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Helping a kid out

So long story short I got neighbor kid into audio and to appreciate listening to music on something other than a cheap Bluetooth speaker.  He’s pretty young but a good kid, a hard working honest kid.  So far he’s accumulated his old mans Dual turntable that I helped him clean up and installed an Ortofon 2M Blue on it, a nice but older Marantz integrated and a pair of Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 speakers.  I hooked him up with a pair of Kimber 8TC speaker cables I had retired a while ago (lol, probably making them the most expensive part of his system).  He’s looking to upgrade and I suggested trying out a dedicated phono stage.  I’m assuming his budget is in the $200 range and I told his old man I wouldn’t let him buy something stupid.  I had no idea the sheer volume of phono stages in this price range on the market.  What would you guys and gals suggest?  My knee jerk reaction is Schitt Mani and I read a few good things about a Bellari unit but holy cow the choices are infinite.  Maybe something a little higher end but used?  Extra points if it can be purchased from Amazon but that’s by no means a deal breaker.
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mingles
796 posts
 
I have to echo what others are saying about these kits. There is something so satisfying and tangible about being involved with a build rather than just shopping for gear. You become intimately involved. I built a Bottlehead Seduction a number of years ago. The instructions were detailed and easy to follow. It was incredible fun to build, but even more fun to listen to. Years later, I upgraded parts which got me involved again, and brought new life to an already good thing. I've had a number of phono stages, but the Seduction is at the top of my list. The experience was so much fun that I'd like to do it again with a Reduction or Eros. 

I wish you and your neighborhood a great experience!
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oranda
13 posts
 
As many of you can sympathize, I’ve owned and built a fair number of phono preamps through the years and the best bang for the buck preamp I’ve had in my system is the Hagerman Bugle. The Bugle 3 is in your budget at under $200 right now and to my ears sounds better than the Bottlehead Reduction, Schiit Mani, and Jolida JD9. It’s customizable in that the op amps can be changed and the power supply can be upgraded (the latter of which I highly recommend.) A Bugle 2 full kit is also available for more serious customization for about $100 if that route is preferred. Good luck and let us know your decision!
jnovak's avatar
jnovak
416 posts
 
OP, make sure that you and the kid are having fun along the way. This experience will be precious to him down the road. PRAISE his choices in spite of what you may really feel. If his musical taste if awful to you, just agree to disagree. I'm happy to chip in a few LP's if I get an address. This is a really uplifting post! Good luck. Joe 
gera
40 posts
 
for anyone who wants to upgrade something, especially for an honest hard-working kid, The first question that needs to be asked is, why do you wanna upgrade? Anyone with that urge and who uses that word needs to clearly formulate what it is that is unsatisfactory in the current sound set up.
There needs to be an understanding of the relation between the music that one enjoys, the system that is used to reproduce the music the listening space and ones concept of proper sound. This will create a sense of direction of where to go. And what would be the point of upgrading the phono stage? Doing that would only reinforce the great Disservice that audio marketing does in the audio industry. Don’t let this kid waste any time on upgrading and on audio gear before he understands where he wants to go with sound AND what good sound to him is.
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