Need p-stage for Sota/Audioquest/audiotechnica

My cartridge and p-stage arrived yesterday and I was able to set them up last night. Both items seem to mate well with each other.

In general, using a p-stage is a much better match with the Rotel pre-amp. The built-in stage didn't have enough gain for even the Shure M97xe MM so I'd have to turn the volume up pretty far to hear it, resulting in a little hiss. Running this setup into an Aux section works much better. Its very quiet.

The cartidge is very smooth and detailed and the p-stage has that nice tube liquidity to it. Neither piece is broken in yet, but they are already a distinct improvement over the Shure(which is still a great entry level cartridge). The AT is a little thinner sounding than the Shure, but more than makes up for it in detail, soundstage and timbre.

The whole rig sounds really great. The mass of the TT provides tremendous weight and solidity. I'm very happy with the way this all worked out.

As it turns out, when I took the Shure off my Thorens the stylus was bent and a new one cost more than I paid for the whole cartridge so I decided to take the plunge. I wound up ordering the Audio-technica OC9 and the Project Tube Box. They should be here Friday. Neither of them were so expensive that it would be the end of the world to change one of them out at some point.

In any event - and I know this is far from kosher - I stuck the Shure on there even with the bent stylus. I just couldn't resist any longer. This TT sounds REALLY good. Really solid image, better bass, all that stuff. Can't wait to try it with a better cart.

EL, you'll have to swing over for a beer!

the mm audio tehnica 150x is superb...i use one on my aq arm

The Dynavector P 75 turns up used here fairly regularly, in the $350-$425 range. The performance is staggeringly good for the money, and it will give you low-output MC through MM flexibility.

You might also want to look at the Parasound Zphono. Very good entry level pre amp that will accomadate both MM and MC carts.

Grimace, stick with your shure for now. Consider an external phono stage that will take both mm and mc. That should help. Then consider a new cartridge? Honestly, borrow my Cambridge 640 for a couple of days and see how much that helps. I think it is the best "budget" phono pre.