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Stand out phono stages

This topic has been started before by others and myself as well, maybe too many times, but it is worth revisiting since the source is so very important!
So far I have had the pleasure to enjoy two worthy phono stages: the EAR 834p and the JLTI.
I have to admit they are spectacular. Obviously the record and all the equipment downstream play a role in the sound heard. In some cases I prefer the JLTI and in other cases the EAR. But neither out do the other dramatically.
What phono preamps outshine others by a big margin, those that can be considered the last phono preamp ever needed.
pedrillo
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Dhcod, I owned three versions of both: the Basis and the
Emitter II. Scheafer the owner/designer is very fond of modifications. Each new mod means new and higher price but not necessarily any improvement. The 2005 Basis was worst then 2003 version. I was not able to notice any difference
between ,say, 2002 Emitter II and 2006 Emitter II. The first 'golden' version (2008-9)of the Basis Exclusive was a disaster for me. I bought this one assuming that both MM
and MC connections were present but Scheafer decided for
some unknown reasons to mod this one with only MC inputs.
So I was 'forced' to buy the 2010 version a year later. I have some relatives by ASR company so I wrote 'forced' with quotation marks. Now if you live in Europe you can buy Emitter II for cheap on ebay.de or Audio-Markt.de. The
problem for those who live outside of Europe is the weight
and consequently the postage cost. With the Basis phono
however one can remove the batteries from the transformer
part and reduce the weight with +/- 12 kgr. This means 2
packets with less than 20 kgr. with reasonable postage cost.

Regards,
usermanual
104 posts
 
How about Van den Hul phono stages?
snook2's avatar
snook2
626 posts
 
The Dartzeel phono preamp.
roth_s
11 posts
 
Do research the Jasmine LP20MKII. I've seen it favorably compared to the Manley Steelhead, other TOTL units. I am an owner. The company stands behind their product and have been excellent to work with when I asked for a reduction in global gain prior to sending it out.

http://www.jasmineaudio.net/lp20MKII.html
wescoman
117 posts
 
So, I'll add my thoughts to the discussion. I recently purchased the Manley Labs Chinook phono stage from Upscale Audio. All I can say is "great job". They have a solid winner with this model. It ran perfect out of the box - even with the stock Electro Harmonix Russian tubes. I was definitely impressed. I've also had the opportunity to speak with Manley Labs tech support regarding how to configure the unit to support the Dynavector 10X5 MC cartridge. The tech support team responded within one hour - incredible customer support! I can't say enough about this company or this product. Great job guys!
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