I need an economical but good phono preamp?

11-13-08: Thegoldenear
STAY AWAY FROM THE 640P PLEASE!!!
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Thanks for your suggestions and I did purchase the 640p and the p must stand for Piece. The build quality is terrible and had nothing but hum after i hooked it up.

The occasional bad unit in any product line is inevitable. That doesn't mean that your one experience makes the whole product line categorically bad.

There are many, many satisfied customers--and reviewers--of the Cambridge 640P. According to the review I read at TNT, as well as my own experience, the 640P is exceptionally quiet, especially for the money.

If you heard lots of hum, there was probably a bad solder joint or a broken wire.

I've been using a 640P for nearly 7 months. It's dead quiet, not to mention dynamic, detailed, fast, extended, rhythmic, and tuneful.

The Bellari VP129 can be found here used for under $200, this is a great little tubed phonostage.

My pick: Yaqin MS-12B tube phono preamp. With sock Chinese tubes it was just about as good as bellari vp129 and Clearaudio micro basic. But after changing to NOS tubes, it works noticeably better than those two and almost as good as my friend's Audio Electronics PH-1.

Clearaudio Nano Phono; not only sonically an overachiever in its price bracket but also extremely versatile (e.g. finely adjustable gain)
http://www.clearaudio.de/eng/pv_nanophono.html

Rotel makes a entry level phono stage that should meet your requirements. It is not on par with the best but its performance is solid. It does not work well with the very lo output MC cartridges but .24 and higher works well. price is about 150 dollars