thoughts on adding phonostage

all vinyl, just broken in, making changes already?

I encourage you to wait 6 months, find out how hooked on vinyl you get before seeking change/improvements.

2m bronze, factory aligned, is a darn good start, stop reading, stop imagining something else, keep listening to what you have.

I imagine your Rogue phono sounds darn good, and is revealing enough that you would hear differences among cartridges, if you were able to easily compare.

then, you need to think long, because you have a TT with a single straight arm fixed cartridge which does not allow the use of alternate cartridges, so you, like others with fixed cartridges, think about a 'better' phono stage. I'd rather you build a stable of cartridges, Stereo; Mono; MM; MC; MI, and consider light tracking.

I found out yesterday, I got lucky again, Steve at VAS confirmed the used AT160ml I bought has no wear. It's a MM, with a MicroLine Stylus on a beryllium cantilever (the lightest/stiffest ever made) that sounds great, has amazing imaging, and tracks at 1.25g (some use it's lightest 1.0g setting).

I advise 'return' privilege's on any phono stage, because I sent 3 highly recommended phono stages back, and think it is a matter of finding 'preferred', not 'better' if that makes any sense to you.

@mitchagain + 1 - I've had a Herron tube phono preamp for about 4 years now, and it's great, it certainly is. And the used market is the only place you'll find them now as Keith has retired his business, but I do see them at USAM, Agon, or The Music Room now and again... 

i do appreciate the wait 6mo post. its def prudent and again, im in no rush to make any of these changes except for maybe the MC cart.  i am excited to explore experimenting with different tubes but will def wait on that. 

@larsman +1 - Thanks to prior comments by you and many others about the Herron Audio phono pre, that ended up putting me on the trail of the Herron VTSP - 3A preamp, which I am thrilled with! 

I used to have a Rogue RP1 preamp and my experience was that while the headphone amp wasn't very good, the phono preamp was pretty good. I wanted to try a SUT and since then I'm using a different preamp that doesn't have a built in phono input. I got the basic MM only version of the EAR Phonobox tube phono preamp with the EAR MC4 SUT. The price isn't unreasonable compared to some options. The MC4 SUT has different inputs that allow you to use it with different cartridges, or try different settings for different sound, and I've been very happy with the sound and improvement after adding a SUT.