Listening to my newly-completed Pearl 3 as I write this. I'm not surprised that it sounds as good as it does, but to actually hear it is immensely gratifying. It's dead quiet, and presents a big, wide soundstage. Stage depth is very good too -- right off the bat I'm getting a really engaging sense of three-dimensional space (my system tends to image behind the speaker plane). I built this because I was anticipating upgrading my Goldring E3, and wanted the option to try out some low-output cartridges (e.g. the Grado Opus3/Platinum3/Sonata3 low-output). But with the Pearl 3, the E3 sounds just lovely, and I may just stop now while I'm ahead.
The build was straightfoward but moderately challenging, especially compared to building a pair of ACA monoblocks, and then an ACA Mini. It took me a good four days once I had accumulated all of the parts. On the other hand, besides having to fix the polarity of the power-indicator LEDs, this thing just came up and worked first try! Great testimony to the circuit and kit design, and the build guide.
Couple of notes that might help others:
- The font-panel LED terminals on the audio board (D3) has a "+" next to the negative pad. The part outline is drawn correctly, and the "+" is actually associated with the adjacent capacitor (C20), but it tripped me up. Non-catastrophic, and easy to rework, but worth looking out for
- The balanced output connectors (CN1) aren't labeled, so I had to (gasp) squint at the circuit diagram to figure out how they're wired up. (It's V+/V-/Ground, or pin 2/3/1, FWIW).
- I had hoped to order a black anodized faceplate, but couldn't justify the one-off tooling costs. As it happens, I needed to powder coat some parts for another project, so I added these faceplates to the job. I like it much better flat black, but I also miss the "Pearl 3" lettering.