The PS Audio is a fantastic pre. I've owned it for quite some time and have had no desire to upgrade it. I am currently using it with a Grado Sonata 1 reference (high output), so I'm not sure how the PS Audio does with low output carts, but it does have several loading settings should you end up going that route in the future. It does seem to have very low noise output so I'm sure it'd do fine with most low output carts.
Getting into vinyl for the first time, need help
I currently run MOG via airplay to an Apple TV. I own a Peachtree NovaPre and Peachtree220 amp. My buddy brought over his Rega P3-24 and I connected it to the (tapeout) of an old thriftstore stereo with built in phono into the aux-in on my preamp. We fired up Neil Young's Heart of Gold and within 3 seconds I wanted to throw away my entire digital system.
I am in the market for a new table and phono pre and its decision making time. I could spend around $800 for a table and that would soak up my entire budget, leaving me no room for a phono pre. The other option is to sell my Peachtree Pre for another $800-900 and buy a phono preamp with volume control and run that into my power amp but I cant seem to find much out there. I was looking at the PS Audio GCPH but its almost a decade old, is it still a good contender?
Any other suggestions?
I am in the market for a new table and phono pre and its decision making time. I could spend around $800 for a table and that would soak up my entire budget, leaving me no room for a phono pre. The other option is to sell my Peachtree Pre for another $800-900 and buy a phono preamp with volume control and run that into my power amp but I cant seem to find much out there. I was looking at the PS Audio GCPH but its almost a decade old, is it still a good contender?
Any other suggestions?
- ...
- 9 posts total
I agree that the Project turntables are very good and in the lower price range there really is only Project and Rega. As someone has already said, it would be better to spend less to begin with until you are sure vinyl is for you. It is a labour intensive format that requires constant maintenance. As suggested you could go for a Project Debut but I think you should be spending less to begin with, and spend your extra money on records instead. The Project Essential is said to be good, but being a unipivot, can be a bit fiddly if you are not used to them, and cartridges can be fussy on unipivot tonearms. I would go for an entry level Rega, the RP1 I think would give you satisfaction without spending too much and it has a reasonable cartridge (though I would change this for an Audio Technica AT95E). The arm can take better cartridges so you can upgrade a little with this deck. If you wanted to go the second hand route, you could not go wrong with a Thorens TD150 or 160 or a Rega Planar 2 or 3, or NAD533 (Rega Planar clone). The Thorens decks come in many guises i.e. some with and some without fitted tonearms, so you would need to decide if this is too much complication to begin with. I hope this helps you. Rge Spares by SoundsSupreme |
- 9 posts total