Phono PreAmp with less than a 12" x 15" footprint

if you can use 13 x 13 look at Linn Linto a Stereophile Class A and very quiet phono stage.

I think there are many that fit that spec - the Musical Fidelity and Lehmann units both do.

Get rid of your spouse.

Graham Slee Era Gold Reflex

Some of the Whest phono stages would fit the bill.

Having upgraded my spouse along the way, I can assure you that purchasing pretty much any phono pre on the planet is infinitely cheaper than a spouse transition!

YMMV : )

Dynavector 75 is very small and is an amazing bargain. ($750).

There are lots of very small and good phono preamps. It's the really pricey ones with double chassis that get big. How good/expensive are you looking for?

For example, the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II is 8.5"x6"x2" at $600 with a full complement of dip switches to adjust gain and loading.

The $1200 and $2800 Whest phono stages are also very small--around 6"x8" or even less for their ps20. The Graham Slees are small as well.

How much will your spouse let you spend? Will she/he have a color preference as well?

 
Zyx Artisan Phono Stage, 6"W x 2 1/2"H x 7 1/2"D - excellent phono stage.
 

I remember the Paragons well.unique look and expensive for the time.You might do well to look into a 47 Lab Phono Cube and power supply.Not only are they small,they are terrific sounding as well.

allnic-1200

Artemis Labs Ph-1 is an awesome all tube phono stage giving you about 53db of gain or the Pl-1 which is the same but gives you step up transformers for low output moving coil cartridges. Great harmonics, dynamics, detail and a very well built with a small foot print but big sound.

I had a Lukaschek PP-1. It was an earlier version. It was really smoooth. That thing was smaller than a pack of cigarettes. One of the design goals was to make the signal path as short as possible. The newer version is probably better than the original version that I had.

I second the Lukasceck PP-1. I have it and it looks amazing, unfortunately I have not hooked it up yet so cant comment on sound.

I also use a Lukaschek PP1 T9 and like it very much and they come up used all the time on Audiogon for a good price . I also upgraded the cable from the wall wart to the T9 with a Ridge Street custom cable a very nice upgrade.

Lukaschek PP1 T9 recommended here

Lake513, could you tell me more about the cable and what it does better and where can you read about it?

Blackbird is a HO MC, so you only need ~45db of gain. if you want absolute best MC phono stage with >60db of gain and still have a small foot print, Einstein is by far one of the best out there, by a big margin.