Do they make a quiet great sounding phono pre amp??


Hi, I have purchased and listened to 3 phono preamps which are: A musical surroundings phonomena, musical surroundings Nova II, and a Manley labs Chinook. The Manely labs Chinook is by far bettter sounding then the first two (double the cost too). But, All three have given me nothing but trouble (noise,noise,noise even terrible clipped signals!), and 2 of them basically failed on me. So before I go DIGITAL, can someone please tell me who makes a phono preamp in the $2,000-$3,000 range (tube or solid state) that I can rely on, and sounds as good or better than the Chinook?? Thanks.


Matt M                                             
128x128mattmiller

Showing 3 responses by jmcgrogan2

+1 almarg! Very well stated Al!

I have used cheater plugs a few times to troubleshoot, or narrow down the culprit piece of gear. I would not use them as a permanent fix though.
@mechans , many manufacturers do not post list prices on their websites. If you are interested, contact Mehran at Sorasound, he is a Klyne dealer.
Yes, the Klyne website hasn't changed in the 12+ years that I've been looking at it.

I would guess the top phono stage would go for about $7500-$9000 list.
I had the top level 7PX5.0 preamp roughly 9-10 years ago, and it's list at the time was $5500 if my memory is correct. Great phono stage, one of the pieces I regret selling.