Good Sounding Inexpensive Phono Preamp?


I need a phono preamp and have looked at the Sumiko Phono box, NAD PP-2, and Parasound. They are all around $100-$150. Any thoughts or comments. My guess is at this price range they are all about the same.
upsidedown

Showing 2 responses by sdcampbell

The current issue of HiFi+ magazine reviews 7 or 8 phono preamps, with a wide range of prices. Although the critiques are not in depth, they are useful and worth reading. The reviews cover the Project Phono Box, Rega Fono, Lehmann Audio Black Cube, GSP Audio Era Gold, Benz-Micro Lukaschek PP-1, Plinius Jarrah, Tom Evans Microgroove, and Trigon Vanguard.
Creek also makes a decent phono preamp in this price range, and there is also a small unit from England called the Gram Amp which has gotten positive reviews. However, if your budget will stretch a bit, I'd explore buying a used Lehmann Audio Black Cube. The earlier versions of this phono preamp were quite highly regarded by a number of reviewers, and can be purchased used for around $300-350. (The newer SE version, with the expanded power supply, is a better unit, but costs about $250 more.)

Honesty compels me to say that I am not totally impartial here. I own the Black Cube SE, and have been extremely pleased with it. However, I think the Black Cube is better suited for use with either moving magnet cartridges (3-6 mV), or high output moving coils (in the 1 - 1.5 mV range).

For other ideas about phono preamps, you might go to the following link to Audio Advisor's Web site:
http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/categorylisting.asp?hdnCat=Phono+Preamps&sel=1&CategoryID=45