Adding a phono stage component ? Advice needed

When I faced the same decision I used an old SAE Mk XXX preamp just for its phono stage. It worked fine but looked a little clunky and dated. After reading a favorable review in Stereophile magazine, I splurged on a $200 Rotel RQ970-BX dedicated phono pre-amp. Mine has been trouble free and sounds just fine. Last time I looked there were a couple for sale here on Audiogon going for $100 - $125. The Rotel ought to mate well with your Adcom stuff. Cost effective and highly recommended!

You can use the tape out of any preamp with a phono stage to drive your Adcom. But unless you just happen to have one lying around you are better off to buy a specialized phono preamp as suggested above.

Thanks a lot Rockvirgo & Oldears. I had a preamp with a phono stage but sold it when I aquired my new one. Your probably right saying that I should get a dedicated phono stage. Thanks for the help..................

Hey Zenieth- what did you end up doing? Audioman4 gave you some great advice, what with the Needle Doctor recomendation and all. Personally, I've got it good 'cuz Jerry Raskin himself helped me out when my old Adcom system (since replaced) needed similar help. I had a GFA555II (?) a few years ago, and hated the sound from the internal phono preamp. You could actually hear the fuzz and static come out of the speakers when you turned it to the phono input (and don't bother turning it up, either!) I sent it to Adcom to have the phono section jumped out, and then I visited the good doctor at his shop (I'm local). He damn near talked my ear off, but I learned a hell of a lot! When all was said and done, I left with a dedicated phono preamp that is easily adjustable for different stylus', didn't cost an arm and a leg, is dead quiet, and fits my system. For your Adcom setup, which is better than mine was, you could get very good results with a seperate phono preamp, and you don't have to pay alot to get great sound.

I can't recommend Jerry Raskin/ The Needle Doctor highly enough. If you still haven't done anything, or are still just thinking, check him out.

'Nuff said.

Well, I don't think anyone has answered your question, which is whether you could use the regular preamp connected to the balanced inputs on the amp, and a another preamp connected to the unbalanced inputs on the amp. If there is a selector switch to pick inputs then this is probably ok, go ahead and try it in my opinion. If not I'm not sure you may want to see if anyone else answers this.

Now, as for an outboard phono preamp in the tape loop or something, I tried this but found that the gain on a number of units was too low. (However some units have adjustable gain so make sure you check on this.) You switch from cd to tape (phono) and and then have to turn everything all the way up.
For me the better choice was to get a stand-alone preamp that had a phono stage and put that into the tape or aux input, so you can equalize volume easier. You will note that phono preamps are very expensive and I found a nice preamp with a phono stage for the same price.