Hi Jan,

When I was the Chief Audio Engineer at The Rodgers & Hammerstein  
archives we had a number of Packburns, and we never used them,  
because they sounded like shit, to put it mildly. Now a days with all  
the digital noise reduction programs out there why aren't you using  
that? Also why on earth are you using a RIAA curve on 78's?! You're  
missing most of the sound. A KAB pre-amp would be much better, even  
though I'm not crazy about the pre-set curves. The OWL 1 is way  
better to dial in the curves. Good luck finding one of those. Anyway  
toss the Packburn and the RIAA curve.

Adrian

On Mar 21, 2009, at 11:32 AM, Jan Myren wrote:

> About Packburn 323 Audio Noise Suppressor
>
>
>
> HI; I have learned that you for many years (and probably still) use  
> the
> Packburn for playback and recording from old 78 rpm discs.
>
> Since I am a collector of old 78's and have a big collection of  
> records from
> all ages. I have also spent some recourses on good equipment and I  
> think
> this Packburn would be the correct analogue device to my set-up.
>
> I have a Thorens TD 521 turnable. The arm is a SME 3012R and the  
> cartridge
> is a Stanton 500MKII and some different stylis, all special made for
> playback of old 78's! I use a normal NAD RIIA preamp.
>
> My experience so far is that it works very well on clicks and pops  
> using the
> switcher and the blanker. But the continous noise filter bugs me a  
> bit,
> since I think it doesn't reduce that much surface noise. I don't  
> use the
> variable adjust very often, since the so called "masked-noise" and the
> pumping effect bring offer "strange noises" to the sound. Therefore  
> I mostly
> use the FIXED adjust, and usually set it fixed at 9 o'clock posititon.
>
>
>
> I have read that some re-issue engineers, like Robert Parker used the
> Packburn 323A frequently when restoring old 78's for LP and CD- 
> releases.
>
> MY main question is if the Packburn was used as a "stand alone"  
> unit or it
> was also supplied with other noise reduction units in order to  
> filter out
> more of the surface noise. If so, what did they (or you) actually  
> do and
> what could eventually be a good supplement for that purpose?
>
> I would really appreciate if any of you would please give me some  
> hints and
> suggestions, since I think the Packburn will work very well if used  
> the
> right way!
>
> Really hope to hear from you again!!
>
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Jan Myren¨
>
> NORWAY
>
>