Jl35,
I am concern that the Khartago's 130 RMS may not be enough power should I go with Maggie's .7 speakers. or even another box speaker. It is only 30 watts more than Rogue Sphinx integrated, and so about 3db more volume or head room. But, I am not looking for "more volume" as greater clarity and resolution, and musicality. Nevertheless, I have been looking for a pre-amp. I saw a review in this month TAS about Brown Audio Labs sp-1. pre-amp . Dick Olsher raved about its MM phonostage,, but the unit has no head phone feature, or phono stage.
Obviously I could go out and buy a quality phono box, but that is more wires. The IA has a MP3 input which does not sound as good according to Olsher as listening through the output stage. I have no use for that , and hate MP compressed music. It also has no remote or balance control. The pre-amp also has low noise and distortion specs. It sells $850. However, it is one man company which may not be around in 5 years.
I gather that in the current separates market, these features are luxuries, and supposedly increase production costs. I would easily have settled for the headphone feature and a good remote.
BTW, what pre-amp did you use with the Khartago Plus?? I have learned that impedance matching between pre-amp and power amp can make a difference in the sound quality, especially with mixed brand componnets Thanks for the info,.