thoughts on adding phonostage

Hi , thanks for your post. As a Rogue owner in a similar position I’ll be following your post. I currently have a RP-1 and a modded Thorens TD-160 with a Grado Prestige cartridge. I felt early on that my TT is limited by the phono stage in the RP-1. FWIT the headphone stage isn’t any better. I’m setting up a new rig next month with a Rogue Hera and a fresh modded pair of M-180 Darks. After I get a chance to listen, I’ll evaluate for a phono stage. FWIT my experience with Rogue tube gear is that upgrading the small tubes has made a noticeable difference in sound quality. I’m guessing that your new amp shipped with Psvane KT-88’s and I have some in my 180’s. What I discussed with Bill at Rogue was that the Dark upgrades now use higher quality new production tubes over NOS to replace the stock JJ’s. In playing with those and the usual NOS stuff I had a noticeable SQ improvement at a reasonable cost. I would suggest you call Rogue and talk with Bill about a signal tube change and the phono stage limits of what you have and the Rogue ( if you go that way ) phono stages. Bill is very knowledgeable and will never push an upsell . Happy Hunting , Mike B. 

It looks like you’re getting a lot of solid advice. If you follow

@mulveling he is VERY knowledgeable of Rogue and is extremely experienced with everything you seek. If I remember correctly he has involvement with the Rogue owners page on Facebook. I apologize for throwing him into the mix but I have a huge respect for his knowledge and politeness. If I may toss in a couple random things. I personally don’t leave my tube gear on for extended periods of time. If I’m coming back later in the day or occasionally overnight. If I’m not mistaken your amp has power tube sockets to printed circuit boards and not a full pin to pin wiring. So there is a fair amount of heat transfer, maybe put a small fan on it. Another random thought is your input tubes. I’m assuming that it came with the regular JJ’s which most people change for a noticeable improvement. Then there is the Mullard Vs Tekefunken sound difference. Most people prefer one drastically Vs the other. Rogue recommends nos Mullard to people to smooth out the sound , but for me as I have some , they are like throwing a blanket over my system. But my suggestion is to first look at your 12AX7’s , as they will have the greatest impact on your sound. In the current Rogue Dark upgrade they no longer provide nos tubes. For the 12AX7’s they use new production Tung Sol 5751 Gold pin’s at about $50 Ea. My M-180’s came with them and after breaking them in I rolled in a $318 pair of nos curve tracer matched Tekefunken 12AX7’s from Brent Jesse. To my surprise I preferred the new production Tung Sols. FWIT the 12AX7 family includes the 12AY7’s , 12AT7’s and the 5751’s. They each have a different Mu ( gain ) factor. I suggest that you try them and see if you like the sound. Later try changing the 12AU7’s to anything. Rogue used to provide RCA nos in that slot. As far as your power tubes I have the Psvane KT-88’s and they are not bad. Bill stated it’s the most reliable tube so they use it. However your amp will sound different with Tung Sol KT-120’s and probably make slightly more wattage. Also the KT-120’s tend to make more bass. In having a tube conversation with Bill , he stated that in my M-180’s going from the KT-120 to the KT-150 would slightly change the tone but not generate more wattage as the Rogue SS power supply limited that due to its fixed operating voltage. I know most of this is irrelevant to your thread question but I’m hoping to be informative and not bossy. And my apologies to mulveling for throwing you in the mix without prior permission. Cheers , Mike B.