Requesting recommendations for phono stage

No, he told me he was down to the last two, that was a little while ago, I figured by now he must be done. But turns out he still has a few more to build. In any case it is not that Keith Herron is done, it is just that he won't be ordering parts for another run. 

The way this stuff works, things like faceplates are one of the more expensive parts, and unlike other parts they can only be used on the one component. So he has to order a decent size production run or the costs are prohibitive. Even then it ain't cheap. That's not the only thing, just one of the bigger ones. Apparently when he looked at the costs of another run and then ran the numbers for what that would imply in terms of profits or final sales price it no longer makes sense. 

He is still around and active and building and probably will be for a while yet. Anyone wants one, there are only 425 out there, or should I say that will be out there when he is done. Big_greg yours may be P2423A or something like that. Would have to go look and see what mine is. Select group, that's for sure.

mabonn, the price range you are at makes this about as easy as can be- the Decware ZP3 is darn near unbeatable. I am another happy Herron owner but Keith made his last one last week and anyway they are too expensive even used. The Decware is perfect, new, lifetime warranty, and with your MM cart you will not even need a SUT. But if you grow and upgrade into MC then Decware has a SUT program that makes this easy. So not a lot of things you can do one and done but this may well be all you need for a good long time. https://www.decware.com/newsite/ZP3.htm

Direct sales only, so you are getting what would retail for $3k to $4k for $1395. Search around. You will have to look for actual user comments because they do not give these things away for good reviews, people have to actually buy them. When you are disappointed at the wait times for a build realize this is the way it is with the really good stuff. Crap is always just sitting around waiting for some fool to come along. The good stuff people ferret it out and the skilled craftsmanship necessary to make it is barely enough to meet the demand.