Allnic, Herron or Tavish choice?

You'd have to get the Allnic H3000 at least, in order to get that feature in an Allnic phono stage, unless the H1201 can do it.  (I'm not sure.) The H3000 is around $12,000 new, or about $7,000 used. So far as I know, the Herron only accommodates the output of one cartridge at a time, so that ought to let it out of your consideration.  I know nothing about the Tavish. Never heard of it.  For a phono stage that CAN accommodate multiple tonearms (in addition to the H3000), you might consider the Manley Steelhead, which you can buy for about $4,000 or less, used.  However, with all due respect, at those price points, you may want to consider how they match your downstream components.

Why does the Allnic 1201 and the Herron, both have seperate Mm/MC inputs then? Isn't that so all you have to do, is switch over the dial?

Musky, If what you say is true, I am wrong.  Now I think of it, you're probably correct.  The only restriction with both of those units would be that you've got to run one MM and one MC (or one high output and one low output cartridge), not two of one type, in order to take advantage of the dual phono inputs. Both units are said to be superb by most owners.

Your PAM-3 preamp has a line-level input impedance specified as "10K minimum." 10K is much too low to be a suitable load for the Herron phono stage (Keith Herron recommends 50K or more, although 30K seems to work ok for some users). I have my doubts about whether such a low impedance would be optimal with the Allnic or the Tavish, either. Or with many other tube-based phono stages.

Lew’s suggestion of the Manley Steelhead would be ok with respect to impedance compatibility, though.

Regards,
-- Al
 

A steelhead is way more than I can spend :(. I wonder why Krell would make such a good preamp that falls short?

Al, Very good point about the input impedance of one of those older Krell preamplifiers.  Something was bugging me about matching the Krell with a tube phono stage, but I didn't put my finger on it.  Yes, the Steelhead has a very low output impedance that could drive 10K ohms.

Musky, The PAM is an old design and was meant to be used with other solid state gear, most of which have very low output impedance.  But so too does the Steelhead and probably the Chinook, which is more in the Herron price range, if you insist on buying new only.  Check whether the Chinook affords two phono inputs.

The Chinook qualifies based on an output impedance of "91 ohms", per the factory.  However, it only affords one pair of phono inputs.  You probably need to think about a solid state phono stage to work well with the Krell.

Or tube phono stages with output impedance <1000 ohms. The lower, the better.

I know this is a step down from the 3 mentioned, but what about this one?
Rega Aria

I tried to call Tavish many different times........during "business" hours. I also left a call-back message. That was a week ago. They do not answer the phone or return calls. I guess they do not want to be bothered. I will look elsewhere then.