Moderately priced phono preamps

I use to own a Rotel RQ-970 and it was great for my needs. I now have a preamp with phono, the only reason I sold it. It is a Stereophile recommended component if that matters to you.

Iam on the similar trail as you. I have Vand 3A Signatures diriven with Musical Design 150B modified. I have been buying records and probably have 1500. If you dont have a record cleaner get one, its mandatory (mostly). I was using a PS Audio 5.5 heavily modified with the M500 supply. I thought it sounded okay untill a dealer from Sacramento loaned me a BAT 30;which buried the PS Audio. It was not in the same $ catagory as the PS, way more money. I value soundstage,focus,detail, phase coherence,dynamics,pretty much in that order. My searching experience so far is: You get what you pay for,mostly. One possible strategy is that you buy a linestage controller& phono stage separately.You could do this on the USED market, out of the very recommended lists, A word about cartridge loading try 20-30 mcgs of capacitance in each channel. This usually decreases the phono carts distortion greatly while reducing output some what. The tradeoff is well worth it. Keep in youch as I would be interested in your findings. Robert

Something you might consider is the NAD PP-1 phono pre-amp. I purchased an Audio Research SP 5 pre-amp because it had a phono section but I wasn't really satisfied with the sound. Being as it was over 20 years old I figured newer technology may offer some improvements. Tried the NAD and was pleasently surprised. At only $129 its a bargian and you could always return it if it is no improvement.

Pro-ject The Phono Box'll surprise you at $90, it'll kill anything less than $200.

McCormack phono stage is nice economical: used ~$300 to $400 w/ versatile cartrige R & C loading & strappable gain MM or MC, for any possible future directions your rig may take.