Bellari Audio PA550 Preamplifier

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After a bit of a rough start, which the guys at bellari solved without any hassle, I have been using this device as a phono preamp on my U turn orbit turntable with very pleasing results.My turntable came with an integrated preamp that worked ok but was a bit on the quiet side for my system. After looking at several options, this one seemed to have everything I was looking for at a reasonable price. It had volume control and looked nice. First thing I noticed was the built quality. It is very solidly build, and very pretty in my opinion. Reminds me of a US made product from the 1950s. Its all thick sheet metal. The knobs seem high quality too, as they turn very smoothly, very nice feel to them.Sound quality wise is overall very good. I am no audiophile and my system is not exactly very high end but I am enjoying how it sounds very much. There is maybe a tiny bit of harshness on the high end when compared with the old integrated pluto pre amp, but I can basically only barely detect that when using my headphones and listening carefully. Everything else is just better. The bass is sounds fuller and deeper even at the 0 position, and it can get very loud. I am now using with the volume knob at a bit more than halfway and it is way louder than my old pre amp, without any distortion. The noise floor is even quieter as there is no hiss heard at high volumes like my previous pre amp had, even with the volume knob at full. You need to ground it for it to get this quiet though. Uturn says that components connected to their turntables dont need grounding but I find that to be not true. I used the pa550 without the ground wire at first and there was a small hiss, this completely disappeared once grounded.For the price this is a great pre amp. It not on par with my friends nakamishi ca 5, but thats a thousand dollar component. I am now enjoying my records much more.

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(At time of purchase) nowhere on this product page, nor on their website, (nor anywhere!) could I find a statement that this phono preamp supports moving magnet. So, I called them and wrote an email. Guy on the phone at Rolls/Belari in Utah stated it would work with moving magnet, but NOT with moving coil cartridges. He went on to say "I don't think we make anything for moving coil." I got an email response from them a week later stating the same thing: "The PA550 only works with Moving Magnet, we don't have anything designed to work with a moving coil cartridge."So, there you have it: this is a moving magnet phono preamp.I am using this on the U-Turn Orbit turntable (no built in preamp) with a Ortofon OM5E cartridge. Stock U-Turn RCA cables coming from turntable directly to phono in RCAs. I tested the RCA and headphone outputs with my Audio Technica wired headphones and it sounds fantastic. I also have a bluetooth transmitter hooked up to a JBL Charge 3, and it works great, clear sound.You have to ground it! In my setup I got the ground loop hum. The Orbit Turntable does not have an exposed or accessible ground post, so I did some googling and discovered people grounding the preamp to a coax post on a outlet extension (such as Belkin and Monster make.) Ground loop hum went away! ******Though, I did try this with a Furman PST-2+6 Power Station and the coax posts on that unit apparently are separated/isolated from the same ground as the plugs for the turntable—this resulted in no change to the hum. In short: you have to ground it to the same place as your turntable AND amp. Plug it all in the same outlet.The build on this unit is kind of insane. Super thick cold rolled metal with knobs and switch that are some of the most solid feeling things I have ever used. There is no play or jiggling with these, nor the posts and jacks!Worth every penny. I high recommend for your turntable with moving magnet cartridge.

I purchased one of these about 6 months ago and just purchased another one. I bought a Schitt Mani 2 at the same time as the first one. I thought the Mani was restrained in bass punch and transparancy overall compared to the Bellari. I could not return it in the 15day window they offer, which I think is too short. I swear the Bellari is cleaner especially in the bass and can go deeper with boost.It is so great to have continuously adjustable volume, bass and treble controls on a phono stage which is what I use it for. I am a big fan of tone controls done right. The bass and treble turnover frequencies are extended. The bass turnover is pretty low and the treble turn over is high. So you get more thump and sparkle than most tone controls that I find boost more mid bass and upper mids, which most speakers have already in adaquate amounts. Its the extreme frequencies that less expensive speakers lack and I also want to adjust bass and or treble in records that lack it.I live in a high RF environment and my NAD phono section in my preamp picks up hum. The Belari is totally quiet.The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is the is the way the controls feel. The sound changes smoothly , but the physical feel of the controls vary through their range. If I rotate the controls back and forth fast they smooth out but return to an inconsistant feel after left sitting unchanged for a few days. It's a wierd thing but it does not hurt the smooth control or the sound so I can live with it if it doesn't get worse. So far the one I've had for 6 months has stayed about the same as when I first noticed it a month in.All in all, if you want to punch up the sound of your Turntable this will do it. A tremendous value.