Channel D Lino C 3.0 Mode d’emploi
Channel D Lino C 3.0
Balanced Transimpedance Direct-Coupled Wide Bandwidth
Low Distortion Low Noise Precision Phono Preamplifier
For Low Output Moving-Coil Phono Cartridges
Optional Moving-Magnet and Voltage-Mode MC Inputs
Installation and Use Manual
QUICK START
1. Allow your Lino C to fully acclimate to ambient temperature
for a few hours before removing it from the inner plastic bag.
2. Current mode phono preamplifiers use balanced input wiring.
Balanced wiring consists of a twisted pair of two independent
conductors inside a shield, for a total of three independent
conductors. Current mode phono preamps may exhibit audible
hum with unbalanced (coaxial conductor with shield) wiring.
RCA to XLR adapters* may be usable, but a properly wired*
balanced interconnect is needed to guarantee no audible hum.
*XLR pin 1 must be connected only to the cable shield; for adapters, pin 1 left open / not connected
3. Unmodified Rega turntables and tonearms cannot be connect-
ed to balanced preamplifiers because Rega connects the chassis
ground to a cartridge signal connection, preventing making a
balanced signal connection, resulting in noise and hum.
4. Connect the turntable and output connections. Connect the
power adapter to your Lino C. The barrel connector of the
power adapter will easily slide into the power input jack on the
rear of your Lino C. If it seems to not slide in easily, verify the
alignment of the plug and try again. It can be damaged by using
excessive force. Next, plug the line cord into utility power.
5. A blue indicator on the bottom of the chassis will illuminate
when the circuitry is powered.
6. Keep your Lino C continuously connected to utility power for
optimum battery life; the internal Class A biasing circuitry also
takes approximately 30 minutes to fully stabilize after a power
down.
7. Disconnect the power adapter from the rear of the Lino C to
fully power down the Lino C.
Channel D Lino C 3.0 Installation and Use Manual
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Table of Contents
Page
Getting Started 2
Signal Connections 3
Optional Moving Magnet Input 4
Optional Voltage-Mode Moving Coil Input 5
Power Up 6
Power Down 6
About the Lino C Rechargeable Battery Power Supply 6
“Off the Grid” (OTG) Mode 7
Lino C Configuration Bottom Chassis Cover) Gain / Damping 8
Battery Power Supply Auxiliary Settings 10
Optional signal conditioning settings and inputs:
16 Hz High Pass Filter, MONO, POLARITY 11
Charging / “On Grid” Signal Port 12
AGM Rechargeable Battery 13
Opening the Lino C Chassis / Removing the Lid 16
Specifications 18
APPENDICES
Sample RIAA Accuracy Graph 19
Troubleshooting 20
Lino C Galvanic Isolation Block Diagram 23
Battery Circuit Board Description 24
Using an IoT Relay for Automation of Off The Grid Mode 26
Page 1
Congratulations on purchasing a Lino C phono preamplifier! Your Lino C is a low noise, low
distortion, balanced transimpedance (current mode) design featuring a wide frequency bandwidth and
extremely accurate RIAA de-emphasis. This provides you with the key to obtaining stunning and lifelike,
three-dimensional music reproduction from your LP records.
Your Lino C is specifically designed to deliver extremely high quality music reproduction from low
output moving-coil cartridges (and moving magnet cartridges, with the optional MM input).
Lino C incorporates newly available power supply components that enable circuit design strategies
delivering power supply performance very closely approaching that of our flagship Seta® rechargeable-
battery phono preamplifiers. Like our flagship Seta models, modern manufacturing methods are used,
including low-noise, four-layer circuit boards and precision, surface mount components. Surface mount
components provide the shortest signal paths and highly optimized circuit layouts, with low stray
inductance, capacitance, improved unit to unit consistency and performance all eclipsing old-fashioned
through-hole designs. The result is a phono preamplifier with exquisite performance far exceeding
expectations, especially considering its relatively modest price in the arena of most high end components.
The high precision (guaranteed better than ± 0.1 dB) RIAA EQ accuracy provides standard RIAA-
corrected phono preamplifier outputs with outstanding quality.
The low impedance AGM battery based power supply with proprietary Channel D - developed charging,
maintenance and galvanic isolation circuitry provides outstanding “off the grid” isolation from power
supply related noise and interference issues that preamplifiers with conventional power supplies must
contend with.
Lino C also is perfect as a preamplifier for connecting to high resolution (192 kHz / 24 bit), balanced-
input analog to digital converters (ADCs). The Lino C’s selectable Flat output used in conjunction with
Channel D’s Pure Vinyl™ software providing RIAA EQ correction combines the strengths of the latest
cutting-edge analog and digital technologies, delivering superb, high definition transparent vinyl
playback.
The benefit of having the availability of selectable Flat and RIAA outputs can facilitate linking analog LP
playback with the performance and flexibility of high resolution digital audio, should you desire to do so
later in the future.
Page 2
Getting Started
Please take the time to read this Installation and Use Manual to familiarize yourself with the installation
and operation of your Lino C.
Important: If the package you received from your shipper is substantially above or below ambient
temperature, please allow your Lino C to acclimate at room temperature for a few hours before opening
the plastic bag containing your Lino C, to avoid causing condensation on cold internal surfaces (if colder
than ambient temperature), and to allow the internal battery to come to temperature equilibrium for
optimal operation.
The following items are included. Please check the package and notify Channel D of any discrepancy:
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Before making any input signal connections, disconnect the power supply from the rear of the Lino C.
If using Channel D Pure Vinyl™ software: be sure to mute the Pure Vinyl application software, if running on the
computer, or otherwise mute or power down your power amplifier(s) while making signal connections, to avoid
generating noises which could damage loudspeakers.
Lino C 3.0 rear panel shown above with optional Moving Magnet and Voltage Mode Moving Coil Inputs
MC Transimpedance Input (also applies to optional Voltage Mode input)
•The Lino C MC transimpedance input requires balanced (shielded twisted pair, which is two
conductors inside a shield for a total of three independent conductors; as contrasted with coaxial
unbalanced cable which is one conductor plus a shield) connections to the turntable. Turntables
with RCA jacks can be used with an RCA to XLR cable.
Important: Pin 1 of the XLR connector must not be connected to either of the signal
conductors, or hum/noise/distortion will result. Pin 1 should only be connected to the cable
shield. If you detect any hum/noise/distortion please detach and check your input connection
cable using a continuity tester or ohmmeter to insure that Pin 1 of the XLR is not internally
connected to Pins 2 or 3.
Balanced cable and signal connections provide better noise immunity (because of common mode
noise rejection) than conventional shielded (single conductor plus coaxial shield) cable. They are
also a requirement for a current mode preamplifier, or hum/noise/distortion will result.
Page 3
Standard Transimpedance Input (and Shared Outputs for Optional Inputs)
Signal Ground
•Securely connect the ground wire from the turntable / tonearm (if so equipped) to the binding post
on the rear panel of the Lino C. This terminal is connected to circuit common. It is not connected
to the chassis, which is floating in a Faraday cage configuration. If your turntable doesn’t have a
grounding connection, leave this terminal disconnected. Important: only connect the ground to a
turntable chassis or ground wire, not to a ground connection on any other equipment.
Chassis Ground
•The Chassis Ground is not normally used, however it is provided in response to requests to
facilitate connecting the common terminal of a third-party power conditioner.
Balanced Outputs
•The low impedance, balanced XLR outputs are configured by the factory to supply conventional
RIAA corrected output.
The balanced outputs also can be configured to bypass the RIAA EQ for connection to the
balanced inputs of a professional audio interface, for use with Channel D’s Pure Vinyl™ software
(for Mac computers) for applying RIAA compensation. (Consult the Pure Vinyl software User
Guide for more information.)
If necessary, XLR output pin 3 may safely be connected to circuit common / ground (Pin 1),
because the Lino C has servo balanced (ground sensing) outputs.
Single-Ended Outputs
•The single-ended / unbalanced outputs supply conventional RIAA corrected output for use with
single ended / unbalanced outputs for a line preamplifier lacking balanced inputs. This corresponds
to a standard phono preamplifier (with RIAA EQ curve) output signal.
The RCA phono outputs are true, single ended (unbalanced) connections derived by differentially
summing the balanced signal “legs,” rather than taking the unadvisable shortcut of only using the
positive polarity signal leg of the balanced circuit, which would deliver poor performance.
Also, the standard RIAA EQ compensated signal appearing on the RCA output connectors is
generated from a signal side chain independent of the XLR / balanced outputs, and may be used
simultaneously with the XLR outputs without compromising the performance of the Lino.
Note: the Balanced and Single-Ended outputs are on separate signal chains, and may be used simultaneously.
Page 4
Optional Moving Magnet Input
Signal Inputs
•The Moving Magnet inputs are balanced, but use RCA input connectors. Input cables can be
standard unbalanced coaxial cables, or balanced, shielded twisted pair. If using shielded twisted
pair balanced cable, note that the capacitance can be 40 - 50 pF per foot, and this would need to be
added to the capacitive load switch settings.
To configure the input for Unbalanced, set the UNBAL switch setting for each channel to on.
Cartridge Loading
•Adjust capacitive loading with the switches. Intermediate settings are available by combining the
settings. The capacitances are additive. For example, selecting the 100 and 47 pF settings the
resulting capacitance is 147 pF.
With all capacitive loading settings disabled, the background capacitance is approximately 5 pF.
The minimum capacitive switch setting is 33 pF.
The fixed load resistance is 47000 ohms.
Signal Ground
•Connect the ground wire from your turntable / tonearm (if so equipped) to the grounding lug. This
terminal is connected to circuit common. A removable banana plug is provided, with a set screw
for securing a ground lead terminated in a spade lug, otherwise a bare wire can be twisted around
the set screw and the screw tightened.
If your turntable doesn’t have a grounding connection, leave this terminal disconnected.
Important: only connect the ground to a turntable chassis or ground wire, not to a ground
connection on any other equipment.
Gain
•The input gain is 36 dB and can be increased via the Gain adjustment switches: 39 dB (+3), 42 dB
(+6) or 45 dB (+3 and +6) dB.
Page 5
Optional Voltage - Mode Moving Coil Input
Signal Inputs
•The Lino C second MC inputs are balanced, requiring balanced cables for optimal performance.
An internal jumper setting is provided to configure the input for Unbalanced operation; however
even when using a coaxial input cable, better results are usually obtained by keeping the input
configured for Balanced operation.
Cartridge Loading
•Adjust resistive loading with the switches. Intermediate settings are available by combining the
settings. Resistances combine geometrically. For example, selecting the 100 and 200 ohm settings,
the resulting resistance is 1 / ((1/100) + (1/200)) = 67 ohms. If selecting more switches, the same
principle follows. For example, selecting the 200, 500 and 750 ohm settings, the resulting
resistance is 1 / ((1/200) + (1/500) + (1/750)) = 120 ohms.
With all resistive loading settings disabled, the resistance is 1000 ohms.
Signal Ground
•Connect the ground wire from your turntable / tonearm (if so equipped) to the grounding lug. This
terminal is connected to circuit common. A removable banana plug is provided, with a set screw
for securing a ground lead terminated in a spade lug, otherwise a bare wire can be twisted around
the set screw and the screw tightened.
If your turntable doesn’t have a grounding connection, leave this terminal disconnected.
Important: only connect the ground to a turntable chassis or ground wire, not to a ground
connection on any other equipment.
Gain
•The input gain is 58 dB and can be increased via the Gain adjustment switches: 61 dB (+3), 64 dB
(+6) or 67 dB (+3 and +6) dB.
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