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Suggestions for phono preamp for LOMC's

I am looking for a phono preamp that will work with LOMC cartridges.   Budget up to $2500 but would be quite happy spending significantly less.  I have about $10k invested in my table/arm so any appropriate suggestions would be appreciated.   New or used would be fine.

bobheinatz
sls883
321 posts
 

I'm using a Sutherland TZ Vibe with a Hana ML moving coil cartridge.  I think it sounds excellent and it's well under your budget. 

theflattire
174 posts
 

Phono stage might be more important than TT/arm.

If I had $10k in TT/Arm I would be looking at something like an Allnic H5500  or Sutherland Duo minimum.

I would consider a $2500 phono stage a bottleneck.

lewm
13,036 posts
 

Check out he recent thread on SUTs. There you will find mention of good high gain phono stages that are compatible with LOMC cartridges. Also I suggest you read up on “gain”, the meaning of db, etc, so you can calculate how much gain is enough for a given cartridge. That quantity also depends upon linestage gain, amplifier input sensitivity, and speaker efficiency. 
 

The TZ Vibe is a current driven device. Such devices work best with LOMC cartridges that also have a very low internal resistance, usually less than 10 ohms. So before you purchase a current driven phono (there are others besides the Vibe) be sure you want to limit yourself to compatible LOMC cartridges.

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