Melos Audio MA200 PH: your opinions, please

Tubes can make a big difference. Who knows what kind of tubes were in the piece I heard. As far as noise goes a good pin cleaning and silver contact paste might clean up the noise. Junk can build up on the tube plates too. I give mine a good finger flick if they start acting up. Make sure your volume is very low or off when you do it. Tube sockets can get corroded too. Exercise the tube in the socket to clean up the contact points.

Daniele, I am a little confused by the model #. I own a Melos 222c preamp with built in phono section and separate power supply. I am aware of a 220 phono section and a 210 line stage; never heard of a 200. In your comment you suggest that "looks like the phone section is great". So, it has a line stage and phono section? Is it in one chassis, or does it have a separate ps? Are you sure you are not to referring to the 222?

Anyway,I know the 222 very well and have heard the 220 phono section. I agree with Steuspeed re the build quality (adequate at best, although the circuit board, layout and parts are good). But, I disagree with him about the sound. They are fine sounding pieces and IMO a least on a par with the AR pieces you are comparing it to. They definitely benefit from good tubes as far as noise is concerned.

Thanks Steuspeed.
Meanwhile I have brought the Melos home as a loan and this morning I started some listening.
Well, compared to my ARC LS7 (retubed by Siemens NOS), it sure shows a wider frequency extension, it goes higher and lower, and more details and control.
But there's something that sounds innatural to me in the mids, namely voices.
And moreover it "hisses" very much, due to tubes: during pauses in the music or pianissimos, it can be heard from the lisetening point and that's quite annoying.
Looks like the phono section is great.

Just the very first impressions.

I worked in a hifi shop back in the 90's. I believe we had a Melos MA220 Pre-amp. Compared to the Sonic Frontiers gear we had it was very light weight and did not have the same solid feel to the knobs and switch gear. The pre-amp sounded very dry in comparison. You won't need a lengthy listen to hear what I'm talking about. We eventually sold the piece over the net. I would steer clear unless you can get it for a song.