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Tube Phono Stage with balls, and slam!!

Hello friends
I have a Well tempered TT, classic made in the 90's, with a Zu Denon 103 Catrtridge , and a Vacume Tube, phono stage, wich is solid state,  with a tube push and pull intergrated amp, with Zu speaker's
It seems to me that the set up, might be bright, on 60% or recordings, with the piano on the up, and femails, on volcals, seem a bit bright!!
Should I go for the Decaware, phono stage, which is tube based!!, or would this be to much, on the soft side??
I like my music, with deep bass, with slam!!(I do get this with some recordings) , but sometime some recordings are a  bit bright!!, I have a solid state phono stage, with RCA plug's, that fit in the rear of the unit, to excite, or tame the above, my tast in music, is Rock,Punk, new wave, power jazz etc!!, I have used 100ohms, plugs, and 275 ohms, but can't seem to get it right, I'm almost there!!
Any thoughts
David Spry
Australia
128x128daveyonthecoast
bpoletti
1,553 posts
 
Herron VTPH-2.  IMO, the best available regardless of price or any other factors.  I have never heard better. 

But I agree that there are a lot of factors, like careful set-up, exact VTA and VTF.  A good arm, cartridge and table are critical. 

I know there are a lot of people that think the 103 is a great cartridge.  I just think it's OK for the money.  But the price point a couple of hundred dollars more is loaded with cartridges that shame a 103.  
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
Vincent pho-700 solid-state/tube hybrid two boxes mc/mc phono pre-amp 😎
cam08529
3 posts
 
Another vote for Herron here. Especially if your cartridge sounds better with non-standard loading. My Soundsmith Paua likes 2k ohms which is difficult to find in phono preamps. Keith Herron can supply just about any loading resistor you would ever need. It is also great for tube rolling. Keith is also very responsive and an interesting guy to talk audio with.

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
+1 for the Vincent pair,
it has the tube input for your "tube" sound, but from what I can see on the net, a solid state output to be able to give you drive and dynamics. It is very versatile, with different gain options and it looks well made.
http://www.vincent-tac.de/en/product-types/phono-preamplifier/pho-700/

Another good one is the Schiit, no tube though, but very cheap.
http://schiit.com/products/mani

Cheers George
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,816 posts
 
Fremer described the sound of the Liberty B2B-1 phono amp as being what you may be looking for. It has an extremely high overload figure, a very good thing.
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