2. analog
  3. 194727-369

Phono Stage - The great analog tragedy

In the world of analog playback, there is an interesting observation. There has been tremendous innovation in the field of 
Turntable - Direct, Idler, Belt
Cartridge - MM, MC, MI
Tonearm - Gimbal, Unipivot, Linear Tracking

For all of the above designs we find some of the best reference components designed in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Most of the modern products are inspired from these extraordinary products of the past. But when it comes to phono stage, there is hardly any "reference component" from that era. They just standardized RIAA curve for sanity and left it. Manufacturers made large preamps and amps and allocated a puny 5% space for a small phono circuit even in their reference models, like a necessary evil. They didn’t bother about making it better. 

The result? It came down to the modern designers post 2000 after vinyl resurgence to come up with serious phono stages for high end systems. Unfortunately they don’t have any past reference grade designs to copy or get inspired from. Effectively, just like DACs, reference phono stages is also an evolving concept, and we don’t have too many choices when we want a really good one which is high-res and natural sounding. Very few in the world have figured out a proper high end design so far. And most of the decent ones have been designed in the past couple of decades. The best of the breed are probably yet to come.  

It is a tragedy that our legendary audio engineers from the golden era didn’t focus on the most sensitive and impactful component, "the phono stage"

pani
pani OP
1,230 posts
 

Vendetta was comparable to ARC Ph1 which is no where in comparison to reference phonostages of ARC today or other reference phonostages. My point is there is no equivalent of a reference Micro Seiki, EMT, Fidelity Research or even Technics in the world of phonostages that could command similar legendary status and be part of a high end chain today

viridian's avatar
viridian
5,265 posts
 

Not sure what "legendary status" means, but you said the following, "It came down to the modern designers post 2000 after vinyl resurgence to come up with serious phono stages for high end systems." So there were were no serious phono stages before 2000? Interesting perspective.

Certainly, there are better ones today just as there are better turntables than the old, vintage, ones that you mentioned. Not that a Mares phono stage and a Micro 8000 would not be a very satisfying rig even today.

Those turntables you mentioned have been eclipsed by current models, just as the phono stages of the past have been, IMHO.

maxson
85 posts
 

The classic phono stages of earlier eras were largely contained in what are now called "full-function" preamps. Before digital nobody needed a standalone line stage, but the low signal levels of vinyl did need the extra gain a line stage provided.

jwei
179 posts
 

Over the years, phono stages have offered better flexibility in gain, loading, and input selection.  My Manley Steelhead, introduced in 2001, still does a great job for me and can double as a line level preamp when necessary.

Prior to that, legendary designs included the Audible Illusions Modulus 3a and the ARC PH3, both out in 1995.

ghdprentice
7,826 posts
 

I never followed the history of phono stages. But I did climb the progress of improvement. I owned one integrated in my preamps in the seventies, then a separate in a ARC PH2, then I upgraded to PH2SE, then PH3. Each time a big improvement in sound from the same table. Once I got to the ARC PH 8 I felt it no longer got in the way. While my ARC Ref 3 and Ref3SE are much better still, they are more on the order of other components in impact. I don't remember any old classic phono stages. 

More to discover