Considering Harbeth C 7ES-3

oooops!!!!! sorry about my last post. It was supposed to be in response to a fellow stereophile who is looking for a quality phono preamp

I have two Graham Slee Golds and they are very uncolored and natural sounding but they are not SUT's....they are to be used after an 
SUT or directly with a MM cartridge. They're at their optimum with the optional power supply

I have the 40.1's and think they produce as accurate a sound as one can achieve in this hobby. I always compare them to the original Quads that I had for 30 years....so natural but without the limitations of the Quads. But they do benefit from powerful amplification. You may be able to find a used pair on the internet that would save you some bucks. As a caveat, I've only heard the 7's several times in short listening sessions but they should sound reasonably similar to the 40's