Do they make a quiet great sounding phono pre amp??


Hi, I have purchased and listened to 3 phono preamps which are: A musical surroundings phonomena, musical surroundings Nova II, and a Manley labs Chinook. The Manely labs Chinook is by far bettter sounding then the first two (double the cost too). But, All three have given me nothing but trouble (noise,noise,noise even terrible clipped signals!), and 2 of them basically failed on me. So before I go DIGITAL, can someone please tell me who makes a phono preamp in the $2,000-$3,000 range (tube or solid state) that I can rely on, and sounds as good or better than the Chinook?? Thanks.


Matt M                                             
128x128mattmiller
I don't want to argue with Raul too much, because I do agree that a solid state phono stage has a better chance to be really dead quiet with very low output MCs (let's define that as 0.3mV and below), but it is also possible to get there with tubes and especially with hybrid devices employing both transistors and tubes in the signal path.  Typically in the latter case, a transistor is used at the input as voltage amplifier.  Apparently the Herron using its MC input is one such device.  With MM or MI cartridges, any really good tube phono stage ought to be very quiet; if it's not, there's a problem either with the design or the tubes or with grounding.  My vintage Quicksilver full function preamplifier, old as it is, is as quiet as any CDP, when driven either by my Grace Ruby or my Acutex LPM320.

Hell Raul,
Back when my audio system was analog dominant both the Klyne and Herron were consistently regarded as excellent Phono stages. Is your preference for the Klyne the result of direct listening  comparison to the Herron or based on the former’s design/specifications?
Charles,
I had a Rhea and a Chinook before the current Steelhead.  While the Rhea had significant tube rush, even with a new set of Aesthetix tubes, The Chinook was absolutely DEAD quiet so, while I don't know what you're doing with tubes, you should not hear anything from that phono stage except music. I would contact Manley.  And if you swapped out the stock tubes that came with it, shame on you.
The K&K Maxxed-Out phono-stage will fit the bill nicely.  Designed to use cheap Russian tubes (fancy ones detract from the sound), utilizes step-up transformers as part of the design.  Has mute and reverse polarity switch.  Can handle lowest output carts.  Very, very quiet.