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Tube Phono Stage

Hello Friends
I need a new phono stage, to replace the solid state phono stage, that I have now, whitch I find 50%, of my recordings, can at times, sound's a bit bright, don't get me wrong, we talking about great bass, and I have good ears, as I have a fantastic tube intergrated amp, my system will tell me what is a great sounding LP, and I mean great!!, but then, If I put a poor LP, on it will tell me, it is over produced, sounding a bit harsh, I have done a bit of research, I have came up with two, tube phono stages, within My budget, yeh  I know there are mega buck phono stage's, out there, and most don't come with cartridge loading, on the fly, or rca loading at the rear!!, the two I can come up with are as follows:
1. Decware ZP3, phono stage, with the ZMC1 "sut"
2. Tavish design, Adagio phono stage, with a "sut", built with a seperate power supply, with a price of around the same!!
Yes I want, to open a can of worms!!
What should I go for??
I look foward to your responce
Regards
David
128x128daveyonthecoast
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
Frank Van Alstine used 5751's in his Dynaco PAS redesign he offered back in the 80's. A little less gain than the 12AX7, but quieter. I don't know if he still modifies that pre-amp, or makes a similar one of his own.  
giri
39 posts
 
Has anyone owned or listened to Tube Nirvana Janis phono preamp? I have ordered one and will find out soon. Just curious if any one has had it. It costs $1300-1450 (mm-mc).

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
601 posts
 
Have I got this right - you don't want a revealing phono stage that tells you when you are listening to crapilly executed recordings, you want a tube phono stage because you think it will conceal those flaws?  Or did I somehow read your post incorrectly?
orange24
5 posts
 
I have the Parks Budgie M/M version. It uses two 6922's class A, with a dip switch for a bunch of cart. loading options, and I think it sounds great for what little it costs.
I don't think it's ugly or DIY- ish. But that's in the eye of the beholder.

I do have a question for all you guys.
Do you really hear an easily heard, and I mean big improvement, in the sound in a phono amp going from current production Russian 6922 tubes to any of the vaunted new old stock 6922 tubes ? I don't want to pay around 90.00 hard earned $ a pair for NOS tubes and hear no big change !
Thanks.

halifax
51 posts
 
I have a Parks Budgie, it was a big upgrade over an art dj. Changing the tubes out makes a noticeable difference in my system. I am running some older amperex tubes. I tried sovteks, jan phillips, and EH. I dont really like the EH in anything, but its not bad in the budgie.
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