Phono pre amp

@chakster 
Thanks I will look into it. I appreciate the input.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I never really knew how important a good phono preamp was. I thought my Yamaha had it covered. I'll use all the info to make a wise choice.

@verdantaudioIf 
If it would make a significant improvement, I could see spending up to $1K on a separate phono pre amp. Can I run both TT out of such a pre amp? I have not thought about size, but I don't think it would be of concern, unless it was huge. I've looked at the specs of the cartridge, I see it's low output, but with limited knowledge, I'm a little over my head. Thanks for the response.

@chakster
It appears to be low output, but the specs on the VDH are hand written in the box, not sure what they all mean. I'm a little over my head.

@lewm 
Yes the specs are hand written in the box., not the easiest to read.
Output is .65mV
I'm not seeing compliance, but the Eff Arm mass is 14 grams.

@verdantaudioI I do need to stay with black, as all of my gear including the TT is black. Thanks for the info, I will look into some of these suggestions.

About 2 weeks ago I posted this question about upgrading the phono stage of my Yamaha AS2100. You guys gave me a lot of ideas, so I did my homework and chose a barely used Musical Fidelity Nu Vista Vinyl. I'm using the XLR output to my Yamaha. I've played with it briefly and It sounds great. My question is, how do I determine which settings to use? Or do I choose with my ears? I have a VDH MC DDT II Special cartridge and a VPI Prime TT with the 10" JMW tone arm. Any suggestions would be appreciated.