Musical Surroundings Phonomena II

Catcher10

Prog-tastic!
Just starting a thread on this phonostage for my eventual review/impressions...I purchased this stage about 10 days ago, received it and only have about 6 hours on it. I had to go out of town for a week 2 days after arriving in the mail, so hence my desire to wait a bit.

Initial impressions are beyond impressive especially in the lowend reproductions, excellent gain and incredibly quiet background, again more to follow once it has more hours.

As you all know I have been using the NAD PP375 MDC module phono stage which I can only praise as a fantastic performer for its price point, wayyyy above its $200 price sticker.

I was contemplating the Nova II and had already made up my mind, received a quote from a dealer in California was ready to pull the trigger. But I kept reading that essentially the guts of the Nova II and Phonomena II are similar, big difference of course is battery power on the Nova II. I don't have any issues with power noise, I have clean power into my home never hear anything bad. The Nagaoka cartridge also is very quiet, so after talking to a few members about this, decided to save the extra cash for a future purchase, probably an MC cart.

I believe I made the right choice. Thanks to members slippers-on and arcorob for their feedback.

A few pics so I don't get slammed with :worthless :D...and a more thorough review later. :music:

MS1_zps19420f0b.jpg


MS2_zpsa8e3c3d5.jpg


MS3_zps87c8d976.jpg
 
good stuff man..how does it compare against the NAD module?

Right off the bat the lowend reproduction was much better, deeper and with more detail. Takes the Epic 2s to a new "low" level....Like I said only have about 6 hours so far and I forgot to mention above I have it set at 300pf with 40db gain and 50Kohms. At the start 300pf sounds better than 200pf.....for now it is sounding amazing.
 
Congrats on the new preamp. If/when you make the step to moving coil it looks like the way Musical Surroundings handles cartridge loading is simple, plenty of options.....nice:music:
 
Hope this sounds better than the Jasmine I loaned you.

I was looking forward to that unit and was gonna buy it...but not your fault it was a faulty unit. Jasmine still are built like a tank for sure....The Phonomena II holds its own and I do like that it is built in California.

Right now I can say it does kill the Jasmine on lowend....but more to follow as it settles down.

Cheers!
 
Impressive...

Still not ready to give my full impressions, this past week not much listening time, but this weekend will be a lot!! Right now listening to Genesis~ A Trick of the Tail...Impressive!

The 3D effects are impressive, the back to front imaging is also impressive. Vocals are coming more to life, the low end is tightening up nicely with still very deep notes coming out.

Me like so far....:music:
 
I am so glad you like it

I knew you would. When I first brought mine home I was floored. A phono stage I didn't have to "get used to". It was amazing out of the box. Then, sicne I was using MC carts, trying the different loading...it just got better and better. And no matter what the gain..dead silent background.

comgrats
 
Still not ready to give my full impressions, this past week not much listening time, but this weekend will be a lot!! Right now listening to Genesis~ A Trick of the Tail...Impressive!

The 3D effects are impressive, the back to front imaging is also impressive. Vocals are coming more to life, the low end is tightening up nicely with still very deep notes coming out.

Me like so far....:music:

Keep-em spinning!
 
I own a Phonomena with the battery pack, and the Phonomena II. I now run the Phonomena II using the battery pack on my LOMC stereo table, and the Phonomena with the Wall Wart on my LOMC Mono rig. I am getting wonderful results on both units, with the Phonomena II exhibiting better resolution, soundstage/imaging, and transient/delay response. Having the dip switches on the outside is a big plus as well.
Enjoy,
Jim
 
Sweet!!! I also want to upgrade phono pre's from my current 640p to the Phenomena. I'd like to see the insides....any chance you can be convinced to "pop the cover"? What cables are you using? They look like Emotivas. Like them? And what did you move from - cable wise? What cart are you using? The pic looks like an AT MM?

Jimmy
 
Shit, sorry dude.....way too many questions. About the power supply...... are you using the stock wall wart? And is the input power a standard 12volts DC so we can possibly upgrade the power supply?

Jimmy
 
ehoove, I wonder how much difference there is, sonically, between the Phonomena and the P II. You mention the external dip-switches which would be nice(although not a deal breaker for me, as I don't change settings all that often, nor use a whole slew of cartridges on my table). I love the sound of my Phonomena! It was, admittedly, bested in a head-to-head by a Pass Pearl 2, but the price difference there is staggering.
 
Shit, sorry dude.....way too many questions. About the power supply...... are you using the stock wall wart? And is the input power a standard 12volts DC so we can possibly upgrade the power supply?

Jimmy

Dude ur so needy!! :D

Of course I will pop the top and give you a gut shot...stay tuned.

Using the stock wall wart, yes 12v so probably can upgrade the to a better PSU.
 
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