VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

Alonski, I love your description - spot on, "I love that this increased heft can be had without the usual compromises of darkened tonal colors and loss of inner detail. Weight, detail and sparkle coexisting in one system..."

Gang: I have had the Steelhead for 5-6 years, bought it new, never liked it straight in, and with the Lamm Reference line stage, it made pretty good music, using NOS Teles and rolling the 7044 tubes as well. There is a noise in my Lamm Reference, and it has to go back to Vlad (no big deal, i am still in NYC area, so it is a drive, no shipping). But since Vlad is away (Munich, i gather, not the Motherland), I'm down to the Steelhead for a month or so, straight in again, and it sounds too 'high fi' for me. So, I'm looking for something that will give me purity and openness via the Lamm ML2/Avantgarde Duo combo.
Considering, among others, the Allnic stuff, as well as Veloce line stage with ? phono.
I'm vinyl only. And i don't need a bunch of other inputs on the linestage.
Spoke to Israel at Coincident as well-
Frankly, I trust my own ears, in my own system, not the flavor of the month or technical explanations (which are fine as far as they go). My take, living with the Steelhead, it is good, and very flexible, well built, but sounds too electronic (FET's?) for my taste, and without the linestage to buffer it, literally and figuratively, it will be offered for sale soon.
What say you?
TIA.

Alón,
Thanks for posting 1131 impressions - I surely understand your excitement (nothing better than improving a system you already love), and now you've really got me thinking about one! Geez, I guess I should also consider picking up a "beater" MC cart just for burning new phono electronics & tubes in ;)

Mike

you either have the magic or you don't. when i bought the Herron VTPH-2 phono preamp I knew my search was over. Don't settle for "ok"

In case anyone is still interested in the SUT audition... I've got over 25 hours on this puppy and it's rocking my world. Right now I'm listening to Shelby Lynne's tribute to Dusty Springfield and I'm lovin life. I've been thinking about how lucky we all are to be engaged in a hobby that offers endless potential to completely surprise us — whether we're hearing sonic details we never knew were in the familiar grooves of our favorite performances, or hearing unfamiliar performances recomended by fellow audiophiles that render us speechless...

I had a musician friend over last night for some listening and I pulled out the big guns — yes, the "Reference" LPs. While listening, he kept shaking his head in disbelief. I know that feeling, the sweet spot is deadly.

As for the upgrade, I consider this surprising outcome a complete success! At least for a while, I'm out of hardware search mode and I'm going deep into the music hunting mode.

And lastly, an admission, as required by my Audioholics Anonymous program. Here goes: just now, I've listened to side two of Shelby Lynne's album four times in a row already. I just can't help it... It just sounds so goooood. I'm not sure I can stop. My sponsor is gonna have a fit.

Wow, feels good to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please post.

Cheers,
Alón