What is the Phono stage you have finished with?

Raul is correct- as soon as you break the phono stage out to a seperate box, you have an connectivity problem with whatever is downstream.

You see, one of the functions of a line stage is to control the interconnect cable. I don't see any phono stage that is really designed to do that, so the interconnect between the phono section and whatever follows (line stage, power amp) is critical. Then there is the matter of the volume control... a passive control and the attendant interconnections only offer more coloration rather than less, as well as a reduction of impact. As soon as you have these features built into a phono section (to get around these issues), you essentially have a full function preamp that is otherwise lacking the the switching and aux inputs.

Its easy enough to find designers that will argue :)

Connectivity is another thing altogether so let's explore it.

Can you hear a difference between cables that go between your stand alone phone stage and the amplifier?

if no => connectivity is not a problem

if yes => connectivity *is* a problem.

Maybe that problem is solved by paying extra cash for more expensive cables. But think about it- next year that manufacturer (or some other one) will have the latest and greatest new cable. Is there anyone here that can tell me that's **not* the case??

The fact of the matter this goes on year after year. Well, what if you had a means to operate the cable such that the cheapest one you could find worked as well as any of the others? It is possible BTW.

That's what I mean by connectivity issues.

T_bone, you got it. Thanks.