is a phono stage worth it

[jonomd]

Starting to listen to vinyl a bit more again after a long while. I have a 11 year old project debut turntable as well as a rotel 931 amp and Tannoy M1 speakers.

Looking to pay around £100-£150 for a phono amp. Do you think it would offer a worthwhile improvement to the system with the above components or would it be better to spend a bit upgrading one of the components. Will be looking to upgrade each part at a later date.

Thanks

 

[matthewpiano]

Rotel phono stages are good so with your turntable I'm not sure it is really worth paying for a seperate one at present. I'd save a bit longer and put the money towards a Rega P3-24 turntable (or indeed a good used Rega Planar 3). The difference from your Debut will be amazing and you'll then have a deck worthy of better phono stages and better cartridges.

I'd suggest your next project after the turntable should be the speakers, with the amp being the last thing to change.

 

[plastic penguin]

Agree with Matthew, Rotel and Arcam arguably produce some of the finest in-built phono stages in their respective price brackets. The only way significantly improve the sound is to buy a hugely expensive box, but that would mean a vastly improve TT as well.

 

[jonomd]

Thanks for the advice. Would not want to pay any more for phono stage, would rather pay for another amplifier with a good phono stage. Looks like changing turntable first would be better call. My arcam amplifier is faulty and won't be repaired. Maybe stick with my rotel amp for time being.

 

[plastic penguin]

jonomd:Thanks for the advice. Would not want to pay any more for phono stage, would rather pay for another amplifier with a good phono stage. Looks like changing turntable first would be better call. My arcam amplifier is faulty and won't be repaired. Maybe stick with my rotel amp for time being.

Logical choice - A better turntable will make the Rotel shine...