Bellari 129 or phono imput on my onkyo pre/pro


I am just getting my feet wet with vinyl and i have the following question...

I just bought a shiny new pro-ject rm 1.3 and will be setting it up in my theater. I have magnepans 1.7's as mains and my onkyo pr/sc 886 pre/pro has a phono imput...and now for the question...

Would i be better off with the bellari 129 tube phono preamp or the phono imput in the onkyo?

Thanks in advance,
Randy
snookfisher

Showing 2 responses by bdgregory

I'm not sure what the Bellari is selling for now, but I had one some time ago when the price was $129. At that price it was ok, but there are problems with it. It may be a good choice for you, but realize not everyone had a good experience with it. If the price is still up in the $175 range, a far better choice at that price point IMO is a Musical Fidelity XLP which can be found for $165 /-.
why is the Belari your only external phono option? IMO there are many other budget phono stages that are better, or at least worth considering.

Either way, I'd try/use the Onkyo stage until I decided it wasn't doing the job, then upgrade to an external stage.