Ok. It's a year later and I have upgraded the receiver to an Arcam AVR 300. So the question is, do I upgrade the TT, arm, cartridge or phono preamp. I have a Nottingham Horizon TT with the Rega 250 arm, Goldring 1012 MM cartridge and the Bellari VP129 phono stage. I am thinking about the Ear 834p and upgrading the cartridge at this point. I am wondering about the arm and possibly moving up to the Spacedeck.
Should I purchase an expensive phono preamp
I have a Nottingham Horizon TT with the Rega 250 arm and a Goldring 1000 series MM cartridge. This is hooked up to a Pioneer Elite VSX-99 AV receiver that has a built in phono stage. I am trying to improve on the phono stage but I am wondering if there will be diminishing returns going to the more expensive stages. I am considering Lehmann BC, Graham Slee Era Gold V and AcousTech PH-1. I listen to Jazz, Old School R&B and Classic Rock music mainly.
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Others may have more valuable insights than me, but you have what seems to be a fairly well matched analog setup at the moment, and if it were me, I might try out some different MM carts first and see where that got me. Raul posted a thread recently about some carts he thinks are good performers, two of which are MM's. Check it out here http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1173550723&read&3&4& |
Seems to me that your phono pre-amp is now out classed by everything else that you have updated. I think your idea of upgrading the phono pre to the Ear 834 and upgrading the cartridge is the right way to go. The Ear has lots of good press and the units go quick on Audiogon. The Space Deck with the Bellari would not be, in my opinion, a good match. Also, if you jump up to the Space Deck, it may cause you to start the process of componant matching all over again: pretty costly. But, hey, isn't it fun??!! Good luck. |
- 29 posts total