Should I upgrade my phono linestage first or the tonearm for better results?

A point you may want to factor into your decision is that the Virtuoso v2 cartridge appears to have a recommended load capacitance of 100 pf, and the input capacitance of your phono stage is specified as 220 pf. The capacitances of the wiring between the cartridge and the phono stage will add to that 220 pf, and under typical circumstances would probably bring the total load capacitance seen by the cartridge to something like 350 pf or even more.

The result of that mismatch would be a frequency response peak probably occurring somewhere in the vicinity of 10 to 15 kHz, followed by a sharp rolloff above that frequency.

Configuring a vinyl front end such that the total load capacitance seen by a cartridge is as low as 100 pf can often be unachievable, and a modestly higher number than that probably won’t make much if any difference. But applying 350 pf or more when 100 pf is recommended strikes me as an issue that should be taken into account in your decision.

I'll mention also that the majority of moving magnet cartridges have load capacitance recommendations significantly higher than 100 pf, and much higher in many cases.

Good luck, however you decide to proceed. Regards,
-- Al

I can’t offer any knowledgeable comments about your tonearm, but I don’t doubt that Folkfreak has provided you with some good thoughts. Regarding the phono stage, though, my strong suspicion is that it is not doing justice to your fine cartridge.

A major reason I say that is what I would consider to be the AcousTech’s absurdly high 10,000 pf input capacitance in moving coil mode, together with its fixed 100 ohm load resistance (which I suspect is necessitated by the very high input capacitance). For further explanation see the post by Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr (JCarr at Audiogon) dated 8-14-2010 in this thread. And keep in mind that he is referring to capacitances as low as tens of pf, not ten thousand.

My suspicion, btw, is that the reason such a high input capacitance value was used is that it is serving as an inexpensive way of avoiding what would otherwise be issues in the design.

You may want to consider the Herron VTPH-2, at $3650 new. If you research past threads here and elsewhere, you’ll find nearly unanimous glowing praise from all who own it or have heard it (including me), as well as for Keith Herron as a wonderful person to deal with. Some other owners have reported finding it to be competitive with $10K phono stages. It has only unbalanced inputs and outputs, but I don’t see that as being an issue with your BAT preamp.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al