Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 502 phono card

Does the 502 have an optional phono card? I am considering a 502, want to be able to play records.

Yes a 525 MC & 526 MM phono board.



Mike

OK, so its a separate box altogether, not a card like they use on the 800 series? Correct me if I am wrong, the 502 is not upgradable internally right?

Hi Eli,

502 Balanced pre-amp - Dual mono construction with 3 balanced and 4 standard inputs

525 MC Phono board - Adds MC Phono input to 502

526 MM Phono board - Adds MM Phono input to 502

Info. from Dunc's site (see link at bottom of this page), it's a wealth of information and always worth a look at.


Regards,
Carl.

Thanks, I see it is an internal upgrade, are these boards still available for purchase?

What kind of turntable are you going to use?
It might be better too look at a separate phono stage.

Steve.

I agree with Steve above, but if you must have the inbuilt cards, the current ones for the G02 also fit the 502. In the region of �250 I think.

Cheers

George

Thanks, I have not yet decided which turntable I will be using, The pre-amp will be the first step in all this. Is there any advantage in using a separate phono stage?

You'll need to know what type of cartridge you'll be using in order to buy the correct phono stage or card.

The benefits are that you can buy whatever you like, as expensive as you like and you might be able to get something that matches the cartridge perfectly.

The downside is having to have a separate box (or two) and the power requirements.

I use a separate unit I built when I was at college.




Sounded better than the built in stages in all the amps I've had since, although none of the Meridian units I've had, have had the phono cards fitted.
I have heard a 101B driving M1s with an AT-OC9, sounded excellent!

Steve.

Nice, if you would not of told me I would of thought you purchased this from a very expensive name brand. I wonder if you using a separate card would sound better than the internal cards that can be installed in a 502. I prefer less boxes and less power cables in my house. one of the reasons I went with Meridian is because of the small size of the 500 series.

Hi Eli,

In an ideal world, it would be great if you could compare the internal cards that the 502 can have installed against separate stand alone units.

Maybe someone on here has heard the 502 phono cards and could comment?

Another problem is getting hold of the cards and either fitting them yourself or getting them fitted at a dealers.

If they cost �250 just for the parts, the separate unit route may be a cheaper and easier.


Have you looked into getting the turntable / arm / cartridge yet?
It will be easier to make recommendations if we knew what the front end would be, especially the cartridge.


The benefit I had (have) with my phono stage is that I can adjust it to suit the cartridge.
I can change the gain, the resistive loading and the capacitive loading to best suit the cartridge in use. These changes do involve changing components on the circuit boards though, not just a simple switch.

As for the sound quality, the main difference I have found with my unit is a very low noise floor. This is completely down to the choice of Op-Amps used. Even in very expensive modern amplifiers, the use of cheap Op-Amps is common practice. The Analog Devices chips I used were very expensive in comparison to what is commonly used.

Here's a few more pictures and the circuit diagram for one channel;





I'm thinking of making a new power supply using rechargeable batteries that charge via solar panels. The design is very simple.

Steve.

I think I'm going to try and find MC Cartridge, I heard they sound the best. Its going to be a long process, I'm still looking for a Class A amplifier, then I will select a pre-amp, most likely a 502 or if I can swing a Audio Research Ref 3 then that would also be nice. I'm in the learning stage of Turntables, I would like to have the best of both worlds, digital and analog.