A Modwright SWP 9.0 SE, an older discontinued model, is specifically designed for LOMC cartridges and is an excellent American made tube unit. Dan Wright, the founder and owner, is accessible and helpful. Used units fit within your budget. You can also look for used or demo units of the newer models, but they will likely exceed your budget. Highly detailed, quiet without an excessively “tubey” sound. Great frequency extension at both top and bottom and natural instrument timbres. The Music Room is a dealer and occasionally has used units as owners move up to more costly models.
Suggestions for phono preamp for LOMC's
I am looking for a phono preamp that will work with LOMC cartridges. Budget up to $2500 but would be quite happy spending significantly less. I have about $10k invested in my table/arm so any appropriate suggestions would be appreciated. New or used would be fine.
Showing 4 responses by sameyers1
@lewm You are correct. When I used the term “specifically designed for moving coil cartridges” it is because the Modwright phono stages have no problems with LOMC cartridges with outputs of 0.2 and 0.3 mV, not just the 0.5 mV cartridges. Plenty of gain and very low noise levels. |
@lewm No SUT. Just the tubes, including a rectifier tube. You can check the Modwright web site for info about the models currently in production and get a sense of the design approach taken. |
@theflattire Modwright’s older SWP 9.0 and 9,0 SE did not use a SUT. The models you cite are current production models. As a 2008 review in Positive Feedback points out, no transformers are used in the audio circuit. The gain on the MC setting is 68 db. You can run 0.5 mV cartridges effectively on the MM setting. I’ve done it. Here’s a link to the review article. |