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New phono stage advice

Tim Jones

Tim Jones

pfm Member
Right, I'm going to try upgrading from my current Clearaudio Balance stage. I like it a lot. It absolutely whoops the DV P75 it took over from, with excellent stereo separation and detail. It's not, however, the most full-bodied thing around, and I could probably do with a bit more gain (especially into my NVA passive pre).

The TT is a P9 with a DV Te Kaitora Rua - about 0.26mV. I'll probably be sticking with different variations on the DV cart theme in future, though I have a craving to try an AT 33EV at some point.

I'm prepared to spend up to around £2k, which puts a lot of things on the menu. However, I am pretty keen on switchable gain and loading. The obvious candidates are the Rega Ios and the Edwards MC3 (which seems to have much more to offer on the switchable gain front at least).

Has anyone heard the Edwards stages? Any other ideas?

TIA.
 
Tom Evans Groove SRX
Allnic 1200
Aesthetix Rhea

(on the used market)

I have a Tron for sale which you could home demo but it's not adjustable.
 
Nice cart you have on that player; a lot of good things said about the Trilogy 907.
 
I would go with SUT and MM phono stage either tube or SS one. I can recommend Hashimoto SUT which has very full bodied spacious sound. And in my modest experience SS stages perform better with less gain too EAR 834 with it's plum sound matches Rega P9 well and I liked it a lot (moded) .The internal MC transformer is rather basic so I'd buy Hashimoto SUT and use regular EAR. I has to be said I'm not a fan of P9 (having one for close to 5 years) .It's all depends on your music tastes. I also liked Audio Note phono stages even the cheap ones are rather musical. With most SS units you will get nice organized, rhythmic bass and grain free detailed performance but they always seem to be lacking in this 3 dimensional
bloom of tube stages which is like a breath of life into performance to me (it's again a question of taste ).
 
The 1200 has a bigger more solid state sound the 1500 is more refined and has a more 'valve like ' presentation.
Keith.
 
There's a Manley Steelhead for $4,500 on Audiogon. No affiliation. Just a pretty great price. Though I'm guessing shipping would be uber-expensive from California.
 
I have the 33EV; currently using a ASR Basis Exclusive phono stage. I bought it used for around $3,500 and they should be cheaper over there I would think. I also had a Naim Superline with TSC power supply until recently when I sold it to a friend to replace his Tron 7. The Naim was gangbusters with his Wilson Sasha while the Basis worked well with my Spendors; both were great but different. The Basis can take two tables at the same time as it has 2 separate phono stages and has gain adjustable for the very lowest or highest output and for about any loading you want. Mine are both MC stages but can be had with one MC and one MM if desired; also both SE and balanced input and output. Only downside is size and weight; unit runs on either wall current or from its battery power supply. Considerably better on battery.
 
I upgraded from Prefix/HiCap to a Linn Uphorik and am very pleased with the outcome. The Linn is a great match to my DVXX2II and very flexible in terms of MM/MC and adjustable loadings. To my ears (and in my system/room) the Linn is a very musical and enjoyable device.

I bought my Uphorik new, but I've seen them on the 2nd hand market for £1000 (ish) which is very good value for money
 
I had the Uphorik and the Superline, neither of them did it for me. I'm interested in the Trilogy though.
 
sq225917 said:
I had the Uphorik and the Superline, neither of them did it for me. I'm interested in the Trilogy though.
Click to expand...

Have you heard the Triology SQ?

I too am interested and it comes very highly recommended by Derek Jenkins. I will have a lend of one soon I hope.

I also was not taken with Uphoric and feel Superline very pricey, I am in the process of replacing my Prefix.....this was put in the shade by a Urika (KA KA).
 
I have the MC2 with external power supply, and the ios. The current cart is apheta, but both have been used with a DV20 low, and Benz Glider, low.

Initially the edwards is very immpresive, and is a nice piece of kit. On extended listening the ios just quite simply proves itself to be better sounding stage in all ways.

I found the edwards on balance to be better than previous stages from the DV75, slee, and Rega MC phono. I was surprised how much had to be spent to really better the Rega MC.
 
Hi Tim,

IMHO, the Albarry MCA 11 battery powered phono stage is a superb piece of kit, it has lifted my system to a new level.
It is switch-able, 25, 50, and 100 Ohms and for the quality I think it is a steal at £500.

regards Al
 
Hi,

I bought a couple of Russ Andrews power supplies for my two P75 phono stages and it takes them up to a different level.

Might be worth spending a £100 on one, remember you can send it back if not satisfied.

You would be surprised just what keeping the phono stage and doing a few things differently might do for your system.

Cheers

John
 
Gaius said:
Have you heard the Triology SQ?

I too am interested and it comes very highly recommended by Derek Jenkins. I will have a lend of one soon I hope.

I also was not taken with Uphoric and feel Superline very pricey, I am in the process of replacing my Prefix.....this was put in the shade by a Urika (KA KA).
Click to expand...

There you go, different systems, different ears ;). I demoed the Uphorik and Urika and chose the Uphorik for its flexibility and because it sounded marginally better in my system and room. I use an LP12(radikal,keel/a, ARO and DVXX2II) as the main source in my system (52/sc, 2x250, SNAXO/hc, driving SL2s and an nSub) and found the Uphorik to be a major improvement over the prefix (which is very good in itself). I've never been a huge fan of Linn cartridges so I valued the flexibility of the Uphorik. I did not get on with the superline at all much to my great surprise.
 
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