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Tavish Vintage vs Bottlehead Eros

My AES PH-1 just doesn;t have the gain for my Soundsmith Otello cartridge. I've gotten down to these two phono preamps and would love any input on them. I like a warmish musical sound with a large well defined stage. Good detail retrieval helps, but a little less won't sink the deal. Cool, analytical or a flat stage is a definitely a no go....
Tavish uses the same 6SL7s and I love their sound. They'll also tweak a build for me to bring the MM gain up to suit my needs - pretty sweet.
Bottlehead Eros is a little unknown to, but looks and reviews to be outstanding for the price. The gain is fine at 50db
If anyone
budburma
budburma OP
345 posts
 
Tavish it is! That all makes great sense.
Yes, the Eros is a kit, but there are a couple already built ones for sale now 

Thanks - I really appreciate the input.

I’m pretty psyched: Scott’s going to adjust the and I live close enough to pick it up to boot. Sweeeet!
sonicjoy
146 posts
 
That's cool! I picked mine up on ebay for $350. I could not believe it or pass it up. I think You will be happy with it. I'm using it with a Music Hall MMF-7.3 TT and an Ortofon 2m Black mm cart. Very good clean detailed and just plain "musical" sounding for lack of a better word. Enjoy!
tablejockey
3,941 posts
 
Soundsmith Otello

I have one as a backup cart. I prefer MC.
The Otello is a great performer, especially for the price.

The Otello works fine with typical MM gain.


budburma OP
345 posts
 
My set up ran out of volume/gas w/the 38db of the AES and was much better with the 45db from the internal MM stage on my VPI 299d. Not so fond of the SS sound out of that set up though. Too bad - the AEE is pretty great sounding. The Otello is a goid match with the SME arm and modded vintage Thorens.

I’m looking forward to some enjoying some tunes! $350 is a great buy. I often wonder who gets those deals - an EAR 834p just th it snatched for $450....right place right time! Timing isn’t personsal, just everything 
hagtech
175 posts
 
The Tavish should sound quite good.  How do I know?  I just looked at the schematics, and it is a dead ringer for my Cornet design (at least the tube part of it).  They modified EQ a tad by adding R105 and R110 to reduce variation caused by tubes, but paid a price for it with added noise and increased Miller effect.  
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