Best Phono Pre for Teres

Dear Gary: Stay away from Step-up transformers. All of them ( does not matters price, technology or design. ) do a heavy degradation to the critical signal that comes from your beloved analog rig.

Which your budget?. In the midtime take a look to: www.whestaudio.co.uk

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

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Gary,
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Great move getting the 340, UNIverse and Tri-planar. I have the 340, UNIverse and Graham 2.2 and I am extremely happy with the Supratek Grange.
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The newer circuit designs are teriffic and I would highly recommend the new Grange or Cortese. The phono stage is superb, you just need to get some great NOS 6922's and a couple of other NOS tubes and you should be in 7th heaven.
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It is a good wait for the Supratek to be built but the wait is well worth it. Read the giant thread "Pre-amp deal of the century:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1016931418&openmine&zzCello&4&5#Cello

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Rgds,
Larry
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I am using the Teres 265 with the Graham 2.2, Nightingale, and ARC PH5. The PH5 is very close to the Ref. Phono. This is a great combination.

Hello,

You don't say what you are using now and what you would like to improve on. For 3-dimensionality and decays that just go on and on, I have found the Aesthetix Io to be unbeatable. This is especially true when you change the stock Sovtek 12AX7s with Telefunkens. The Io has 70+db gain without a step-up transformer. It has a wee bit more noise than the BAT VK-P10 I owned before but the BAT did not have the fullness in the mids.

The BAT also had capability with 70db gain but used a step-up transformer. Contrary to other statements made about step-up transformers, I heard a very subtle degradation in resolution when I tried this with the BAT. I was using the Koetsu Rosewood Sig cartridge at 0.6mv output which was happy with the 55db setting so I did not need the added gain of the transformers but I was eager to hear what it might bring at that time.

So if your budget is in the $2k range, try to get a listen to the BAT as an all-round performer. For the $3k range, the Io is simply awesome. I have not heard the ARC Ref Phono but these are rarely on the used market so that must imply something. There is much prasie about the new PH5 and this appears to be quite an attractive price. The other unit to keep your eyes out for is the Counterpoint SA9. Michael Elliot was a master in preamp and phono stage design.

John

hey guys - thanks for the responses- I am not using any pre now- I have decide to get back into vinyl, do it once ( hopefully!!) and do it right the first time-Any way What about the Audio Note ? I used to have the M6 pre and liked it - How about an M7?- Also Jfox I think you are talking about the Rhea for $3- the IO (used) is still around $6-8-I guess I would like to stay in the $6,000 or under category- thanks for the help- gary