@russbutton Thanks a lot for that. I've never heard of those guys. I love building kits. My previous amp was an Audio Note Kits "Kit 1" 300B SET, and my current phono pre is a Bottlehead Seduction. The Bottlehead "Eros," their new flagship phono stage, runs $750. Audio Note Kits has a line of great looking phono stages, but prices start at around $2000 (although they're running a 20% off sale right now). So, yeah, I've thought of building another kit. :-)
Great Value in Used Phono Preamp’s?
Hey, Folks!I am looking to increase the quality of my phono stage. For many years, I have been using a Bottlehead Seduction that I assembled myself. It’s been great, but having spent some time with a borrowed, integrated amp with a really wonderful phono stage built-in, I think I’m ready to upgrade.What would you be looking for, used, in the $500 range in a used phono preamp? Thanks in advance!
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@adg101 and @boxer12 +1 On the Parks Audio Budgie and +1 on the Parks Audio SUT, if you can find them for sale. There’re so good, for the small amount of money they cost people who own them hold on to them and don’t sell them. And the maker of the Budgie and the companion SUT as of about two weeks agao has stopped production of the Budgie and the companion SUT for another phono preamp called the Puffin. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/my-6922-tubes-are-too-bright/post?postid=1578355#1578355 |
+1 for Musical Surroundings used Pre's. Consider the Lehmann Audio SE phono pre, probably more like $600 used, but is very good. I have used one for 4 years now. it has an outboard PSU, very clean, detailed, balanced, not rich but full sounding. also, consider a used ClearAudio pre from Germany. I've had the "Basic", which retailed at $1000 but can get used for $600. I had the Lehmann and the Basic at the same time, did A/B comparisons. I thought they sounded pretty similar to each other on a small but modest bedroom system. |
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