Looking for a $500 or so phono preamp -- BC23 ?

Kennyman,
Just so you know, Jim Pendleton at Osage Audio has a brand new Phonomena II for $500. I just got an email from Osage. And he's an awesome guy to deal with. I thought I'd let you know if you're still deciding.

Redglobe, I got the Jasmine Lp- 2 two days ago and used at
present only the MC input. The MC gain is 70 dB so no problem at all for my LOMC with 0,2 mV (Genesis 1000). The phono-pre is well made while the Power supply is not producing any heat so I intend to keep the switch ON for at least one week.
The pre sounds fantastic without any break in. To my mind no contenders for this price.

Regards,

Nandric, Thank you for the feedback.

Nandric, I also purchased the Jungson JA88D (reviewed/owned/recommended) by Troels Gravesen. It is another China-made product. It has a big and open sound stage with very smooth performance throughout the sonic range.

I understand the reluctance to buy whatever in China direct.
But I had this peculiar experience. My left channel
caused some trouble so I assumed that the cause was the
Jasmine main unit (the power supply was ok). So I wrote to
the manufacturer and got, to my suprise, a new unit within
10 days . No payment whatever was involved. But with the
new unit I had the same problem so I changed the tonearm
to see if the problem was caused elsewhere. This was
the case with my Lustre 801 while no problem at all occured
with my FR-64S. I am very happy with the Jasmine which
I use in my second system . Anyway there is no reason to be
sceptical reg. the warranty by this producer.