Bellari VP129/VP130 Input Capacitance?

[Reticuli]

Anyone know the input capacitance (in PF) of the Bellari tube phono preamps? Is this also dependent on the tubes you roll in? Can't find this info anywhere on the net and have been looking for an hour.

[E-Stat]

Anyone know the input capacitance (in PF) of the Bellari tube phono preamps? Is this also dependent on the tubes you roll in? Can't find this info anywhere on the net and have been looking for an hour.
I can't confirm it, but a user over a AA says it is around 135 pf. While the choice of tube will vary gain, it will not affect the input capacitance. I've been very happy with one I use in the vintage system.

rw

[Reticuli]

Well I can't really spend $500 on two of them unless I find out for sure. That's a good tip to start looking further though, thanks.

[02audionoob]

They're usually available on Audiogon. Maybe you could buy one and then sell it again if it doesn't work for you. You could perhaps break even on the deal. What equipment are you going to use with this Bellari?

[E-Stat]

Well I can't really spend $500 on two of them unless I find out for sure. That's a good tip to start looking further though, thanks.
Based upon your cartridge's requirement and the capacitance of your current interconnects, what value are you looking for?

rw

[Reticuli]

100pF, though switchable between 100pF and 150-200pF would be optimal...in case I move over to the OM Super line from the normal OM. Right now I've just got my TCC preamps, which are fine for carts between 650-800mH, but not really much else. They get kinda dark, compressed, and also weird in the highs when I'm above that or below it. My Allen & Heath mixer has lovely phono stages, but we're talking 330pF, which only sounds right with the Stanton 680 series. Everything else sounds rolled off with it. The cheap solution would be that ART pre II, but I hear it's noisy. The Pro Ject Phono Box is a fixed 100pF, which isn't bad, but I hear it is no improvement over the TCC. I wants my shimmer back. Interesting how the Phono Box just went up $70 in the last year or two, though.

[E-Stat]

which are fine for carts between 650pF-800pF, but not really much else.
800 pf? Holy cow! I run a Shure M97 which wants to see a total of around 250 uf. Since my ICs run about 100 pf, the reputed figure of 145 pf for the Bellari sounds about right. If it were in that extremely high category, the Shure would likely sound very dull.


The Pro Ject Phono Box is a fixed 100pF, which isn't bad, but I hear it is no improvement over the TCC. I wants my shimmer back.
In addition to proper loading, there's always the case of inherent resolution. While the Bellari is fine, it doesn't have nearly the clarity of the Dynavector DV20X / Audio Research SP-9 MKIII combo used in the main system (albeit at one tenth the cost). Fortunately though, the Bellari's sins are most that of omission. It is a very listenable unit for a modest investment. I also like the fact that it has a very low 100 ohm output impedance and analog gain controls suitable for driving a power amp directly - which is how I use mine.

rw

[Reticuli]

Sorry, I meant 650-800 millihenries. Heh heh.

I don't trust cart manufacturer recommended loads, anyway, because they're putting only what they want people to feel good about. That's why even a cart with a full 1 henrie load will often say "use 250pF input", even though that's bogus...because most people's preamps are around that already. Even Rane had to admit quoted loads were usually wrong when they were making their high end pre they discontinued a few years ago, hence the reason they made it very adjustable.

[E-Stat]

Even Rane had to admit quoted loads were usually wrong when they were making their high end pre they discontinued a few years ago, hence the reason they made it very adjustable.
Curious reaction. My Audio Research preamp is pretty straight forward. The circuit inherently has 40 pf with 560 pf caps installed on the inputs. You can freely change them to whatever value you need. Since I use a MC cartridge with that preamp, I never needed to adjust them.

rw