Should I try a MC cartridge and phono pre?

Iseekheils,

I agree with Rwwwear that a high output MC is kind of pointless. They give away the biggest advantage of MCs, low moving mass, which improves responsiveness, tracing accuracy and detail retrieval.

If you *do* decide to try a low output MC, many of us prefer to use a stepup transformer into a MM phono stage rather than a high gain MC phono stage. Some of the very best systems used by members here are set up this way, and mine is too! :)

The K&K stepup is available on VA for $200ish, and is quite well regarded. There are others too of course, mostly more expensive. You could try this without investing in an expensive MC phono stage, and sell it pretty easily if you decided to take another path. Does that help?

BTW, glad to see you're upgrading the PL400. Make sure you change all the caps. Like so many others, mine shorted out many years ago and took the speakers with them. I've still got the thing in the basement if you want it for spares. Also the 4000 pre.

Go with the K&K, I love it! If that's what you need, you can't go wrong.

Dougdeacon, you mentioned VA in your post, don't know what that is? Would the Denon 103R be a good choice with the
K&K? Price wise, these would be just right, for now.
The Phase Linear is actually still working very well, but occasiionally blows out the speaker fuse, when turning on. I have a friend that might be interested in your old PH stuff, I'll let you know. Thanks, Sonny

Use of a transformer is a good idea. I used one for a while, and thought that I would hear an improvement when I got a preamp with MC input. No so. Transformer was just as good.

Sonny, no matter which way you go you will need to address noise control--especially if you go for moving coils. Having a DD table I'd not be too concerned about MCs.