What phono pre am I looking for?

JLTi is probably a very nice phono stage for the money, but let's not pretend that it competes with really good phono stages in higher price brackets.  For Allen Wright and Joe Rasmussen, it was never their top of the line product.  AW preferred his tubed units, which of course cost much more money.  This is no insult to Chakster or the JLTi; I'm just keeping it real.  If you're on a budget in that price range, JLTi is probably a contender.  Phono stages that cost more are not necessarily "over-priced" by comparison.  I think AW's fully balanced RTP3C cost on the order of $10,000, and it was that good, by all accounts.  Still, I admire your enthusiasm, Chak.

@bpoletti That’s explain nothing! Only your bad imagination.
What’s wrong with you? I’m in St.Petersburg, Russia and i do not sell JLTi or anything from that Australian brand.

I’ve learned about JLTi from the David Dlalolum posts here on audiogon, he’s not posing anymore for some reason, but that was his choice of phono stage for MM cartridges (he asked for the same mod as myself).

I don’t know of any other phono stage with optional loading (plug in RCA resistors on the back) for MM cartridges! It is also amazing for LOMC cartridges of 0.25mV or higher. This is a great feature that comes with extremely expensive phono stages like Herron and others, but only for $750 dollars including delivery worldwide. Do you know any other products at this price tag that can compete with 3k phono stages and offering same features?

It is hand build in Australia by Joe Rasmussen (partner of Aller Wright). You can ignore it and stick to your overpriced phono stage or some other cheap made in china products people promotes here (like the iPhono 2), but i will promote "best price and top quality" phono stage as much as i like it, because this is my honest opinion about this wonderful producs for very reasonable price. I have much more expensive phono stage in my arsenal too and tried various different phono stages, the JLTi is great, that’s it!

I use this phono stage myself and i will recommend it to anyone who would like to have great phono stage and ask for it on audiogon forum. I do not sell this phono stage, it’s a keeper.

I’m pretty sure if that could be reviewed by M.Fremer (like he did with iPhono) everyone would love to grab it, but there is NO reviews yet!

If someone making legendary $2-3k phono stage again for $750 - that’s a good news for everybody, maybe it’s a bad news for you, but who cares?

JLTi kills the iPhono 2 in my system, so now i want to try it agains that Italian Gold Note PH-10 (if i will buy it next month, maybe).

P.S. Allen Wright passed away and that’s very sad. Old audiohiles remember this name and his reputation.

@chakster  "no longer with us"?  Really?  So that explains why you are hawking you r wares on this forum.  Your credibility and objectivity just took a nosedive somewhere below zero.

@holomech why Parasound instead of Gold Note PH-10 ?

The goal of Gold Notes for me is that it has 2 independed phono inputs with independent settings for each and the ability to switch between them. Great for a turntable with two different tonearms.

My JLTi has only one input :(

Used opens up many options. As for new, the three I’d consider are the Parasound JC3 Jr, Sutherland Insight, and Gold Note PH-10. I was recently shopping in this range and bought the Parasound. I’m extremely pleased with its performance. Prior to it I used the Lounge LCR MKiii. I almost bought the Gold Note due to its versatility. It allows the user to select from 3 equalization curves and has a rumble filter.

If you’re a tubes only guy, consider the Tavish Adagio, which requires getting on a wait list.

JLTi brand has a great history, since Allen Wright is no longer with us Joe Rasmussen taking care of the business and here is the latest version, actually cheaper than old version, lower than your budget as the price is in Australian Dollars, check this out: http://www.customanalogue.com/jlti_phono_stage.htm

I use this JLTi phono stage and i love it. Few people on audiogon have it.
You can check this: https://www.audiogon.com/listings/vacuum-state-jlti-mk3i-absolute-sound-recommended

Now i’m thinking about that Italian Gold Note PH-1 after i have realised that price without VAT is under 1000 euro which is amazing deal imo (normally they are 1400 in the shops).

I’m not looking for tube phono stage, actually i have replaced all my tube gear, no more tubes in my system, no regret.

$1k is my target price for any additional phono stages, i think it’s realistic budget for superb MM/MC phono stages. One of them is JLTi