Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Paul Hynes Design Veron Concert Phono Preamp by MICHAELMICKJ7@aol.com

Model:	Veron Concert
Category:	Phono Preamp
Suggested Retail Price:	approx Â£1500
Description:	Valve hybrid phono preamp.
Manufacturer URL:	Paul Hynes Design

Review by michaelmickj7@aol.com on August 25, 2007 at 14:26:27
IP Address: 90.200.222.66 Add Your Review
for the Veron Concert

Review for Paul Hynes Design Veron Concert Phono Pre-amp.

System - Michell Gyrodec with Tom Evans Gyrodec PSU,Orbe spindle/clamp upgrade, Schroder model 2 tonearm, The Cartridgeman Musicmaker III,the Paul Hybes Design Veron Concert Phono Pre amp, McIntosh MA6900 integrated amplifier,Spendor S8e speakers.

Room is approx 14 feet x 10 feet, with a solid concrete floor,overlaid with vinyl covering.

I'm writing this review because if you're like me and don't have recourse to numerous audio shops, then impartial reviews from owners of the components is what I rely on.

I live in a large city which is devoid of quality hi-fi shops for some reason, but there are a few scattered in a 20 mile radius. However, I've found that they will stock a few items of which I might be interested in but not all, and often the most interesting items I've read about are all internet or cottage businesses anyway e.g. Modwright, Blueberry etc. I've often found also that the sale staff, no matter how nice they are, simply want a sale and will always plug the items they sell despite not hearing other brands. This is only natural I suppose but I prefer to research items and if something doesn't get any bad comments or reviews from anyone, especially fellow audiophiles then it must worth investigating further. Please excuse me if you find my use of language confusing, and my lack of knowledge of audiophile terminology a hindrance.

Also please don't think this is some sort of advertisement for Paul Hynes Design. I have no connection with anyone in the audio industry, and don't even personally know any audiophiles. My mates think I'm crazy for spending so much on Hi-fi and most of the time I have to agree with them. You've probably all thought the same yourself sometimes, but just now and again you play a record and a smile comes across your face and think "that was brilliant." On occasions like this it makes it all worthwhile.

I know if I didn't spend my money on hi-fi or records I'd only spend it on beer anyway, so at least I have something tangible and hopefully something to pass onto my kids when I'm too deaf to listen properly or too senile to care.

I had the itch to buy a new phono stage, as I've never been completely happy with my vinyl replay. I bought a Gyrodec around 6 years and did so based on the reviews I read on the internet and in magazines and I had seen one in a shop window and was seduced by the looks also. At the time I had a Musical Fidelity A3cr pre/power combination and the phono stage I used was a Gold Aero db45 and using PMC FB1 speakers. After a short time I became disillusioned with the bass or lack of it within the system, therefore I changed my phono stage to a Graham Slee Era Gold V, which did improve things somewhat. Later I also bought a Tom Evans PSU designed solely for the Gyrodec which improved things a lot in terms of solidity of sound, timing and bass output. This cost Â£700 a couple of years ago, which for a power supply is ridiculously overpriced, but for what it achieved in the long term was worth buying.

I still however craved more of bassier sound, out went the MF A3cr, and I bought a McIntosh MA6900 integrated amp which improved power, bass etc but the sound seemed to lose a little of the MF's magic in terms of subtleties and imaging. I still wouldn't swap the Mac for the MF as I'm a great believer in music having weight and power as this underpins the emotion and rhythm of the music. Still the MA6900 can only carry the signal from further up the chain. I had read the bass on the Era Gold was amongst it's better attributes so I thought the lack of bass to my tastes or the difficulty in following bass lines was my imagination. I know system synergy it's the most important thing and the Gyrodec can tend towards being lean, so this may not be apparent or be a problem to some people but it started to annoy me somewhat. You've probably all been there where something in the sound annoys you and this is the worst part for me of being an audiophile, as the sound tends to take precedence over the music.

I started to read about the various phono stages available and was heading towards a Vacuum State of which I had read brilliant things. However, one chap who had a website and reviews all things vinyl told me it was over-rated. He recommended a few other phono stages but when I read about them they cost around $5000 !! So we can take his criticism of the Vacuum State pre-amp with a pinch of salt. I continued looking on the internet and came across a review on audiogon for a phono stage I hadn't heard of by a company called Paul Hynes Design. The company is based in the UK, and offered a 56 day trial of their products and if you didn't like it you could get a full refund. Iâ€™ve found this to be rare if not unheard of in the UK.I had always also wanted to try a valve driven front end also as I think the Gyrodec needs a little help in the warmth department.It is sometimes be described as analytical,so the addition of valves seemed a sensible route to try.

The review on audiogon emphasised that Paul Hynes did not include a filter for the low frequencies on his phono stage, and that this could be heard when using the phono stage,with very good bass definition,which also improved the lower mids.

Bass lines could easily be followed and the low bass often missing was there to feel or hear. You will need to read the review on audiogon for the exact details, but this is the part that drew my attention and which I liked the sound of. Being a cautious fellow I contacted the gentleman who wrote the review on audiogion, and he told me he bought a Whest phono stage which he likes a lot, but said he regretted not buying the Paul Hynes design as he said "it drew him into the music".

I contacted Paul Hynes who told me he had a prototype of a pre-production unit which was was part of consultancy he was undertaking with an audio company. I took this to mean he was designing the phono stage for an audio company in the UK, which I was surprised about as I'd have thought that most companies would have their own in house designers. Further research about Paul showed that he has a good reputation within the audio community, and his products have received good feedback on various forums. He told me he could let me have for it half price. The production unit will sell for around Â£1500.00.Paul subsequently told me the company he designed it for wanted to use cheaper components within the preamp and the power supply unit, and this he said he was unwilling to do, so he would be selling it in the future via his own website. He feels the most important part of any hi-fi component itâ€™s power supply. This makes sense to me despite being a techno-phobe, and todayâ€™s hi-fi community is coming round to this fact with the plethora of products designed to clean up mains supplies.The addition of the Tom Evans Power Supply for my Gyrodec had improved the sound considerably,though I don't know why something powering a motor turning a rubber band would have an effect.

He told me there were various upgrades I could have for an additional fee, such as a Teflon circuit board for around Â£300.00.I found this to be too expensive for me, so I chose to have Holco resistors and Audience capacitors fitted for Â£80.00.Paul told me this was this was a good value upgrade and gave the music more fluidity.

Apparently the pre amp can be customised to your own specifications e.g. fully balanced etc.

This is what Paul told me about his phono stage although I'm a complete idiot when it comes to the technical side of things but it may mean something to you:

"Briefly, the circuit topology is a hybrid using a low noise fet with valve cascode. There are two stages of amplification in the signal path with passive equalisation between the stages. The input loading and stage gain can be adjusted internally to suit MM and MC cartridges. Each amplification stage has it's own dedicated low noise wideband discrete HT voltage regulator. The same regulator circuit is used for the valve heaters. Your preamp has been customised with Holco resistors and Audience capacitors. Valve types can be 6H23, 6922, ECC88, E88CC, 6DJ8.

The ultrasonic filter will be fitted as standard in future as in the original Audiogon review unit. Having an extended high frequency bandwidth leaves the system open to unwanted interference. It can be system and house wiring dependant. Some people get away with this and some don't. I would prefer to ensure that none of my customers have any problems in this area in future."

In one of my numerous correspondences with Paul he told me that designers underestimated the effect of power supplies on audio, and that spending the money here gave better results further up the electronic chain. This certainly sounded right to me as the difference the Tom Evans PSU had made to the sound of my Gyrodec had been immense.

I ordered the phono stage, and it arrived a few weeks later. There was a slight delay because the company machining the casework for the pre-amp had been flooded. Paul had ordered new casework despite the fact that I already knew when I ordered that the item was a prototype and probably wouldn't look the best, so he did this at his own cost. When the pre-amp arrived I was hoping for great things, but did not want to raise my hopes, as in my experience everything seems to sound good only for reality to set in and the realisation that you are still not happy. Paul told me it would take a few weeks for burn in to occur but I'm not a great believer in burn-in, thinking that it is mostly physiological. I thought I would make my mind up fairly quickly but would wait a few weeks if I didn't like it, before sending it back to give it a fair chance.

The pre amp arrived and I was surprised how heavy the box was. In all it consisted of a PSU which weighs a considerable amount, and the actual pre amp unit itself. Mine came in two identical black rectangular metal boxes. they are connected using an XLR high voltage cable, which is made especially for this unit. I know this because I asked Paul what type of cable it was so I could buy a longer one myself. He told me he would make me one himself, and send it to me, which he has duly done. I wanted to hide the PSU behind a couch so asked him for a 2 metre cable. There's a small green light at the front which indicates when the pre amp is on. On the back of the pre amp the phono socket arrangement had me a little confused at first as the two left channels and two rights channels are next to each other respectively, so the left channel of the input and outputs are next to each other as are the right channels.

"Straight out of the box" as they say it sounded excellent to me. It was the sound I'd always hoped for when starting journey into quality Hi-fi. The sound was warm, but not in a stodgy, slow way which I was half expecting but in a fast, tight powerful and tuneful way. I knew instantly that I would be keeping the pre amp. I felt a little guilty about this and was maybe hoping that I wouldn't like it in order to get my money back. I'm probably spending too much on Hi-fi and should be spending more on the family and house. I love all music but I've always loved a bit of reggae. I'm not sure why, but I think I must have been a bass player in a past life. I love to follow bass lines, and a good bass line can make all the difference to the the music. It's not just reggae, have a listen to Simon and Garfunkel's "Only Living Boy in New York" or Van Morrisons "Into the Mystic". With the Era Gold I would follow bass lines and the would seem to disappear as though a note or two were missing. I would think to myself it sounded odd but that it must have been recorded like that. This wouldn't happen on all songs, as sometimes the bass on the Era Gold sounded awesome, it was just on certain tracks with a long or complex bassline. Again this may be system dependant i.e. my gyrodec, but with the Paul Hynes Design (PHD) basslines are more prominent, more tuneful, warmer and easier to follow. Gain was lower than the Era Gold and surface noise became a tad more prominent(this may have to do with the gain being lower) but the noise itself seems more palatable, in other words clicks and pops are more friendly sounding, not being as harsh or abrupt. Bass drums and electric bass lines are easily distinguishable.

Further up the frequency response the midrange glare which I sometimes heard and which may be attributable to solid state designs has vanished completely. I now find myself turning up the volume to quite high levels, which in turn means my wife sitting in the next room ends up turning up the television whilst watching her favourite soap operas (and there are many my friends!!).Details are in abundance with the PHD, although I'm not a detail freak but rather appreciate the music as a whole.

Treble and high frequencies have taken more of a back seat in the mix, which I'm a firm believer is where they should be. If you go to a live concert, unless you are very near the band, I think you would have difficulty listening to the cymbals as the drummer smashes them. I find the intrusion of the cymbals in the mix to be very annoying, and I was delighted when I heard the PHD pre amp that they were placed in the background, which is where they're supposed to be. They are still audible and produced with clarity, but they are not in your face.

I would say it produces vocals on a par with the Era Gold. The Era Gold's strength for me is it's portrayal of voices and Eva Cassidy singing the album "Songbird" is as good with the PHD although the other instruments in the mix are much better with the PHD.

As a whole the music is less forward than the Era Gold, which I am preferring and find music is more relaxing. I can't really comment on soundstage. It produces solid images within the boundaries of my speakers, but I have my system in a small room (around 14 feet x 10 feet) and with lots of furniture in so I have never really experienced holographic imagery. The PRAT of the PHD is excellent, with the bass underpinning the rhythm of songs. The tone of the music and musicality is of more importance to me but I know a lot of audiophiles consider imaging to be a very important consideration. Using tubes I should imagine the PHD has great imagery but I can't hope to get the best out of it, with my limited speaker placement in the room I use.

One problem did occur whilst I was listening to the PHD. Whenever someone in the family turned a light on or off in the house there was a loud thump through my speakers. This concerned me as I didn't want my speaker drivers to break. Also with winter approaching this problem would become even more frequent. I contacted Paul who told me it was an RFI problem and to try a few things such as connecting a wire from the phono sockets of my amp to the earth connector, from my arm to my the earth connector etc. These procedures all decreased the thump greatly but not totally. I could live with the thump after trying these things but Paul told me to return the pre amp to him, so he could fit an ultrasonic filter to eliminate RFI, which he said was the cause. He assured me that the filter would not affect the tonality of the pre amp, as I wanted it remain exactly as it sounded.

All in all I must have sent or received around 30 emails to and from Paul. I have found his service to be the best I have encountered (I must also praise the bloke who makes Blueberry pre amps - sorry can't remember his name now).He has answered all of my questions in great depth and with great honesty. I have decided to write this review so people are aware of the fine service he provides and the fine product he sells. I have no affiliation with him but hope he does really well in the future. I've seen a few products on the internet sold in the US where this type of service is provided (i.e. Modwright, Blueberry etc) but I have not experienced it in the UK, and I find this very refreshing and something other companies should take note of. Paul has provided me details of types of tubes to use with the pre amp, their different attributes, and where to buy them. He had a new case for the pre amp and PSU made when one was not required, and he has responded to the problem of the RFI interference without delay.

The product he has made for me doesn't look the greatest although it's not ugly, just a bog standard matt black metal and he may make a different one when the production starts but the build quality is great. To me the sound is what counts, and I have not been disappointed in any way. It's just what I've been looking for, with no exaggerated highs or dynamics, which produce listener fatigue. I've recently bought a Goldring Lenco GL75 which someday I hope to modify in order to accept my Schroder Model 2 arm, and I can't wait to listen to it with the Schroder, PHD and Musicmaker cartridge. It didn't sound too bad with the Lenco arm although the V blocks had gone, and a cheap Shure cartridge. It made me realise that the music is the most important thing, with the timing, and rhythm being the most important aspect, not whether you can hear someone farting in the recording studio. Anyway, sorry for the long review and apologies for it's lack of technical insights, but if you're looking for a phono stage, which reproduces music in a musical, foot tapping and realistic manner, with no artificial or annoying traits try the PHD, or get in touch with Paul Hynes for advice.Itâ€™s tonality is what Iâ€™ve always hope to get from my system. Not bright,not too warm, not too slow,not too fast, just right for my tastes, which tends towards a relaxed sound with a warm ambience,but with good solid well defined bass.
In conclusion I am very glad I bought this preamp.Having said that I haven't the greatest of experience when comparing it to similar products in the same price range, but I am very pleased as it has taken back to the music and away from hi-fi.I find myself enjoying the music more and due to it's smooth sweet sound turning up the volume, musch to the annoyance of my wife and children (parents hey, who have them?)

Product Weakness:	looks(although mine is a preproduction unit-so not sure what the final product will look like)-which don't matter to me anyway.
Product Strengths:	smooth,sound. sweet top end, tuneful,deep,well defined bass. <br>musicality.versatility - can use MM and MC cartridges.<br>Tubes can be changed to alter tonality.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: McIntosh MA6900
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Michell Gyrdodec
Speakers: Spendor S8e
Cables/Interconnects: Townshend Isolda sp/cable /JPS supercondutor I/C's
Music Used (Genre/Selections): blues,reggae,indie pop,soul.
Room Size (LxWxH): 14 x 10 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: solid concrete floor, soft furnishings
Time Period/Length of Audition: 4 weeks
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	McIntosh MA6900
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Michell Gyrdodec
Speakers:	Spendor S8e
Cables/Interconnects:	Townshend Isolda sp/cable /JPS supercondutor I/C's
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	blues,reggae,indie pop,soul.
Room Size (LxWxH):	14 x 10 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	solid concrete floor, soft furnishings
Time Period/Length of Audition:	4 weeks
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner