Phono stage for tube system - recommendations?

Bucketjr, the current model of the K&K uses a pair of 6H23P (the Russian 6922 equivalent). The differences in the basic vs. Maxxed-out K&K are rather significant, and the website illustrates the differences quite clearly. That said, I find my Maxxed-out K&K delightful, and have heard it against some fairly lofty competitors without feeling a huge desire to change, especially considering the price difference. YMMV.

-Richard

At least one of the competitors that Palasr mentions was my Doshi Alaap. IIRC, Richard's K&K held up very well for overall presentation. The Alaap was a much larger sound overall. We both felt that it was a difference mainly in power supplies. My Alaap has separate phonostage and its own massive power supply.

If you want syrup and "musical", you may want to look elsewhere as the K&K is every bit as neutral as the Doshi.

A couple of years ago I owned an xono and built a first generation K+K[no longer available]I played them in my system side by side as my table had two arms.It was close but to my ears in my system I preferred the K+K and I sold the Pass.I decided to remove my passive bent tvc volume control and its cables from my system and got kevin to build me a maxxed K+K with a stepped attenuator using audio note tantalum resistors.He installed all the goodys available at that time the Cardas caps and 1931 x formers and the audio note resistors on the board and a cartridge loading board.It just killed my homebuilt unit and although I no longer owned the Pass I assume it would have been a similar result.Considering the cost I dont think you can get a new unit with close to the performance of the K+K and if retofit upgrades are available no one is more approachable for advice or help than Kevin.

I am in a similar situation. I'm currently using a VAC Avatar Super integrated tube amp with a Walker Audio Signature solid state phono stage with great results. I have used tube phono stages before, but I tend to agree with Lloyd Walker on this issue, at very low signal levels, SS is better.

I've been to Lloyd's home, and he has tube amp and preamp, but SS phono stage. His theory being that signals at very low levels are even more prone to 'unbalance' in the dual triode tube stage than even low level signals in a tube preamp. It's hard to find perfectly matched tubes, and tubes that will stay perfectly matched over their lifespan. This is more audible at lower signal levels. YMMV.

Cheers,
John

For SS phono,don't overlook the Aqvox 2CI.It is a sleeper.Great soundstage,timbre and PRAT.I use mine with a tube integrated-simply delightful.