That said, there's a wide range of reports about phono stage hiss that don't seem to correlate fullly with the sensitivity of the cartridge being used. It's possible that some people are much more sensitive to it than others -- particularly once you've noticed it, it can become something you can't "un-hear" -- and it's also possible that there is some variation in the actual noise level between different amplifiers.

[cubbington]

Hi Ian,

Thanks, for the reply.

We generally listen at anything from -20 to -10 with vinyl (sometime louder if we’re in the mood), so the hiss is quite apparent.

You’re absolutely right about not being able to un-hear the hoss once you know it’s there ?

Good observation about the possibility of variation between amplifiers; I could test this too, as I’m running a 440 with a pair of 220CI’s, so it’s just a swap of the SD cards to test this.

Let’s see what happens when the Hana arrives.

Best,

Nick

[frejo]

I have owned the MH. Tried both mc and mm, no difference in sound that I could detect. As long as you choose "high", I think it is the same. I had mine set at 2.1 mV. It is a nice PU and I had no hum.

[cubbington]

Thanks frejo, nice to hear that you tried both settings.

No hum, but was there any audible hiss at high volume?

Best,

Nick

[frejo]

The phono stage is not as quiet as the other inputs but I did not have any hiss that I could hear when my settings are higher than appr. 1-1,5 mV.

[cubbington]

That’s as expected; I’ve never owned an amplifier as quiet as the Devialet!

I’ve just set the amps up ready for the cartridge...tested the input and even set to MM with 2.1mV it hisses really loudly!

Put it this way, at -20 the hiss is there and easily audible, at -10 it’s pretty loud.

When switching to the Rega Aria, it was virtually silent up to +16.5!

I also flipped the SD cards between the amps and the hiss is identical between the two on the internal phono stages.

I made a video, but it’s too large to post!

I’m hoping that the output level of the cartridge will enable me to listen at a lower volume level, but won’t know until it arrives.

Watch this space.

Nick

[cubbington]

Hi All,

Cartridge arrived this evening, and I fitted it about an hour ago.

So far, so good, in as much as there’s no real audible hiss until I turn the volume up to around -1. I guess hooking the deck up, and not having an open input has reduced the noise I commented on in the post above.

Have used the Acoustic Solutions Smartractor and aligned the cartridge to UniDin, as most of my collection is modern, and that’s worked well in the past.

I’ve only spun a couple of discs, but am very impressed so far; I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s just lovely.

Max Richter’s ‘Blue Notebooks’ was really emotional and attention grabbing, and to check for tracking, I used Nils Frahm’s Late Night Tales, with the short story read by Cillian Murphy at the very end of the album; absolutely no distortion whatsoever, and again, the emotion in his voice was entrancing.

I’m currently spinning Session Victim’s ‘Needledrop’, mainly to see if I needed to put a 2mm shim to raise the VTA as it’s quite warped (thankfully I don’t), and it just sounds lush and textured; the bass is really well controlled and defined.

Basically, it’s doing what it should; playing music...

I’ll give it a few more hours over the weekend, but if it’s sounding like this box-fresh, then I think it can only get better and it’s a keeper.

Cheers,

Nick