Upgrade Phonostage

Jfrech saw your review on the superpak I am still leaning in that direction. Want to thank you for the invite but in reading your system review I saw you live in Texas I live in Southern California. I purchase the BAT because of their midrange, it is magical, and my main concern with the upgrade is that I don't lose that magic.What improvements with the Nagra made you take that step. Noticed you have the Triton conditioner thats another avenue I might pursue before the superpak currently have no conditioning other than upgraded outlets. Jmcgrogan2 and Manitunc want to thank you for your posts. Jfrech terrific system. Enjoy

At the levels you are thinking about, upgrades become more a matter of taste than actual betterment. A little deeper or tighter bass, more extended highs, a more liquid midrange. But often you must give up something to get the other.

As for upgrading the power supply, I did find my system to be cleaner and more open when I added the outboard Simaudio FSX5.3 to my LP5.3 phono. Als a greater ease to the sound.

I guess I should also say I replaced my VK P10SE Superpak with a Nagra VPS/VFS. Very happy ;-)...had the Nagra now a few years...

Also I know the Audio Research phono stages are getting great press...

So jmcgrogan2 has a point here...if your spending 2k +/- for the upgrade, you might as well check out other options. Looks like the 2 of us did and seem happier...

Where do you live? If you happen to be close by, welcome to stop by...

Personally, I wouldn't bother. I did not go through the upgrade process like Jfrech did, but I did own a new BAT VK-P10SE with Super-Pak for a year or so. I wound up replacing it with a Klyne 7PX 5.0 which I thought was much better. That Klyne was the best phono stage that I've ever owned. As always, YMMV.

Hi I had your phone stage about 6-7 years ago and upgraded. The Superpak is a big deal. The tonality and everything you like about your P10SE stays, however everything is presented with ease and flow that your current phono stage just can't do. Background is a little quieter, allow more info (details, soundstage cues, etc) emerge better also.

It's definately a worthwhile upgrade given your cartridge (not sure what a classic TT is? VPI?). Also if you're not running a balanced tonearm cable, this should come before the superpak upgrade. (and a balanced cable to your ref 3)

The big caps in the BAT VKP10 SE SuperPak take a while to fully break in, but you notice the improvement immediately, just get's better over a month or two of playing time...

I do believe if you search, I posted some other comments here soon after I did the upgrade...good luck, post back if you do this and what your thoughts are...