I know about Mr Ikeda. In the past he did use Emt turntable, arm and cartridge with a Peerless transformerand a Marantz pre-amp. I think there are several solutions that can do the job. You will need gain and usually a transformer with preamp will give less noise then a tube-preamp that can do it on its own. In the past i did use a Hiraga pre pre with battery power supply with would give 24 millivolts at the entry of my Anzai Riaa stage which would drive my poweramp directly. So not so many active elements that could degrade the signal, Eduard.
