Best budget phono preamp for Unison Unico?

08-01-08: Rebbi
Somebody's got an Antique Sound Labs phono mini up for grabs here for $250 obo... a 2-tube unit. Anybody familiar with it?

Grab it. You can't go wrong for $250. I haven't heard it, but in my experience, inexpensive tube phono preamps always outperform similarly priced SS designs. They tend to sound more realistic and spacious. Cheap SS designs may be quieter, but they're also lifeless and flat. I've owned the Phonomena, Musical Fidelity X-LPS, Parasound zPhono. If you don't like the ASL, you can easily sell it for the same price you paid. What do you have to lose?

Rebbi, in my experience, tubes offer more realism and three dimensional spaciousness than transistors. I find this to be especially true with phono stages.

In my opinion, the Bottlehead Seduction is the best bang for the buck you can get for less than $300. It has a stellar reputation, but it only has 36 dB gain. You'll need to match it with a high output cartridge (2.5mV or more) or a step up device if you use LOMC.

http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/Seduction/seduction.htm

Hi Rebbi, I understand the intimidation, but it's an easy kit to build - some would call it fun. You'll need a 40 watt soldering iron and some silver-bearing solder. You can get both of these from Radio Shack for less than $15. You'll also need a pair of wire cutters. Pliers will be handy to bend the leads.

From the Bottlehead site:

Assembly is a one or two evening affair, designed for the builder with minimal level soldering experience in mind... A very thorough assembly manual is included, containing step by step printed instructions you check off as you go, detailed photos of the chassis underside and components. All the builder needs to supply is solder. As with our other kits the Bottlehead Forum serves as the builders online tech support resource, with literally hundreds of experienced builders participating to help you with your questions.

Here's an excellent option that doesn't require building anything:
Jolida JD9 Mullard Tubes

opinion on the JD-9 here on Audiogon seems to a little mixed.

I've read more positive comments about the JD-9 than negative. It has a solid reputation. So does the Pro-Ject Tube Box II. You can't go wrong with either. Both accommodate LOMC, but the JD-9 has more flexibility with loading and MC output gain. This may not be a deal breaker, but it's something to consider if you go with MC. I've heard several people say they preferred the Tube Box SE II over the JD-9. The SE II is a step up from the Tube Box. It has flexible loading and a lower noise floor.

I don't know anything about the Underwood mods. You might want to contact this person:

11-22-06: Dsremer
I am listening to a Jolida JD 9 with level 1 mods from Underwood HIFI which is suprisingly good for the money. I would look in that direction
Dsremer (Threads | Answers)

From Need an Entry Level Phono Preamp

I just finished building the Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp! I haven't even had the chance to try it out yet (need to buy some interconnects) but I had a lot of fun putting it together. I'll report back with a fuller account when I've had the chance to test it out in the system.
Rebbi (Threads | Answers)

I'd love to hear your impressions. Please report back.

Hi Rebbi,

I assume you built your Seduction with stock parts. The C4S upgrade is significant. Great that you're getting it. If you send me your address offline, I'll send you a pair of 0.1 uF Russian teflon FT-3's that you can use for input caps. I have an extra pair that I'm willing to give you. These are poor man V-caps. They cost about $8 each, but sound fabulous. The other significant caps to upgrade are 0.47 uF for the output. Mundorf Silver/Oil are the way to go for this position. There are several other tweaks you can make that don't cost much:

- a 220 uF Black Gate in the power supply.
- a transformer choke replacing a resistor in the power supply.
- a pair of 47k ohm Texas Components TX2352 resistor the input load:

http://www.texascomponents.com/

Chashmal, for what it's worth, the Phonomena and Cambridge 640P aren't in the same league as the Seduction. They're good phono stages, but they don't have a silky smooth midrange like the Seduction. I also found the Seduction to have more spacious three dimensional imaging... among other things.