Recommendations for MM Phono ~ Tube or Solid State

“Strategic Product Placement comes to mind with the help of a friend or two.”@pindac 

I couldn’t agree with you more, it certainly appears that way! 

There has been speculation in the past on this forum about the individual doing Covert Placement of products they have a Vested Interest In.

I find it very easy to discover within the 'Gon' Product Plugs from the suspected Head of the Sales Team, especially making claims on a selection of occasions the device is comparable to $60K designs.

I also find it quite easy to discover the few who come forward to underpin the shameless promotion, by encouraging the dialogue to expand into further marketing spiel being spewed.

Similar claims are also able to be discovered, where claims made for a Tonearm Design are slipped in as a Covert Placement. Where the spew on these occasions are the claim, the comparative Tonearm to the Model is a model costing $55K. 

As stated for myself " I am not part of a Covert Advertisement Strategy or hoaxed into a Product Shill ". 

"I stand proud knowing that". 

Yes, you got me.  I am in cahoots with Raul to tout the Essential 3160, of which there were maybe a dozen ever made and which were all sold out 5-10 years ago.  Lalitk, I am surprised at you. I brought up the 3160 in response to your own question asking whether I/we knew of any other phono stage that incorporates separate discrete circuits for MM and MC cartridges.  Furthermore, you are engaged in a quest for a new phono stage by virtue of this thread.  To accuse one who responds to your thread of "product placement" (parroting one of Pindac's tortured metaphors) by naming one candidate unit, which you correctly noted is perhaps too unobtainable to be considered, is kind of a double-cross. I also named the DSA phono III; was that also a cynical example of product placement?

Pindac, you wrote, "As stated for myself 'I am not part of a Covert Advertisement Strategy or hoaxed into a Product Shill' ".  You are certainly not either of those things. You are usually blowing smoke instead.

@lewm

Perhaps, you’re reading too much into this. I made it very clear that I’m not interested in one off bespoke products. Frankly, I did not quite understand the value in suggesting a product that pretty much unobtainable. My last comment was directed towards what ensued afterwards. A series of posts about 3160 / 3180 that has nothing to do with discussion on hand.

Please enlighten me how’s your back n forth banter with @pindac relevant or helpful to discussion on hand?

There are quite a few years gone by where a pile of damp leaves can be copy/pasted to clearly show where the source of the Smoke comes from. 

The 'tortured metaphor in this case being' There is no Smoke without? '

It is easy to work out the Essential 3180 predecessor. being the Essential 3160 is gone, it is 'dead in the water' and in the current market, has proven to be able to be discovered as a sale item at a substantially deprecated value when compared to the original retail value. An approximation of 80% depreciation is seemingly with accuracy. 

What is very evident is that the mention of the Essential 3160 on the 'Gon', will very speedily be followed by the referencing the Predecessor Essential 3180 by the Sales Person for the product.

Using the various accounts of the volume of sales referred for the 3160, it can be assumed the Gross Sales Figure was aprox' $250 000. I'd be happy to speculate using as a guidance, an offer I had been made in the past, to be a representative for a Audio Product, that $50000 may have been the remuneration for a individual instrumental in the accumulation of sold 3160 items. 

The same percentage or even an increased percentage of the cut of profit, for remuneration for sales achieved, may even be available for Essential 3180. 

Using an interpretation of the history and the currently available evidence for the 3160 when found in the used Market.

There is the strong suggestion a 3180 could share a similar experience as a 3160 as a Marketed Item. 

The 3160/3180 when referenced by the Sales Person, are also purported to be comparative to $60K Phon's of which a few Brands are referenced. Are the $60K Phon's Models to be found for less than $3K in the current used sale item market?? 

As stated "At £1.2K. I would be quite happy to have the experience of the Phon' and put it out for Longterm Loan, enabling the Local HiFi Group to assess it. That would be very very interesting.