Budget phono stage- advice appreciated

ok - shameless plug: i have a musical surroundings phonomena, only ~2.5 months old, for sale; i'm asking $450. i bought it from audio outlet, ny - they recommended it over the black cube, which they also carry - said the phonomena was *much* nicer. i'm only selling cuz i got a *steal* on a ~$1900 pentagon p-3 - couldn't pass it up! ;~) if ya don't wanna spend that much money, check out the acurus p-10; i recently had a conversation w/a guy who said it was much better than the black cube - he had both in his system, & returned the cube. i tink there's one on ebay rite now...

i found the phonomena a bit dry for my taste, but mebbe it was my linn kairn pro? i had an earlier kairn (w/o slimline-version of the brilliant power-supply) - its built-in fono-stage was nicer than the phonomena, even tho the slimline p/s in my later kairn had better sound on cd & tuner. (btw, carl, you can get *excellent* sound from a good tuner, if the station is uncompressed, & you have a decent signal). in defence of the phonomena, tho - it had *no* problem w/noise, being used w/a 0.18mv mc cartridge. i replaced the phonomena w/a pentagon p-3 which is a *lot* nicer, imho. but, it is ~3 times the price. fortunately for me, no one in the usa knows this product, so it dint cost me much more than the phonomena.