Eastern Electric minimax phono vs. Hagerman Cornet

I can say that the Minimax ( i have one ) doesn't sound like your typical tube Phono amp..It does require some tinkering ( tubes and better power cord ) to get what can be an excellent phono amp..Keep in mind this is a neutral sounding ( very revealing too ) Phono amp..and if you want warm tubey sound you may be barking up the wrong tree...That is not a put down,just my take on the it..If you like neutrallity and exceptional midrange with quick tight bass,,thats what you'll get...
I found the Tugnsol Rectifier and a set of RCA 5751 3 Mica Black plates work wonders with it..Also had very good luck with ESP Essential Sound and Virtual Dynamics Nite Power cords.........Hope that helps........

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I tried out Graham Slee ERA Gold, SAP, and the built in phono stage in my McIntosh C2200 preamp. All worked well, until I came across Modwright 9.0 SE tube phono stage. If you are looking for tight bass, big sound-stage, and sound details, don't fail to audition this phono stage. The Graham Slee was my next choise based on the price. For anything under $1000.00 its hard to beat the Graham Slee Era Gold.

Thanks for the input! I am really dead set on the Hagerman or the minimax, those are the two! I'm hoping to hear from someone who has actually owned, or at the very least heard both..... Anything to give me that 'push' in either direction.... Heard nothing but good about both preamps.

I've never heard the Hagerman (I own the MiniMax)but they appear to have a similar layout and one could probably be very happy with either.

If you're planning on using a DL103 cart, the stock loading on the MC side of the MiniMax (47 ohm or 100 ohm)may not be sufficient.

I went from a Vendetta to a Minimax and love it. I also tried an ARC 5 and felt it was very similar to the Vendetta, but the Minimax was superior to both, IMO. In the Stereophile review, Fremer says the Minimax is great fun to listen to, and I would say that is correct. It does all the audiophile things like imaging and detail very well, but it is also very dynamic and just plain FUN. I am using it with a Skala, into ARC Ref gear, and it works great in this context. Plenty of gain, very quiet, fairly quick warm up, and it looks great as well.

I'm fairly certain I will be selling on my cinemags and seduction to make room for the minimax. Someone was saying that they felt the seduction was so close in performance to the mm that it wouldn't really be an upgrade per se, but I like the convenience of one chassis and the 100ohm loading option ( which btw is considered optimal for the dl103, there is a thread on the subject here somewhere) so maybe I should be looking for folks that have compared the minimax and seduction!!!