Choosing a MC phono preamp for my new cartridge

I looked at a LOT of phono stages for almost 2 years. I was down to a Herron and or a Decware. Well I purchased a Decware ZP3 with a tape preamp option. 6-8 month wait. 

I looked at a Puffin.. I can't find a bad review. Firmware updates, opamp / FET. 1-4 week wait... I bought mine used, and currently waiting on it..
450.00 usd. I think out the door new 550-650.00 (couple of options)

I been using an EAR/Mac modified.. Good yes, BUT it's OLD and literally one of a kind.. The guy that built it has been gone 20 plus years now..

There was a Herron for 2400.00 just a few days back.. WITH GL 12AX7 too.. Heck of a deal..

Happy hunting..

Here's a few tips:

If the phono section has a loading switch for LOMC cartridges, its likely to generate more ticks and pops. This is because the loading is for the benefit of the preamp rather than the cartridge (the opposite of what most audiophiles think). There is a radio frequency electrical peak created by the cartridge inductance and the interconnect capacitance. If driven into excitation, this peak can overload the input of the preamp if the preamp has a poor high frequency overload margin. To solve this, loading resistors are used (hence the switch) but you pay a price: you're causing the cartridge do drive a lower resistance, thus making it do more work. There's no free lunch here; this means that in turn the cantilever of the cartridge becomes stiffer.


If the phono section does not need loading of course the cartridge is then driving 47K so the cantilever will be more able to trace high frequencies. If it does not need loading then it has good high frequency overload margin and so won't make ticks and pops because it won't be overloading.


Its worth it to check with the manufacturer on this stuff. If they don't know what you are talking about or think its a bunch of poppycock then you know that the phono section wasn't designed to take this electrical peak into consideration.


FWIW its much harder to design a solid state phono section to do this right than a tube phono section. The reason is a tube phono section usually overloads at its output before the input overloads. A solid state phono section, if presented with a 30dB peak at its input is likely to have the input circuit overload.

More on how this electrical peak works:
http://hagtech.com/loading

@atmasphere 

Thanks. I may have asked this before, but do you teach? You have a knack for making things understandable. As One who is not at all knowledgeable about what processes take place in the equipment, I really appreciate your posts