Stand out phono stages

Thuchan,

A freind has a Da Vinci Grandezza 12" / Kondo IO-M / Kondo Step Up Transformer / Kondo M7 Phono set-up using a Verdier La Platine Vintage table, sounds nice but I prefer two others.

#1 12" REED/My Sonic Lab Ultra Emiment BC/FM Acoustics FM-122 Mk II phono set-up on the same Verdier table

and

#2 Shroeder/Olympos/Ensemble Fonobrio phono set-up with a TW AC table.

The later two which seem to offer more similarities than differences.

Dev,
okay when it comes to a full chain your two preferences are good benchmarks. My favourite at the moment is:

Continuum Copperhead/Olympos/EMT JPA66/Micro Seiki 8000

best @ fun only

Thuchan,

sweet pces, x-mas is right around the corner and I can provide you with my address, I'll even pay for the shipping cost ha! ha!

I know of the other pces but not the EMT JPA66 so I just looked it up.

Dev,
Xmas is always. what present are you making yourself...
best @ fun always

Speaking of the holidays, I'm going from a surprising good little NAD PP2i to a Ear 834P. I found the sound from the NAD using a Denon 103R/TNT MkI to be decent but lacking the "spirit" and low end response which I could hear using an Lazarus preamp. Of course the Lazarus was not MC compatible w/low gain and noise, (though it was a cascode amp with two 12AT7 and two 12AX7). This move should provide a decent MC tube preamp experience with the noted front end. I do like the sound from FETs amp circuits (low noise/great dynamics), and believe I will be headed to some type of SUT/FET/tube preamp setup, but hope the EAR will hold my interest for a little while. It great to get back into vinyl!