Keep in mind the SP9 is not the worlds best sounding Audio research preamp and that was not part of the op's question but the newer Audio research LS1 has the same tube linestage as the SP9 but without the phono stage. There are many people who liked the LS1 and I owned one and eventually moved up to the LS 2 MKII B with remote which I liked even better. Currently I no longer own either one and have moved up the audio chain.
