Phono preamp with best mid bass

Not sure what your budget is but I had the best midbass with my turntable when the lower bass was filtered and didn't waste amplifier power.  

The Lehmann Audio Decade and Black Cube SEII have bass filters that begin cutting the output below 50 to 25 Hz.  

This results in a tighter mid bass punch with more snap and definition. 

Not many phono preamps have bass filters anymore but when used successfully they do improve the sound by cutting inaudible groove and platter rumble.   

If you look at the Ares, go for the Magnum as the sound is more articulate across the spectrum. The regular one is a bit more rounded even with better tubes.

A step up on the Ares is the Modwright PH9.0 or PH9.0X, which I along a number of other users have talked about very much on these forums. Enter that model in the forum search bar and look at the threads that pop up. It’s definitely a giant killer, and I only replaced it with units that retailed over $13K. 

Your "goldilocks" phono amp is purely subjective. 

No one can recommend your "just right."

Start with the "best" pressing-which is yet another subject argued to death.

Tube units seem to project a more convincing organic presentation to me.

What turntable, what arm, what cartridge MM/MC? If you find yourself needing a rumble button in a well set up system, you have issues elsewhere and are only dodging that issue. Enjoy the music and good luck

@blisshifi , just went and looked at your system and that thing is gorgeous. If it sounds anything like it looks it has to be incredible. Enjoy the music.

@tooblue Thank you! If you ever come up to the Minneapolis area feel free to look me up and we can coordinate a listening session!

@tooblue ,

I have the Marantz TT15S1. I believe it’s a Clear audio table re badged. It’s stock clear audio cartridge and arm that came on it. 
 

thanks

Looking at the Rogue Ares 2 and the Vincent PHO-701. Anyone compare the 2 and is the Rogue worth over double the Vincent. Both seem to get great reviews. 

I’m with tooblue on this question. Tonal balance will be interdependent with tonearm, wires, cartridge, alignment, all upstream, and on amplifier, speakers, and room downstream.

You might also want to play around with speaker positioning, including toe-in, before you jump into a new phono stage. Mid-bass can be dramatically affected by surprisingly small changes therein.

I've been loving the Softone Model4. Tube stage but still very articulate with beauty mid/highs. I also have the Vincent PHO-701. Keep in mind that's a tube buffer on the output, not true tube stage. I still really enjoy that as well, especially the load options. It's an excellent option, but there's something about the Softone that suits my system...and my ears.

Moving speakers closer together will usually add a bit more presence in mid/upper bass. Slight adjustments 1/2” to 1” per side at a time.  

Totally agree with all the tips. I have a good lead on a Rogue Ares 2 for a pretty good deal I may jump on. We shall see may pick it up tomorrow after thinking on it for the night. The MM phono input on my MF A1008 does not have much gain. I would rather play through my tube integrated but I’m using the phono out of the MF and I can’t get the volume I need. I’ll update if I buy the Rogue after a few days. Demo model so prob has some hours on it. 

That Rogue piece will definitely be an upgrade over the built in phono! Let us know. 

Well ended up buying an open box Rogue Triton 2 for a pretty good discount. I don’t think it was really even open box but who knows. Decided based on price and the fact I plan to use a tube amp that the ss might be a better choice. On another thread a guy mentioned he has the Ares and the Triton and used the Triton for rock and the Ares for acoustic and jazz. I’m definitely more in the former camp.  

I really liked the phono stage in the Rogue RP-1 preamp that I had. Pretty safe to assume the Triton II will be a vety good phono amp. Let us know!

So far very happy camper about 2 hours in. Immediate improvement across the board. Not even burned in yet. Volume and dynamics have went up a few orders of magnitude. So much more articulate. Slight metallic sheen on the treble is gone as well. 

Good deal! Should only get better with more hours on it. 

Cool, congratulations! Enjoy. Nothing better than positive reinforcement after a decision, and as @audphile1 said, should only get better.

If your MF truly did not have enough gain, and if the Rogue has more phono or overall gain, then you definitely made a move in the right direction. But you never mentioned your cartridge or the gain factors for either phono, so it’s impossible to say. However, a lack of adequate gain is always a bummer.

It's the Clearaudio Ebony Wood MM. The only setting the MF has is either MM or MC. Honestly I just plugged in the Triton and just played it with the stock settings out of the box. I plan on seeing if there is some fine tuning yet to be done as the unit is pretty flexible. Below are the different settings available on the Rogue unit: 

"Four different gain levels are available (43dB, 55dB, 60dB, 70dB), plus 20, 30, 100, 300, 1K, 47k, 75K, 100K Ohm loading options and 0, 47, 150, 470,1K Picofared loading options. "

You should be good with 43db gain and 47k load with that cartridge. The other pf settings are for capacitance. I would keep that at default or zero. 

Ok guys!!! So 0 static, hum or any other BS up until NOW! When I touch the tone arm static, touch any damn thing high static. Checked grounds all good. Floated the ground on the Triton. Thought it helped for a minute but no same thing. I can actually see the tubes on my tube amp flicker when I touch the tone arm or any of the wires. Pissed! Lol. Gonna screw with it tomorrow but opinions much appreciated! 

I was very happy with the sound then poof! Lol. Think I will drag the damn dresser out check all connections which Im pretty sure are good. Came out of no where . Dead quiet before if that gives any indication. Phono pre got an internal deal? I really dunno? 

Low humidity? Dry air in the room? Do you use zerostat or anything else that helps dissipate static? Try grounding yourself before you touch the turntable arm. Lastly, try plugging the table back into the MF built in phono and see if issues persist. 

Rather than focusing on the phono stage, you should be looking more closely at your table/arm/cartridge combination.  Phono stages should be "flat" to the RIAA Equalization" response.  Table qualities; arm mass, damping and geometry; and cartridge have a MUCH GREATER IMPACT on quality.  "Silk purse / Sow's ear" situation.  The phono stage can't fix problems or deficiencies with the table/arm/cartridge.

Well while not totl my Tt setup was eclipsing my phono stage. The Rogue is great and I fixed my hum static issue I was having last night. For now. I’m a total newb in vinyl basically. I’m digging it more than my digital setup which is descent. 

What was the problem 

Well…… I’m not really sure. Changed the power cable to the Rogie with the one that came with it and re routed cables a little better. Flipped the ground defeat on the Rouge on more time and went away.. ha. Don’t know if coming back or not but was pretty bad when it was happening. To the point you couldn’t listen.