Audio PA550 Preamplifier

Parfait

After a bit of a rough start, which the guys at bellari solved without any hassle, I have been using this device as a phono preamp on my U turn orbit turntable with very pleasing results. My turntable came with an integrated preamp that worked ok but was a bit on the quiet side for my system. After looking at several options, this one seemed to have everything I was looking for at a reasonable price. It had volume control and looked nice. First thing I noticed was the built quality. It is very solidly build, and very pretty in my opinion. Reminds me of a US made product from the 1950s. Its all thick sheet metal. The knobs seem high quality too, as they turn very smoothly, very nice feel to them. Sound quality wise is overall very good. I am no audiophile and my system is not exactly very high end but I am enjoying how it sounds very much. There is maybe a tiny bit of harshness on the high end when compared with the old integrated pluto pre amp, but I can basically only barely detect that when using my headphones and listening carefully. Everything else is just better. The bass is sounds fuller and deeper even at the 0 position, and it can get very loud. I am now using with the volume knob at a bit more than halfway and it is way louder than my old pre amp, without any distortion. The noise floor is even quieter as there is no hiss heard at high volumes like my previous pre amp had, even with the volume knob at full. You need to ground it for it to get this quiet though. Uturn says that components connected to their turntables dont need grounding but I find that to be not true. I used the pa550 without the ground wire at first and there was a small hiss, this completely disappeared once grounded. For the price this is a great pre amp. It not on par with my friends nakamishi ca 5, but thats a thousand dollar component. I am now enjoying my records much more.

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(At time of purchase) nowhere on this product page, nor on their website, (nor anywhere!) could I find a statement that this phono preamp supports moving magnet. So, I called them and wrote an email. Guy on the phone at Rolls/Belari in Utah stated it would work with moving magnet, but NOT with moving coil cartridges. He went on to say "I don't think we make anything for moving coil." I got an email response from them a week later stating the same thing: "The PA550 only works with Moving Magnet, we don't have anything designed to work with a moving coil cartridge." So, there you have it: this is a moving magnet phono preamp. I am using this on the U-Turn Orbit turntable (no built in preamp) with a Ortofon OM5E cartridge. Stock U-Turn RCA cables coming from turntable directly to phono in RCAs. I tested the RCA and headphone outputs with my Audio Technica wired headphones and it sounds fantastic. I also have a bluetooth transmitter hooked up to a JBL Charge 3, and it works great, clear sound. You have to ground it! In my setup I got the ground loop hum. The Orbit Turntable does not have an exposed or accessible ground post, so I did some googling and discovered people grounding the preamp to a coax post on a outlet extension (such as Belkin and Monster make.) Ground loop hum went away! ******Though, I did try this with a Furman PST-2+6 Power Station and the coax posts on that unit apparently are separated/isolated from the same ground as the plugs for the turntable—this resulted in no change to the hum. In short: you have to ground it to the same place as your turntable AND amp. Plug it all in the same outlet. The build on this unit is kind of insane. Super thick cold rolled metal with knobs and switch that are some of the most solid feeling things I have ever used. There is no play or jiggling with these, nor the posts and jacks! Worth every penny. I high recommend for your turntable with moving magnet cartridge.

I purchased this pre amp to go along with an amplifier I had built using the LM3886 amplifier chip. It has all the feature I needed, which was manly the phono pre amp and volume control. The Bellari works very well. Some reviewer have said that the phono stage sounds tinny, I find that it is detailed, has good bass response but does have a bit forward sound, which may not pair well with horn load speakers that can be a bit shouty. Using my Paradigm Studio 80's, it works well. The volume and tone control pots are smooth and quiet but there are a couple things that would make this a 5. The first problem is the ground for the phono stage. I have read reviews about how bad it is, and they are all true. The threads are loose and bind, cross thread and strip easily. While the ground screw is non ferrous, a more conventional style would be better. The second issue is the tone control pots While they are quiet and smooth a center detent for BASS and TREBLE would be a nice to have. And finally, I would have like to have a BALANCE pot, this would be the icing on the cake. Overall I am happy with this purchase but if you only need a phono preamp spend a little extra and get the Ifi ZEN PHONO, it is truly worth the money.