2. amps-preamps
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Suggestions for Phono Preamp

I'm interested in a decent phono preamp in the $1,000 area code (plus or minus a few hundred) for my Rega Planar 3 and I have a dynavector 20x2l mc cartridge to work with a tube amp which has both rca and xlr inputs. 

Here's the thing. I really don't like those tiny switches, especially when you have to open the preamp to get to them. Also, I hear that it is best to play around with the gain but how do you do that if changing the settings is a pain in the rear?

There are some preamps with the knobs for settings but they almost always are in the back and, again, that drives me crazy. Why can't the settings be in the front so you can easily access them and make changes/adjustments so you can actually hear differences? 

Anyhow, if anyone has suggestions, I'd much appreciate it.

dz13
hifi63nc
6 posts
 

Parasound JC3 Jr.  Solid State Phono Stage that is available in your price range and it will hold its value reasonably well if and when you may want to upgrade.  Excellent build quality and designed by recognized industry veteran John Curl.  Flexibility with adjustable settings for both MM/MC cartridges from the rear panel, no internal tickering necessary.  It also has both SE and Balanced outputs and I find it to have a very neutral sound contribution to my system.   Good luck with your search and happy listening.  Teg63nc.

bato1965
15 posts
 

If you do not like switches, gain calculations, impedance matching, second guessing all the settings - and yourself... get current amplification based based phono preamp. However, I doubt $1,000 would be enough. Even used.

bobbydd
91 posts
 

I have an EAT Petit in my second system featuring Joseph Audio Pulsar 2’s.  
 

It’s a quite revealing system.  The little EAT sounds wonderful in this set up.  Plus, all the loading and gain adjustments can be made easily on the fly while listening.  Toggles on top panel fantastic.  Other useful features include  top panel toggles for capacitance as well as rumble filter (which can be useful).

 

Current retail is $1700; seen used near $1K.

mofojo
2,173 posts
 

I really like my Rogue Audio Triton 2. Really dynamic. I have not compared it against similarly priced units, just basically bough it off reviews and it worked out. It’s got the little switched but they are on top of the unit under a little plate that does not take tools to access. 

sandstone
358 posts
 

"Good luck with the PS Audio Stellar. Darrin Myers, who designed the Stellar Phono recently left PS Audio for Parasound, great engineer, and it seems PS Audio is liquidating their stock of this preamp, and assume they have no plan to continue its development"

The PS Audio  Stellar Phono preamp was designed by Paul McGowan who is very much still at PS Audio and has plans for a fully discrete phono amp version.  This gear has returned to normal retail price of $2999 on mfr's website after last month's 33% discount.

 

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