Tube Preamp Paired with Tube Phono Stage?

Hey Steve, experiment, have fun. Tubes are great where ever you put them. Personally, I've found that my favorite systems have tube preamp and amp, but SS phono. Sorry. Then again, that's using LOMC's in the 0.24 mV range. Your cartridge puts out 4 mV, so you should be fine. I've just found SS phono stages to sound best when using very low output cartridges, less issues with noise, balance, etc.
I'm currently using a full function VAC Auricle tube preamp with a 2.5 mV cartridge and it sounds great. ;)

Cheers,
John

Well it appears as if Larryi and myself are in complete disagreement. That's ok, that's why they make so many different flavors.

I do have to say that I don't agree that "balancing" rarely works out as planned. In fact, I believe that we all balance our systems. In the "more than one way to skin a cat" category, I find that many audiophiles argue over which preamp, amp, cartridge, etc is better, when the answer lies within their own systems and rooms.

For example, I tend to enjoy warm, musical speakers, soft dome tweeter type. Now I like to pair them with revealing electronics like Audio Research or VAC gear. I've found that C-J and Cary gear put me to sleep. Now I know many people love C-J and Cary, and when I look at their systems, I usually see them using more revealing speakers, cables, etc. Koetsu cartridges don't work in my system. Now maybe if I buy more revealing speakers and cables (Nordost?) I'd like the Koetsu with a C-J preamp, who knows? Now how about the room? Is it a dead room? A lively room?

From my experiences, it's ALL about balancing. ALL warm equipment will lull me to sleep. ALL thin equipment will have me running from the room pulling my hair out. I think the sound that we all enjoy is more similar than many people realize. There are just many different ways to arrive at the same destination. As always, YMMV.

Well now it seems that I agree with Larryi. :)
Lot's of folks ask for advice, and if they know what they want you can kind of guide them in a general direction. However, there is absolutely no substitute for listening in your own system/room, with your own ears.

That Chinook looks very interesting Steve, very flexible, let us know what you think. Do you have some NOS 6DJ8 variant tubes to play with?

Actusreus, I would think that 60 db of gain from a phono stage would be enough for any cartridge, unless possibly if you are considering running through a passive controller instead of an active preamp. Most will run the Chinook through an active line stage preamp (as the OP is here) which will add more than enough gain for any cartridge.

Actusreus, how much gain does your preamp have? As Layyi mentioned, his preamp has 13 db of gain, mine has 22 db of gain. Either when combined with a 60db phono stage would be more than enough for most any cartridge I can imagine.
I just sold a phono stage with 66 db of gain while using a cartridge with a 0.24 mV output. Combined with my 22 db of gain from the line preamp, I never turned the volume knob much past 10 o'clock. Together that combo provided 88 db of gain, I'm sure I could have gotten by on 82 db of gain very easily. While doing your KAB number crunching, don't forget to add in your line stage's gain, unless of course your line stage has no gain.

The KAB calculator considers preamp gain period. That's phono preamp + preamp gain. So the calculator said I needed 63 db and I had 66 + 22 = 88db of gain. Way more than enough. I probably could have gotten by with a phono stage with a 50-54 db of gain for my 0.24 mV output cartridge. Maybe I could have turned the volume knob up to 1 or 2 o'clock instead of 9 or 10 o'clock.

Actusreus, Mehran at SORAsound carries Klyne, though I don't know about his auditioning policies. Klyne preamps are very rare and hard to find. Stan Klyne builds and repairs them all by hand. He could easily grow bigger, but he doesn't care to. Hence, no, if you're looking for auditions, dealers, flavors of the month, a Klyne is not for you. They show up so rarely on the used market because once one attains a Klyne, they rarely sell them.

The Klyne 7PX 5.0 is the best phono stage that I have ever heard, tube or solid state.