About to purchase Bryston BP-2MM moving magnet phono stage for Sondek LP-12

I have been out of vinyl listening for 20 years. My Linn Sondek LP-12 turntable has been in a box since my move in 1999. My teenage daughter tried to hook it up one weekend while I was at work. She didn’t realize that my Bryston BO-26 preamp had no installed phono stage. The one time the LP-12 came out of the box, it went back in the box. I focused on getting the sound right on my mostly Bryston system (4B2 amp with Thiel CS 3.6 speakers). 

Fast forward to 2020. I still have this great Bryston BP-26 preamp with the optional external power supply, the MPS-2. This external supply has 4 sockets for compatible Bryston gear. Turns out that the 1/3 chassis “BP-2MM” takes advantage of the MPS-2. Based on the quietness of the BP-26 preamp, it seems like a fair bet that the BP-2MM would also be very quiet, a well made product that could be counted on to deliver satisfactory MM (moving magnet cartridge) performance at its price point. 

I just wondered if any vinyl buffs here had any first hand experience with any of the Bryston phono stages. Honestly, I’m not expecting much based on scant reviews on-line. Bryston does not get much sexy press coverage in Stereophile, which I have subscribed to for years. I spoke with Gary Dayton (the Bryston North American rep, formerly employed by Thiel) and asked why Michael Fremer’s excellent, ongoing analog column in Stereophile has nary a mention of any Bryston phono product and he shrugged his shoulders and merely said “you’re not likely to ever see it”. We were having too much fun auditioning awesome gear that I forgot to go back and ask “why?” 

Perhaps the blue collar audiophile pedigree is a deterrent, I honestly don’t know. But 20 years of no vinyl appreciation is 2 decades too much! Hell, $1,000 for the MM only BP-2MM sounds like a bargain to me. I still have my “Sound Organization” wall mount for the Linn table that is waiting to be (re)-deployed to isolate the sprung Linn LP-12. I’m not really wanting to fool with the more expensive combined MM/MC step up transformer that Bryston also makes at nearly twice the price. The reason being, I figure that getting my table up and running in MM mode will be quite an awesome accomplishment, I’ve thought about it for years. 

If all goes swimmingly as I hope it should, I would really value suggestions for tubed MC up transformers. In the meantime, I have a back catalog of over 100 vintage euro jazz titles on the ECM label just sitting in the cabinet unloved. And then there are all the pristine Japanese pressings of King Crimson, David Bowie, etc... that I’ve nearly forgotten about. Unfortunately, while I do have an Ittok tonearm with the 2nd from the bottom Linn cartridge (name sounds like a dog’s name - I’ve forgotten it), I never updated much on the Lp12. I would like to be able to play 45’s (12 inch club singles) in addition to normal 33 LP’s. I live in Dayton, OH and the nearest Linn turntable specialist (I believe) is in the Detroit suburbs. 

Thanks for reading along. I love the quietness and simplicity of my digital front end into my excellent Bryston system, but now I really need to bond with some analog folks to really mine the depths of my original record collection which is still held onto by me and in excellent condition.