phono pre amp giant killer?

Andy I feel your pain. Now on a more serious note. I would be looking at a fabulous phone pre-amp and very over looked one at that an Adcom GPS 565. The phono section was I believe engineered by John Curl and has gone up against many audiophile biggies such as the Audio Research SP-10 and
SP-11 and almost smoked the 10 and bettering the 11. I will admit that it is not a looker or a center piece and it has no remote. But it is built well,the phono section is dead quiet and should give you the performance that you just might be looking for.

On your budget, if your looking for a phono stage to compete with the ones around 2K, you should consider the PS Audio GCPH. You can pick one up for around $700 (there's one going for $625). If you can get a Cullen Modified one, all the better.

Thanks for the input. I know my system is askew. I was going to sell everything and then decided to keep my sources. I have a peachtree decco and era 5 speakers. They are good for the price point. I listen to bluegrass, country, classical, hawiian and world music.

I saw a ps audio III on the gon. Is that similar to the Gcph?

Andy, for bluegrass in particular I would look for a phono stage with high slew rate so that the plucks will sound right. Ask about this when you talk with designers/manufacturers.