phono preamp

Pbnaudio, "a little more"?
How is a suggestion 3x-4x outside of the original poster's budget range even remotely helpful?

Pbnaudio and Liberty audio share the same zip code.
Looks like Peter is promoting a line he carries without a disclaimer.Audiogon members wouldn't do that,would they???

Seems kinda shady. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, though...;0)

Used Wright 100C or 200C. Use it without a linestage to get the most out of it. Use the gain pots for volume control. A little inconvenient because they are small and close together but much better sound this way no matter what preamp you have.

I had the PS Audio GCPH in my system for about 3 years and was very happy with it. That said, I spent almost as much on cables for it as I did the unit itself - eventually settling on Nordost.

While interconnect costs are inescapable, you can go battery powered for phono stages to avoid power cable costs - which I recently did by replacing my GCPH with the Sutherland Ph3D ($1,000 new). It also helps that most of my LP listening is acoustic jazz and it does a wonderful job with that. I've seen the occasional one come up here for around $650.

If battery powered is of interest, Musical Surroundings has a couple of options that are also in your price range used as well.