Entry level phono stage

thanks all ....

has anyone heard both the bellari and cambridge audio?

Best one you will ever find in a small box that is very very good comes from a relatively unknown Australian company named Redgum. My friend who is a vinyl maniac with a super custom Supratek is always shocked by how good it is. You can find them at an A-Gon dealer, Quest For Sound . No affiliation just a customer.

If you have a bit of electronics experience or if you do not mind the DIY thing, I would recommend Bottlehead’s Seduction phono amp. It easily beats the pants of anything I have heard this side of grand and retails for under $300. ($275?) In addition, you can upgrade it over time as your finances allow.

Recently I took mine over to another 'phile who had some very serious Krell gear, and he very impressed with the sound of the Seduction. Either that or he pretended to be! ;-)

The seduction was my second build ever and proved quite easy. Mine has been 100% reliable and I have been using it on and off for almost 5 years.

The phono is really a critical piece of gear when it comes to listening to vinyl so do not skimp on it.

Regards
Paul

A friend of mine who is very well-versed in guitar amps/tubes is skeptical of the bellari:

"It's basically a tube mic pre repackaged .... this company makes 'tube' mic pres & they aren't good. It isn't a true tube design, they blend the noisy 'tube' signal with a cheap op amp signal. It's not a true clean tube amp signal. It's the wrong tube... too noisy.

Try to find another phono pre which uses 12ax7 tubes. I bet they don't use them."

Bellari Rolls VP129 Phono Preamp is a bargin and sounds way sweeter than 200USD should buy. Great tube sound.
Happy Listening!