Best budget phono preamp for Unison Unico?

Stand alone phono stages are almost always better than built ins.
Paying 250 for built in is money wasted.
Buy stand alone phono stage. I use Rotel RQ-970BX
and very satisfied with the sound.

I was wondering about that, but since this unit would be feeding through the Unico's tubed front end, anyway, I thought it might be okay.

Hmmmmm....

In reference to earlier posts, I just replaced the stock tubes in my Unico with Mazda chrome plates (platinum) from upscale audio. They recommended two different ones based on my desire for a bit more openness and high frequency extension. The other was the radio technique. The Mazda's have made a stunning change in the sound of the Unico compared to my expectations. So much more detail and HF extension. I was wondering how a manufacturer could ever voice an amp at the design stage with this much variability available with different tubes? I guess manufacturers may use what is readily available and have to hit a price point. The Mazda's were $80 for the pair. I guess that would significantly have changed the selling price etc, etc. Anyway, I am super happy and can't wait to get home to listen to my new amp!

Christopher_h,

That cool to know... I'm a tube noob, myself, so the information is valuable.

You don't happen to be using the Unico phono stage, do you?

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