LUMINOUS AUDIO TECHNOLOGY Arion User manual

LUMINOUS
AUDIO
TECHNOLOGY
ARION PHONO PREAMPLIFIER

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| Operating Manual |

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Table of Contents
Important Safety Instructions.................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 4
Operation Overview................................................................................................................................... 5
Single-ended versus Balanced Design................................................................................................... 9
Circuit Design Overview............................................................................................................................ 9
Let’s play music!....................................................................................................................................... 11
Warranty Information............................................................................................................................... 13
Specifications............................................................................................................................................14

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Important Safety Instructions
The listing below is intended to alert the user to important operating and maintenance
instructions. Please adhere to them.
TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT REMOVE THE COVER. NO USER-
SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.
1. Read instructions: Please read all safety and operating instructions before operating
your preamp, and retain for future reference.
2. Cleaning: Unplug the preamp from the wall outlet prior to cleaning. Use a damp cloth.
Clean only the outside of the product.
3. Attachments: Do not use attachments that are not recommended by the manufacturer;
they may be hazardous.
4. Water and moisture: Do not use this product near water or leave it outdoors. Do not
place it under a plant or place a plant upon it.
5. Product placement: Do not place the preamp on an unstable table or stand; it may fall
and become damaged. Move it with care.
6. Power sources: Operate the preamp only from the type of power source indicated in the
instructions. Overloading: Do not overload wall outlets or extension cords, which can
result in fire or electric shock.
7. Power Cord Protection: Power cords and interconnect cables should be routed so they
will not be tripped over or pinched by items placed next to or upon them.
8. Electrical storms: Unplug the preamp from the wall outlet for added protection from
lightning, or when left unused or unattended for extended periods of time.
9. Servicing: Do not attempt to repair this product yourself. Please contact us for guidance.
Unplug the preamp from the wall if the power cord or plug is damaged, if liquid has been
spilled into it or it has otherwise been exposed to rain or water, if the product does not
operate normally when you follow the operating instructions, if it’s been dropped, or if
you notice a distinct degradation in performance.
10. Heat: It is important that you place the preamp away from heat sources, such as your
amplifier, a radiator or other product that produces heat.

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Introduction
Thank you for purchasing the Luminous Audio Technology Arion phono preamplifier. Much like
the creation of a fine musical instrument, the Arion is the culmination of many years of exploring
the boundaries of audio circuit design combined with an attention to detail found only in hand-
built craftsmanship. Every aspect of the Arion’s design – from the circuit topography to the
physical placement of every PC board trace - has been confidently selected as the best
approach to optimizing its design and performance. Mike Bettinger has spent forty years
studying many of high-end audio’s most esteemed classic designs, and endlessly experimenting
to develop the design rules used to produce the Arion. It will allow your music to capture all
spectrums of detail from your recordings, seizing and holding your emotional involvement. You
will experience the musical accuracy, focus, depth, width, range, airiness, detail and impact of a
live performance from a truly exceptional high fidelity component. It is state-of-the-art audio
without a state-of-the-art price.
Each Arion phono preamplifier is individually tested and adjusted to performance considerations
beyond bench specifications, and is auditioned by an experienced audience of listeners prior to
shipment. Each analytic listening session turns out to be an aural rapture! The Arion’s
performance creates a musical experience that defines a new benchmark for what is possible in
audio amplification.
Luminous Audio Technology stands behind your Arion and will gladly provide you with
assistance if you have any questions or problems not covered by this operating manual.

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Operation Overview
Muting Circuitry: The Arion includes an active muting circuit. Its two-fold function is to mute the
output during turn-on and to provide a means to manually mute the preamp output in normal
use. Electrically the muting circuit places a high impedance load on the output while shorting the
output signal to the interconnect cables to ground.
Upon turn on, there is a delay to allow the circuitry to stabilize before activating the outputs.
The muting circuit also engages immediately in the event of a power outage to suppress the
effects of power disruptions and cycling, allowing a slight delay before resuming operation.
The front panel mute pushbutton engages the output mute circuits during normal operation,
allowing you to maintain the volume setting during record side changes or listening
interruptions. The unit is muted when the front panel display is red and operational when green.
Front Panel Cartridge Switching: The Arion is a high quality Moving Magnet/Moving Coil phono
cartridge preamplifier. It provides front panel switchable MM/MC cartridge compatibility. The
gains for the switchable modes are set during assembly at 40dB for MM and 62dB for MC. The
loadings are similarly set for MM at 47K and at 100Ω for MC.
MM/MC Switch: Push once to switch to moving magnet; push a second time to switch to moving
coil. The MM/MC switch will glow amber when moving magnet is selected and blue when
moving coil is selected.
Note: Please apply front panel muting using the front panel pushbutton switch
before switching between MM and MC modes. Allow approximately 15 seconds
before releasing muting switch and resuming listening; because of the high gain
circuitry involved there is a momentary shift in DC levels that requires a brief
period to stabilize.

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MM/MC Gain Settings: The front panel MM/MC pushbutton switch toggles the Arion input stage
between the necessary MM/MC gain. Sub-miniature small-signal latching relays are used in
this application, which allows us to incorporate the relays seamlessly into the layout of the gain
stage without any noise or loop size penalty. The relay contacts are a silver base material plated
with a hard gold alloy for superior sonic performance. Our use of latching relays solves one of
the main deterrents to using relays in a cartridge signal application, which is the degrading of
the contact surfaces over time.
Stage Gain: The gain is set during assembly but the MC gain can be internally adjusted to suit
any requirement through the replacement of a feedback resistor by an experienced technician.
DB Gain
Voltage Gain
Gain set Resistor
42
10
100
47
17.8
62
52
31.6
33
57
56
18
62
100
10
67
178
5.6
Cartridge Load Setting: Switching cartridge types and gains via the front panel selector
automatically changes the load presented to the cartridge. During the Arion’s assembly, a 47K
load resistor is installed for MM cartridges, adopting the industry standard, and a 100Ω resistor
is installed for MC. The design includes provisions for changing the moving coil cartridge load.
The process is to unplug the preamp, remove the top cover, unplug the current load resistor and
plug the new value into the supplied sockets. 1k ohm and 10k ohm load resistors are supplied
with your Arion. Other values can be supplied.
MM Capacitive Loads: There is also the ability to modify the MM cartridge capacitive loading.
Two installed polystyrene capacitors and a third user-supplied capacitor can be selected
through the moving of internal jumpers. The values installed can be used independently or can
be summed to produce the needed value.

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The installed capacitors: The capacitors installed include a 50 pf, 100pf, and 150pf. The 100pf
is located in the turret sockets for easy swapping. Using various combinations of these three
values, it is possible to provide load capacitances between 50pf an 300pf in 50 pf increments.
Input/Output Connections: The Arion includes Cardas RCA-style output/input connectors plus
Neutrik XLR input connectors wired in parallel with the single-ended phono inputs as a
convenience, enabling the use of either style tonearm cables.
The output impedance of the Arion is 5 ohms, providing minimal interaction with a wide range of
interconnect cable loads. Although it will work fine, we do not recommended using twisted pair
style interconnects that do not include a shield. Cables designed with a high performance/high
frequency capable shield, coupled with the Arion’s internal ground implementation, effectively
route RFI impressed on the output interconnects through a controlled path around the audio
circuitry. With the quality of the Arion’s low output impedance Class-A output stage, the
conductor quality in an interconnect cable is the dominant factor in the cable’s sonic response.

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Turntable Ground Connection: The ground wires from the turntable and tonearm can be
attached if needed to the Cardas grounding post located next to the input connectors.
AC Power Requirements: AC power to the Arion is supplied through the IEC power input
module. The module integrates the IEC power connector, fuse and power switch.
The standard IEC receptacle will accept any standard IEC power cord.
The power fuse can be accessed by removing the fuse clip from the center section of the
module. Fuses are 5mm x 20mm medium time-delay fuse, type GMC, 3 amp. For 220 volt
operation, fuses are type GMC 1.5 amp.
The Arion is designed to be left on for extended periods and powered down when an extended
period of disuse is anticipated. The power switch is located on the right side of the power entry
module.
The Arion can be factory wired for either 120 or 240 VAC operation. The design of the power
supply and its audio circuitry has a strong focus on minimizing the effects of power line related
noise and varying voltage levels. While a good power conditioner will not degrade the Arion’s
performance, our approach to power quality focuses more on a solid low impedance feed from
the wall outlet for best performance. A dedicated line to the system is a preferable first choice
improvement, followed by a power conditioner as a second choice. Quality connections and
connectors in the power feed is also money well spent.
When supplying power to the Arion we also find it is best to use the same AC supply as the
preamp. This helps to control the signal reference’s quality and minimize extended circuit loops
back through the supplies, power feeds and grounds. Multiple power feeds can also choke off
dynamics and create a filled-in quality, obscuring low-level details.

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Single-ended versus Balanced Design
The Arion is a single-ended rather than a balanced design. The signal provided by the cartridge
is not balanced; a pseudo ground must be created to reference the cartridge output to, creating
a positive and negative signal. The preamp must then equalize and amplify the signal through
two identical pre-amplifier and equalization circuits to provide a balanced output. The Arion uses
the single-ended approach. Our seasoned, craftsman-like understanding and experience with
the intricacies of circuit layout and the execution of audio amplification circuitry has allowed us
to successfully reference the cartridge to a clean ground and allow the Arion to maintain the
small signal integrity of the cartridge output.
Circuit Design Overview
Much like a master chef creating a meal or an artist utilizing the array of available materials to
create his or her art, an audio component is an assemblage of functional blocks, support
circuitry and materials stitched together based on the designer’s vision. Forty years of
dissecting and understanding the best classic audio designs has given us a unique
understanding of the building blocks of audio circuitry. With the Arion, we have assembled the
best building blocks into an optimum phono preamp design.
Circuit Topology: The Arion incorporates a two stage design with a cascoded discrete JFET
input stage, followed by a differential cascoded/JFET second stage; servos provide stability. A
combination passive/active RIAA network supplies equalization. The power supplies are
instrumentation amplifier-based designs. The circuit layout is a combination of art and science,
with every trace carefully considered and guided by years of designing high sensitivity sensors
functioning in the most severe electrical environments. The results present a sense of purity and
low level detail resolution that is highly dynamic and musically involving.
Design Details: The first stage provides an interface with the cartridge while also providing the
gain and drive for the passive equalization network that follows it. This stage is based on
cascoded parallel JFETS followed by a bipolar cascoded voltage amp stage. MM/MC gain
switching is provided by sub-miniature small signal latching relays. The output of the first stage
is fed into the second differential gain block.

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The second stage provides the additional gain needed for tracking the low frequency portion of
the RIAA curve; it also is based on matched cascoded Toshiba JFET differential amplifiers. Both
stages are servo controlled and very loosely coupled to avoid the sonic consequences usually
associated with the application of servos. Output is provided by a Class-A biased output stage,
which provides excellent drive for both the EQ and the main outputs and interconnects.
The power supplies provide +/- 24vdc, controlled by an instrumentation amplifier-based
regulator circuit. The voltage references are supplied by cascoded current sources; the output of
the supplies is also cascoded to shield noise from the raw supplies being coupled into the
output voltages. The supplies are extremely fast and quiet, providing speed and integrity to the
low-end and an absence of texture most noticeable on vocals and on passages with complex
stringed instruments.
The Preamp Layout: What is unique and the result of 35+ years of studying classic audio circuit
design techniques is the Arion’s grounding and circuit layout, and the execution and fine-tuning
of the Arion’s circuitry. The grounding and supply networks have been implemented through
careful consideration of both the circuit biasing and signal return currents, featuring controlled
signal and biasing references, coupled with distributed capacitance power feeds and bypassing
technology. The Arion’s circuitry benefits from operating in one of the fastest and most quiet
operating environments possible, which allows incredible speed and resolution. The operating
points of the active devices have been fine tuned for their “sweet spots“, much like the voicing
process used during the creation of a fine musical instrument. We believe the musical result
speaks for itself.

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Materials and Construction: The PC board uses a 4 layer design. The active devices are
screened and matched by circuit function. The circuit components include all 1% metal film
resistors and polypropylene film capacitors. All equalization components are screened for tight
tolerances. The electrolytic capacitors are high frequency and high temperature rated. Active
devices include Toshiba JFETS and low-noise small signal transistors, Sanyo power transistors,
and Analog Device low-noise JFET devices. The power supply utilizes dual split-bobbin C-core
transformers and Fairchild Stealth rectifiers. Separate transformers are used for the +/- raw
supplies. Signal path connections are made with silver solder. The Arion is proudly designed
and made in America.
The Arion PC board has been designed to float in the vertical plane, so as not to transmit
transformer vibration to the bottom plate. This unique PC board isolation is achieved via unique
synthetic rubber O-rings with a thin membrane between two stable layers. This technique, along
with specifically selected PC hardware, minimizes 95% of the low frequency vibration passing
through the chassis resulting in microphonic and hum-free operation.
The Arion comes fitted with custom made feet sourced from a Virginia based company. The
goal was to obtain an effective, low noise, high damping foundation that would not add
unnecessary costs to the bottom line. A fairly standard oversized foot was available to us that
met our basic size and aesthetic requirements. We were able to request a custom, soft
durometer silicon version in charcoal black with a stainless washer developed specifically for
controlling potential resonant frequencies within our chassis, while allowing us to provide a
reference quality piece at a very reasonable cost.
Let’s play music!
Unpacking the Arion: Carefully remove your Arion from its shipping carton and locate the
enclosed accessories:
Hospital grade power cord
Plastic bag with optional load resistors
Owner’s Manual
Inspect the Arion carefully for any sign of shipping damage and contact us immediately should
you find any damage. We recommend that you save the box and its packing material to protect
it if you need to move or ship it.

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Placement Guidelines: For safest performance of the Arion…
Place it on a shelf adequate to support its weight.
Use input and output cables long enough to leave some slack in them for moving the
preamp to check or change connections.
Place the Arion where you can route input and output cables to avoid running parallel
with any AC cords.
Ventilation:
The Arion is a high bias design and will run comfortably warm to the touch.
Always position the Arion horizontally.
To maintain optimal biasing the chassis must be placed where it is able to be fully
exposed to ambient air. Allow at least 2”-3” clearance for the top surface and do not
block the side panels from exposure to ambient air if possible.
Do not install the Arion in an unventilated cabinet or confined space to avoid stagnant
hot air. These are fine points but make a difference in the consistency of the sound.
Connecting your Arion: Always disconnect the AC cords to your Arion and power amplifier
before making or changing any input or output connections. Connecting or disconnecting an
input or output cable with the preamp or power amp on can result in a blast of sound that can
damage your speakers. Be sure there is no strain or tension on any cables that could cause
them to pull loose.
Important Note on Electromagnetic Fields: Turntables and phono preamps are very sensitive to
electromagnetic fields that can produce an audible hum. To minimize any hum:
Place your turntable and turntable signal cables as far as possible from power amps or power
line conditioners. Don’t run the turntable signal cables parallel with any AC cords. If they must
cross AC wires, they should cross at a 90° angle. It might be necessary to experiment with the
exact positioning of the turntable signal cables to minimize hum.

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Warranty Information
Your Arion phono preamp was designed to give you many years of musical enjoyment. Whether
you’re having difficulty or just a question, please call us at [phone].
Luminous Audio Technology warrants this unit against defects in materials and/or workmanship
for five (5) years from the date of purchase by the original retail purchaser. Luminous Audio
Technology’s sole obligation under this warranty is limited to the repair or replacement, at
Luminous Audio Technology’s option, of any part(s) found to be defective. Luminous Audio
Technology’s obligation to repair or replace defective parts is the purchaser’s sole and exclusive
remedy, and Luminous Audio Technology will not be liable for any direct or indirect injury and/or
property damage arising out of the use of the product or defect in or failure of the product. This
warranty does not extend to any unit whose serial number has been defaced or altered. Any
product that Luminous Audio Technology determines causes a defect or malfunction due to
incorrect installation, modification, misuse, or servicing by the purchaser or service technician
not authorized by Luminous Audio Technology to perform such service will not be warranted.
This warranty does not cover trivial or cosmetic defects that do not impair the unit’s normal
function. Luminous Audio Technology reserves the right to make changes in this product without
assuming any obligation to install such changes in any product previously manufactured. This
warranty to repair or replace defective parts is in lieu of all other express or implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. There are no warranties that extend beyond
the description herein.
Some states do not allow exclusion of implied warranties or limitation of incidental or
consequential damages, so the above exclusion or limitations may not apply to you. This
warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that vary from state
to state.
For warranty service and performance or operational questions, please contact Luminous Audio
Technology at [phone].
For Future Reference
Arion phono preamplifier serial # _________________________________
Date of purchase: _____________________________________________

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Specifications
Frequency Response
20 Hz - 20kHz, +/- 0.2 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion
<0.005% at 20kHz
Signal to Noise Ratio (MM)
85 dB, input shorted, IHF A-weighted
80 dB, input shorted, unweighted
Signal to Noise Ratio (MC)
74 dB, input shorted, IHF A-weighted
78 dB, input shorted, unweighted
Crosstalk
75 dB at 1kHz
Phono Input Impedance
MM setting: 47kΩ
MC setting: 100Ω or user selectable
Total Gain
MM: 40 dB
MC: 62 dB
XLR Pin identification
1 = Ground (shield)
2 = Positive
3 = Negative (return)
AC power requirement
115 or 230 VAC 50-60 Hz
Dimensions
Width: 17.25”
Depth: 13”
Height, 3.50” with feet
Weight
20 lbs ( 9.07 Kg)
Shipping weight
26 lbs (11.79 Kg)
© Luminous Audio Technology 2015