phono stage or preamp suggestions

Hi Thor,
All of the above are failry expensive. There are also many good models available for $1000 or so...some are less (EAR, Benz, Audiomat,etc). You can also find a Lehmann Black Cube for about $600 new and $450 used. Those are a great bargain.

if on a budget the black cube is nice for the price. i just switched from my black cube to a preamp w/phono stage that a friend of mine suggested i try. it is an old advent 300. it contains a tuner, preamp and amp. the tuner is actually ok. i have not used it's amp, but it's phono stage imho smoked the cube. this piece is an anomally(sp) of sorts. some "famous" engineer whose name i dunno designed it. i think in the prehistoric 1970's. comparing it to the cube:
the cube added a solid state edge to my system (melos tube preamp used with an audionics of oregon/david berning designed ba-150 tube amp, rega 3, grado reference master cartridge, old (and venerable) kef series 105.2 spkrs). i pulled it out and went to this $150.00 advent and voila! no more edge and all the detail/soundstage/clear mids etc etc etc that i found attractive in the black cube. smooth sound. good luck!!

hi thor,

see my post (and all the others) on the "fono-stage - please help" thread adjacent to this one...

doug s.