How Do I Choose A Phono Preamp

@holmz

Good question.

Sound quality is both objective and subjective evaluation.

For me, it began very subjective… chasing heavy bass, quieter noise levels and greater detail: making rock music more impactful and dynamic.

But over time, I realized that to make all music sound better on my system I needed to improve it objectively. For twenty years I worked diligently to “learn” what real music sounds like at every opportunity… I listened to individual instruments, and went to hundreds of acoustic concerts. I steeped myself in live music to learn its nuances. This is not as easy as it sounds. First you have to realize that amplified concerts are not helpful… they are too influenced by the amplification and venue. You have to listen to it a lot and learn terms to characterize it, to adjust for the venues. But like anything else many hundreds or thousands of hours allows you to develop an in depth understanding… and this gives you an internal empirical ruler.

This approach slowly began to effect my appreciation of reproduced music at first. Then it radically began influencing my choices as I learned what real music sounded like. All, genera of music sounded better and better as reproduced from my system.

So, while even for me sound quality is still a combination of both, it is much more objectively driven.

I thought best to report back with what I bought. I pretty much settled on the Modwright PH9.0x, but prior to purchasing I called my Music Direct salesperson that has been very helpful with other purchases. I asked him if he thought that money best be directed to subwoofers, or phono preamp. The preamp in my integrated is pretty good as is the bass in the Sabrina X. He convinced me that if I just changed one thing, the subwoofer was the way to go. I was considering a pair of REL G1 Mkii in a 14’x23’x10’ room. He suggested that I back off the price of the subwoofers and get a pair of REL S/812 and that would allow me to also get the Sutherland 20/20 ver2 with lps. I’ve read a lot of positive reviews of this unit without the linear power supply and he priced everything right, including three power cords and interconnects.

Everything shipped this morning. I’ll use my two months to make sure that I’m happy with the Sutherland and I’ll find a good chiropractor to help me after I carry the subwoofers upstairs.

I want to thank everyone that posted on this thread.

OP,

👍 Thanks for the update. I look forward to hearing your impressions.

But over time, I realized that to make all music sound better on my system I needed to improve it objectively. For twenty years I worked diligently to “learn” what real music sounds like at every opportunity…

That is a longer timeframe than many would abide.
Clearly the noise part (which I did not quote) is easy to work out with measurements alone.

I thought best to report back with what I bought. I pretty much settled on the Modwright PH9.0x, but prior to purchasing I called my Music Direct salesperson that has been very helpful with other purchases.

…

Sutherland was on my short list. (But I was looking more at their lil Loco.)

That advice you got sounds good, but maybe you can follow up once you back from the chiropractor in a few weeks?

@holmz 

The Dude Abides.