Setting up your UP1
The UP1 gives vinyl playback with the lowest noise figure possible. The UP1 is able to play
extremely low output moving coil (MC) cartridges without a step-up transformer. The
extremely low noise and high gain design of the phono card is capable of cleanly and quietly
delivering a line level signal output with a phono cartridge input of down to 80 micro-volts.
Parallel capacitance can be adjusted from 100 pF to 420 pF.
Adjustment of switches
Adjustment is to be made with the UP1 switched off, or better still, with your power
amplifier switched off. Changes made to the phono card loading have the possibility of
sending pulses to your power amplifier that could damage speakers if the volume of the
preamp is set sufficiently high.
On the rear panel you will see two pairs of DIP switches (DIP10 & DIP4) for both left and
right channels. These switches allow you to: select cartridge type (moving magnet or
moving coil); select gain; and adjust cartridge loading.
A graphic representation of how the two pairs of switches can be adjusted is printed on the
rear panel of the UP1. The UP1 ships from the factory with a default setting of moving coil
at 100 ohms with a gain of 70 dB.
In order to set the switches for your particular cartridge, you will need to have some
knowledge of its specifications. Select Moving Magnet (MM) or Moving Coil (MC) according
to the type of cartridge you have. In all instances the switch-tab for any selection will need
to be up for ‘on’ and down for ‘off’.
Gain setting
The gain control attenuates the overall gain of the phono card stage in such a way that
when the gain is reduced, the noise levels seen at the output of the UP1 are reduced
proportionally. In this way, there is no penalty in selecting one gain setting over another.
The exemplary signal, distortion and noise figures of the UP1 are never compromised by
changing gain settings.
Choose a gain setting that allows the volume control to operate within a range similar to
that of your other source components. If phono is your only source component, then pick a
gain setting that allows your preamp a fairly advanced gain setting at whatever you consider
to be a comfortable listening level. In most cases, set gain switch up for MC cartridges and
down for MM cartridges.
Moving Coil setup
For MC cartridges, DIP10 switch 1 is set to ‘on’ for 60dB of gain. For additional gain in 5dB
steps, select ONLY one DIP4 switch to set the overall gain to either 65dB, 70db, 75dB or
80dB.
In MC mode, parallel capacitance is not recommended. Set DIP10 switches 9 and 10 ‘down’
to remove the effects of any added capacitance.
DIP10 impedance setting switches 2 to 8 should be set to your cartridge type as specified
by the manufacturer.
Moving Magnet setup
DIP10 impedance setting switches 2 to 8 are set ‘down’ to give an impedance of 47K Ohm.
DIP10 switch
1 is set ‘down’ for a MM gain of 40dB. For additional gain in 5dB steps, select
ONLY one DIP4 switch to set the overall gain to either 45dB, 50db, 55dB or 60dB.
