Graham Slee GSP Era Gold Mk. V - anyone have it???

heard one at a dealer yesterday w/ the shelter 501 and some step up tranny.

this is one fine phono stage !!!!

I had the rogue. It is not in the same league as the GS.

I was reading the Stereo Times review on the new Music Man Classic cartridge and was suprised to read that the Mk V could not pass all the info from the cartridge while the Graham Slee Reflex had no problem and was used to develope this new cart.

I bought both a GSP Era Gold MkV and an Ear 834P and lived with both for a couple of months. Each had its strong points, and I could see how some people might prefer the Ear. But I preferred the GSP's speed and slam.

I saw in Audio Asylum discussions that there are some effective and not-too-expensive upgrades that can be made on the Ear, mainly upgrading capacitors and resistors and putting in better tubes (Telefunkens are probably best). After making those changes, the Ear 834P improved so much that it clearly bested the GSP (to my taste). But the Ear is more expensive to start with and if you have someone else do the upgrade on it, the Ear becomes about twice as expensive as the GSP.

So the GSP remains the champ at its price level, and better than many preamps costing 2, 3, 4 times as much.

Good point on the price comparison between the upgraded EAR 834P and the GSP. A more fair shootout would be the new GSP Reflex and modded 834P, although the GSP is still significantly cheaper, I think.

I preferred the GSP over the Rogue Stealth and EAR for the exact same reasons as Bolson. The difference was significant.