Entry level phono stage

I was going to recommend the Bellari. For the money it seems like a nice phono stage. I haven't heard it myself, but reviews have been positive. Maybe you can get it on a 30 day trial and check it out.

I have a Bellari VP129 in my office system. It's a steal in its price range and it's internal components are surprisingly good at this level. It has quite good resolution, better than average bass response and compliments my Oracle Paris with Grado Reference well. I did upgrade the tube to a Siemens which further enhanced resolution and offered a bit more detail. All in all, this phono stage is going to be hard to beat for $200. Best of luck in your search....

The Bellari is quite nice at that price, really not bad even compared to the Project Tube Box which is I believe is around $500. The Bellari has the same nice rich sound, just a bit less resolution. Tube rolling may help even further, also it does have a nice look.

Creek is good at this price. Also check out Parasound and used Grado. You might want to keep your eye out for a used Lehman Cube which would be a wonderful option that your system can grow with to some point. They are often listed in great condition on A'Gon but you have to be quick to beat someone else to the sale. Alot of people believe that Lehman is the absolute best value + quality performance for one's investment. Note that you will also need to invest in an additional pair of decent interconnect cables to connect the phono stage to your "preamp". Again, lots of good used cables on A'Gon. There is alot of quality input on this subject here at the A'Gon site.

Parasound zPhono. One of the best I've heard for the price ($150).

Michael