Phono stage price range 1500 to 2000 dollars.


Looking to upgrade my phone stage I have a tavish vintage. I am looking at black ice 159,Gold note PH-10 and pathos in the groove any help would be greatly appreciated.

bigmac1963

First of all at $1500-$2k involves a substantial compromise depending on the level of your system. With tube gear at this price point don't expect a jet black background. I have an Allnic H 1200 it was fine with my Valve Audio Predator but with my Esoteric A 03 and C 03 its a weak link in my system creating noticeable tube noise. IMO a SS phono preamp is the safer option at this price point.

My system consist of musical fidelity m6si and dynaudio special forty’s speakers .My turntable is a gem dandy poly table and tavish vintage phono stage.

If you decide to go with SS, I can recommend the Pass Labs XP-15.
I've also had the Parasound JC 3+, but preferred the Pass. In my system
the Pass was quieter and it has more gain options. Both of these
should be available used within your budget.

Any reviews on musical fidelity m6x phono stage. I own musical fidelity m6si amplifier maybe that would be a good fit.

You do not say what is wrong with the tavish....have you tried rolling some tubes into it? How about moving up to the Adagio by tavish? That one I think can be had for $2190. I think the Adagio was or is Herb Reichert’s reference phono stage. I use my tavish the classic with all NOS tubes, RCA, GE. And Sylvania. I also use it with a Jensen SUT running a Hana EL. Tavish just so happens to use Jensen sourced transformers In the M/C section of the Adagio. In both the vintage and the classic, you must use the MM section to fully make use of the tubes. The M/C section of both uses jfets to boost the low output of a M/C cartridge. Better to use an SUT into the M/M section, if you are using a moving coil.

I use a Hana el cartridge and my settings that I use is M/C.So you are saying to use my M/M setting for a better result with the tubes.

You might look at the AAW  Black Swan for $1500, multi cartridge inputs , Front panel cartridge loading, unbelievable low noise and clarity, doesn't sound like tube or SS., sound like the cartridge.   Black Swan - austinaudioworks.com

You cannot go wrong with Audio Research PH5 unit. There is one currently available for $1,400 with remote and original packing. I use the same phone stage. You have many options for tube rolling with 4 x 6922 tubes if you decided to do so. Highly recommended.

 

Sutherland 20/20

the most silent phone stage you will encounter regarding noise 

from gain as a lot of other stages suffer from.  You can get a new one at the 

top of your budget. Super versatile loading for almost any cart

 

Good luck! Willy-T

 

i have gone through many over the years

the ones i have kept are the ayre p5xe and the lehmann black cube se2 and decade

solid state, plenty of gain, dead quiet, utterly trouble free, full loading options, clean/clear/vast image and ample speed/slam, non editorializing amplification.... 

Gold Note PH10 - amazing device with on the fly changes to equalization and cartridge settings for two different phono setups. I can't emphasize how great the equalization changes are - Decca, Columbia, and RIAA all sound quite different as laid down on the vinyl. You can then upgrade it down the road with the external PSU.