Pre-amp with great phonostage (tube)

I'd love to sell my CAT SL-1 Sig Mk III, and its phono stage is superb, but for lower cost I'd go for a used Anthem Pre-1. It was better than an ARC SP-15 I had at the same time, and I've heard from people who should know that it's better than Audible Illusions Modulus 3 as well.

i yust sold my rogue 99, w/magnum upgrade, plus nos ge tubes. no regrets - the cary slp98 - stock version - beats it in *all* areas. i must say that i used neither of their fono-versions, as i run an outboard fono-stage, but all sources - fono included - sound markedly better thru the cary than thru the rogue. better dynamics, better extension, especially in the bass, and a magical midrange, w/no loss of detail or transparancy. i am going to a-b the cary w/a melos music director - whichever wins, stays in my system & i'm done looking for preamps for a while... ;~) doug

The Rogue 66 is a good choice.The phono stage in mine is dead quiet.I have replaced the stock line tubes to JJ tesla.I have the stock tubes in the phono stage.I am hoping to audition a 99 soon.

You want a killer phono stage in your 99? Throw in some Telefunkens!! Sedond,sorry you werent happy with the 99.The 66 got a great review this month in Stereophile and the reviewer liked the bass alot.Cant figure out how you didnt get it through the 99.I have killer Bass with mine!! UU

hi david99, the input impedence my preamp sees is 25k-ohms; while rogue sez the output impedance of the rogue 99 is 100ohms, this is surely not the case. as a test i ran a 2.2k-ohm resistor across the rogue's outputs, & this *noticeably* reduced the volume coming out of the speakers. it would not surprise me if the actual output impedance of the rogue is 2500 ohms, or even higher. i tried this same test w/the cary in the system (~800 ohms rated output impedance), and there was absolutely *no* reduction in volume, when the output was crossed w/the 2.2k-ohm resistor. perhaps, w/the rogue seeing a higher input impedance of, say, 50k-ohms, or 100k-ohms, there would have been no loss of mid-bass in my system. impedance-matching *is* important! regards, doug