Pass XS PHONO Manual Download Page 8

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Operation:

You can place the X Phono anywhere you wish.  There are however practical

s

considerations to placement that have the potential of enhancing performance.

Phono cartridges and associated wiring are by design very subject to ill effects from
electromagnet pollution. The X Phono has the potential for very high gain and

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exceptional resolution, and it is not capable of discriminating between music and spurious
noise as a result of location.

It is therefore advantageous to place your turntable in an area as free from electrical noise
as possible.  It is additionally advantageous to transfer the signal as cleanly and directly as
possible from the phono-cartridge to X Phono by as short a path as possible.  A path

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removed from the in

fl

uence of

power lines and large power supplies. Careful

AC

placement in this regard will pay sonic dividends.

When attaching cables to the Xs Phono or any audio device, the

connection to house

AC

power should be the last connection made and the

fi

rst removed.

Once you have the X Phono control chassis and power supply chassis in place you may

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connect them with the two supplied Powercon

terminated umbilical cables.  These

cables are non directional.  The power

receptacles on the chassis are identical, one

CON

for left and one for right, it doesn't matter which one is which.

Insert the power

terminated cable end into the matching chassis socket, rotate the

CON

cable end clockwise till the connector locks the cable into place.  You should be able to
hear and feel the connector lock, make sure it does.  To remove a connector, pull back on
the locking tab, rotate the cable end counter-clockwise 1/8 turn and remove.

The X Phono has 3 pairs of

inputs and will accept 1-3 tone-arms.  The inputs area

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RCA

laid out on the back of the control chassis in blocks, Right Channel and Left channel.  All
inputs are identical.  Each input has an auxiliary ground connection (white binding post).
It is generally a good idea to connect this ground to your turntable.  If you have multiple
tone-arms on one table then some experimentation with grounds may be required for
lowest noise.

The X Phono will output either a balanced or a single ended signal.  Theoretically the

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balanced connection holds promise of transmitting signal from the X Phono to the line-

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stage with the lowest noise

fl

oors.  Depending upon your line stage you may wish to try

both. There is no reason that the Xs-phono could not drive two devices simultaneously as
for example a line-stage and an A/D converter.

Presuming the umbilical power cables, analog input and output are all connected, go ahead
and connect to the

mains at this time.  Please verify the line voltage at your location

AC

with the label on the back of the X Phono stage.

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The X Phono has no power switch, it's designed to be always be powered up.  You should

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see a power

On the supply and lamps around the loading switches on the control

LED

chassis. If you do not then check the fuse on the power supply rear panel. The value of
the required fuse is printed on the rear of the power supply.  In all instances the fuse will
be a type 3

/ Littlefuse series 313 (1/4" x 1-1/4")  (6.3mm x 31.8mm) glass fuse.

AG

When you plug the Xs Phono into house power it takes upwards of 60 seconds for the
unit to reach operational status.  When the mute

goes dark, the X Phono is fully

LED

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operational.

Adjustment and Loading:

The X Phono allows: Resistive loading between 30 ohms and 47k-ohms, capacitive

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loading between 100pF and 750pF, Gain between 56dB and 76dB, and high pass function
from the front panel of the control unit.  The active value will always be indicated by a lit
LED.

Cartridge loading and gain is a compromise between what works best for the cartridge and
what sounds best in your system.

Start with a dynamic recording, the manufacturers suggested resistive loading, 100pf and
56 dB gain.  If the gain seems low, increase it to 66 dB, if you start hearing distortion of
the loudest notes, reduce the gain.  Listening to a wide variety of music try increasing or
decreasing the resistive loading.  As you change the settings it will either sound better or
worse.  Do not decide on a setting based upon only one recording.

When you decide upon a setting press the "save" button.  This will allow you to return to a
favorite suite of settings.  You may save settings for inputs 1, 2 and 3.

Use of the high pass

fi

lter is optional, it adds a 3dB roll off at 20 Hz to minimize low

frequencies, otherwise low frequency extension is to below 5 Hz.

Once a setting is saved you may return to it by pressing the input selection button;
however the front panel controls are always active and may be used to slightly compensate
for less than ideal recordings without losing the saved settings.

Summary of Contents for XS PHONO

Page 1: ...PASS X Phono s Dual Chassis Phonostage ...

Page 2: ...r supply cords should be routed so that they are not likely to be walked on abraded or pinched by items placed on or against them paying particular attention to cords where they enter plugs or exit from a device Never under any circumstance insert a cut or damaged power cord into a mains power socket Power and Signal Cables should never be connected disconnected with equipment powered up Failure t...

Page 3: ...y click into place and lock 1 8 turn to the right c There is no particular preference for which power supply socket feeds either gain chassis socket as long as both are connected 4 Now you can plug the cord into the supply Fig 4 3 and the supply into the AC AC mains 5 it takes upwards of a minute for the system to come up and perform various WAIT housekeeping functions When ready the mute will go ...

Page 4: ...ption of the low level analog information From the front panel of the X Phono you can select precise resistive loadings from 30 s ohms through 47k ohms capacitive values from 100 pF through 750 pF in addition to gain of 56 dB 66 dB or 76 dB Blue s on the front panel indicate the loading values and LED gain settings For any input choose the loading and gain settings best suited to that cartridge an...

Page 5: ... recordings When selected the directly LED above the button will show blue The High Pass Filter rolls off the low end response of the X Phono at 6dB per octave The resulting 3dB roll off at 20 Hz maintains much of s the bandwidth you desire while minimizing various low frequency residual artifacts in less than perfect recordings De selecting the Hi Pass function allows more of what is on the recor...

Page 6: ...apacitive loading 5 Save 3 Gain 6 High Pass Filter 7 Mute X Phono s 160 430 66dB 320 56dB 2 0 0 100 7 5 0 530 76dB 140 1 0 0 75 75 5 0 3 0 4 7 K 1 K 500 3 3 0 250 75 Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Save Hi Pass Mute 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Xs Phono Figure 3 1 Power LED 1 ...

Page 7: ...er CON CON 5 Signal Ground Posts 10 Signal Ground Posts 1 2 3 4 Twist to lock Twist to lock Pass Laboratories 13395 New Airport Rd Suite G Auburn 95602 CA No user serviceable parts inside Pass Laboratories 13395 New Airport Rd Suite G Auburn CA 95602 No user serviceable parts inside Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Left Channel Input 1 Input 2 Input 3 Right Channel Twist to lock Twist to lock 1 2 3 6 7 8 4...

Page 8: ...ne is which Insert the power terminated cable end into the matching chassis socket rotate the CON cable end clockwise till the connector locks the cable into place You should be able to hear and feel the connector lock make sure it does To remove a connector pull back on the locking tab rotate the cable end counter clockwise 1 8 turn and remove The X Phono has 3 pairs of inputs and will accept 1 3...

Page 9: ...etween what works best for the cartridge and what sounds best in your system Start with a dynamic recording the manufacturers suggested resistive loading 100pf and 56 dB gain If the gain seems low increase it to 66 dB if you start hearing distortion of the loudest notes reduce the gain Listening to a wide variety of music try increasing or decreasing the resistive loading As you change the setting...

Page 10: ...ican product must be returned to the country of origin for warranty service Foreign distributors are only required to offer warranty service on Pass Laboratories product thattheyhaveimported verifiable byserialnumber Please note Conditions of warranty service and customer rights for product purchased outsidetheUnitedStatesmayvarydepending upon thedistributorand local laws Pleasecheck withyourlocal...

Page 11: ...11 Pass Laboratories 13395 New Airport Rd Suite G Auburn 95602 CA Phone 530 878 5350 Fax 530 878 5358 Web www passlabs com ...

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