Phono pre amp
I’m very happy with my Tavish Design Classic phono preamp. Cheap by high end standards, dealing with the owner of the company is a pleasure. https://tavishdesign.com/products/classic-vacuum-tube-phono-stage |
I’ve been using a Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL phono stage for several years. I went through several stages before that, including the GCPH from PS Audio, but I have a hard time imagining how any stage at any price could "sound" (it has no apparent intrinsic "sound") or function better. It’s fully balanced with both balanced & unbalanced inputs AND outputs, easily adjustable and configurable for both MC & MM carts, and it’s built like an anvil. It can even be powered by a battery pack, although I could hear no difference. It may no longer be in production, but it retails for $1,000 new and in my (limited) experience it was/is a steal at the price. Worth looking for and a BIG step up from the Yamaha stage. |
Get the tube box ds2 by pro-ject. It can handle both mc and mm as well as two turntables. Its a Tubed phono preamp and it is a wonderful piece of kit. I own one with the wood sides, eucalyptus. Its beautiful. This is just one of many phono stages I possess. Another great one is the Tavish design the classic or the vintage. Made in the USA by Tavish design, NY. Also a Tubed phono stage. If using a low output mc cartridge, I would highly recommend that you also purchase a step up transformer. The jensen SUT’s are fabulous for about $600. Made in USA. Positive feedback has a wonderful review of the Jensen mc 2RR-L. Take the output of the transformer and connect to the mm section of either of the two above phono stages, or whichever you settle on. This is the Best way to utilize a mc cartridge. However the aforementioned ds2 does allow you to adjust the mc cartridge load on the fly by utilization of the front mounted knob. Pretty neat actually. Lastly... A very cheap but yet very good option is the musical fidelity lx-lps. It too can control two turntables and is equipped with both mm and mc inputs. It has a very beautiful midrange. It is very well built and small. Getting a bit scarce but still available. Just a heads up, the best bang for your buck moving coil cartridge is the Hana EL. It's the new "103" so to speak. |
The graham slee era gold v is a fantastic phone stage. It does only mm though, but hook up a great mc to a SUT and into the era gold and it will sound terrific. I have a brand new still in box Graham slee fanfare 3 dedicated mc preamp for sale if interested...😁 graham slee makes some great stuff. I'm loving my Novo headphone amp. Still breaking it in.... |
