Pre-Preamp?

daveaj255

Get the superb 60db high gain Herron VTPH-2A and get a preamp like this with little or no gain.
Such as the Schiit Freya, it has the best mechanical volume control made remote, xlr or se inputs and outputs, and you can choose between active solid state, active tube or passive operation, whatever you think sounds best in your system.
If you don’t like it after 15 days you can send it back.
https://www.schiit.com/products/freya

Cheers George

Keep the ARC unit! You will be decidedly unhappy with most other units unless you spend serious money. People have to resist the impetus to change. You wind up wasting a lot of money for minor improvements if even that. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket look at the weakest link in the chain which is usually the cartridge/tonearm or the speakers. Adding subs correctly will make a huge difference as will up grading your speakers. In terms of electronics amplifiers make the biggest difference because they have to interact with the speakers which may or may not be easy depending on the speakers you have. If you can afford room control go for it. That will improve your imaging significantly.

Speakers? Full Range Apogees. Amps? Fully restored ARC D-250 MkII Servo for the midrange and treble ribbons, restored Krell KSA-100 direct-driving the bass ribbons. Signals split by a custom-built Apogee active crossover. The listening room was specially built in 1985, is 27' x 17' x 11' and was co-designed by me, my builder, and Leo Spiegel from Apogee. Lots of room treatment, too, including several ASC Tube Traps. The strategically placed SONEX has deteriorated and I'm looking into other available 3" thick treatment - at least 64 sq ft of it, which actually gets lost on those large walls - none on the wall behind the Apogees, however! I tried that - what a huge mistake THAT was. Interconnects are all MIT. The SP-11 never had sufficient gain for my Madrigal Carnegie 1's 0.28mV output. The tonearm is an Eminent Technology ET-2. The turntable is a SOTA Star Sapphire. I've always had to turn up the gain and level controls on the SP-11 to get a room-filling volume and then the background noise was too high for my tastes. Yes, I should have gotten a phono preamp of sufficient gain, but was hampered by the fact that my dealer (Golden Gramophone in Akron, Ohio) decided to close up shop about 15 years ago. I'm legally blind and haven't driven for over 25 years. Wow, why did I write this book? My apologies for rambling so. Yes, I've been proud of my room and audio gear, all of which I'm the original owner. 17 eye surgeries have occurred since the room was built and the room has literally saved my sanity. By the way, I'll be 70 in a month. ;^)