owiosiz012 MC1 /Hiraga MC Preampitior
MC1/ Hiraga MC Preamplifier
Jast Changes : 2010/11/14
Table of Contents
Introduction
Schematic of the Hiraga MC Preamplifier
Power Supply
Assembly of the Enclosures
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Introduction
In February 2010 at the AAA (Analogue Audio Association) regulars’ table we had the wish to have a
Hiraga MC prepreamplifir available. Since a long time I was very interested in this design and therefore no
one has to asked me to start a development. I had enough open DIY projects at that time, but this design is
so simple that it takes not much time to design a PCB.
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‘staudlo deMMiragathir
6owiosiz012 MC1 /Hiraga MC Preampitior
Schematic of the Hiraga MC Preamplifier
I want to start with the original schematic of Jean Hiraga fiom the L'dudiophile, which you can find for
example at the homepage of Claudio Bonavolta,
Toshiba oar ye $809 Toshiba
2x25B737R a ee 2x2S8737R
Hiraga MC Preamplifier
The bipolar transistors of the original schematic are no longer in production and very hard to buy, but in the
intemet you find enough recommendations for a replacement. At the homepage from above a TBC560
from Toshiba is stated. A long year user mentioned to me in an email that the BC560C is not the optimal
choice ~ his recommendations are the 2SA1038 and 2SA1085 (thanks Anton), which are also pnp bipolar
transistors from Toshiba. I had enough 2SA1085 available and therefore I decided to use these types in my
clone.
The capacitor at the output must be the highest quality for an audio coupling cap and therefore I bought
Mundorf MCap Supreme silver/gold. For the resistors I use the non-magnetic Vishay-Dale CMF-55-143
and for the power supply capacitors direct at the preamp circuit Panasonic FC.
* Schematic of my Hiraga MC Phono Prepreamplifier
* Top Overly of the Board
216owiosiz012 MC1 /Hiraga MC Preampitior
Hiraga MC Clone
I matched 2 pairs out of 50 parts with the measurement of the current gain hy. The pairs are assembled —
as you can easily see on the photo above — thermic coupled on the PCB. Thereto I coated the flat surface
of one transistor with thermal conductance paste and connected both with a heat shrink tube together.
During a first fast verification with a laboratory power supply I was able to set the offiet ofboth inputs to a
couple of uV with an Agilent measurement device.
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Power Supply
Most owners make use of batteries for the power supply of the Hiraga prepre. I don't want to do that at
the begiming and therefore I decided to take a shunt regulator. It is the first time that T use such a power
supply topology and my experience of the behaviour of such a regulator is limited to Spice simulations,
use a design fiom Erno Borbely which is decribed in the following article
* Shunt or Not
Are Waagho
audioXpress, 02/08
I want to use a simple and complete discrete construction of the regulator and therefore I took the Simple
Shunt Regulator with Constant Current Source.
As allways the power supply is build up as a dual mono design. Affer the transformers, the bridge rectifiers
— which are build with discrete Ultrafast Soft Recovery diodes — and the first electrolytic capacitors (4%
22000,F) you find 10mA current sources. The Hiraga prepre dissipates ImA at the positive and 2mA at
the negative supply voltage and therefore the current sources are designed above the recommendations for
the dimensioning in shunt regulators — arround two times of the current of the consumer load.
At the output of the regulator there are 3300pF Panasonic FC electrolytic capacitors in use. Afterwards in
the enclosure of the MC stage you find additional 4x 100000pF electrolytic capacitors assisted with 10uF
Wima capacitors. On the board of the Hiraga prepre itself there are 12x 2200pF Panasonic FC
cleetrolyties connected to the power supply. Finally the overall capacity after the regulator is nominal
439640, — at the end this is not accordance with J. Hiraga, but I think enough for a first implementation,
‘stauco.de/Miragahiraga_en.himl a6onrosizot2 ct Hiraga MC Preampitor
Furthermore the shunt regulator is placed in a separate enclosure and can easily be replaced with batteries.
Dual Mono Shunt Regulator
A fundamental aspect for the decision against the use of batteries are my experiences with the Pass XOno
This phono preamp needs a very long time to reach a stable operating point and as a consequence I never
switch this preamp off - exactly this I want to do also with the Hiraga prepre. The power consumption is
so low that there is no need to switch it off and therefore I need a power supply.
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Assembly of the Enclosures
As I described above the complete Hiraga prepre is placed in two enclosures — one for the preamp and
one for the power supply. I bought the enclosures from HI-FI 2000. Out of their portfolio I decided to use
the Galaxy Maggiorato with a dimension of 330mm x 280mm x 80mm (WxD*H) with a 10mm front
panel.
On the picture below you can see the audio enclosure fom the from the ffont plate is not mounted. The
PCB's with the 100mF electrolytic capacitors and the 10pF MKP4 are mounted on both side frames. In
font of the rear panel the Hiraga MC preamp is fixed,
‘staudlo deMMiragathirowiosiz012
Enclosure with the Hiraga MC Preamplifier
Below you see the shunt regulator in i's enclosure,
Enclosure with Dual Mono Shunt Regulator
On the rear panel of the MC preamplifier the Cinch input and output connectors, the connector for the
ground of the tone arm / record player, an earth comector and a 7 pole DIN connector for the DC power
supply is mounted. The switch on the left side connects the ground either to the ground of the power supply
or to earth.
At the power supply enclosure the 230V/AC input connector, a switch and a fuse is mounted on the left
side. On the right side the 7 pole DIN comector for the DC power supply is fixed.
‘staucto.de/Miragahira
osowiosiz012
Rear Panel of the Hiraga MC and Power Supply
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