New phono stage...

[Burnsie]

I have recently bought myself a Project 2Xperience turntable and I am using a Project phono box through my Abrahamsen amp, I know its not the best phono stage but it was all I could afford at the time when i got the turntable. In the next few weeks I am planning to go and have a listen but having a look the choice is huge, could anyone point me in the right direction, my budget would be around £500 but hopefully I wouldn't have to spend that much.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NMANo1]

Trichord Dino all the way for me. Don't think you can beat it for the money.

It can play just about any cartridge, any loadings due to the selectable DIP switches on the underside of the unit. It's upgradeable if you want to go down that path. Better power supply units/ power cords etc.

I've owned the original version since new, used it with a Rega Planar 3, now a Linn LP12, used an assortment of carts ( mostly MC ) & it's been great with all of them. Currently using it with a AT-OC9/II & sounds very detailed, rhythmic, has a nice open enough soundstage & a pleasant balance across the full spectrum. I think it's the Mark 3 now & about £480 new although you could pick up a used unit for a £150 or so less probably.

The Project DS looks a nice unit & that would be within your budget but i couldn't offer an opinion on it.

Best bet is go & listen to a few before you jump in ! Good hunting & don't forget to tell us how you got on.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

There is so much choice of good stages at the moment.first of all you need to ask yourself if you plan to stick with mm carts or are you going to give the mc a try.I was of the later category so I bought the trichord dino mk3 which will tolerate mm carts but is very good with mc's.I have added the nc psu in the last couple of weeks with some subtle improvements.It is a fine stage but there are good units from Graham slee and tom evans microgroove x starts at that kind of money,which is apparently very good,if staying with mm for the time being...take a look at NJC audio,I've heard good things about their mm phono stage with the option to add a step up transformer when the moving coil bug bites.It really does look like a quality piece of kit,although they are built to order and are around your budget.

 

[BigH]

I would look at a used Dino, one went for £300 on ebay last week.

Or if new the Rothwell Rialto phono stage has quite a few good reports, its about £380.

Or you can buy a Cambridge 640 and have it upgraded for around £200.

 

[keeper of the quays]

I have recently bought myself a Project 2Xperience turntable and I am using a Project phono box through my Abrahamsen amp, I know its not the best phono stage but it was all I could afford at the time when i got the turntable. In the next few weeks I am planning to go and have a listen but having a look the choice is huge, could anyone point me in the right direction, my budget would be around £500 but hopefully I wouldn't have to spend that much.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

go Cambridge audio...their phono stages are stellar! Cheap too..usual Cambridge audio'you get a awful lot of electronics for your money' my 640p is great!

 

[Burnsie]

Thanks for all your advice, it gives me some ideas of where to start.

I will keep you updated on where i end up.

 

[plastic penguin]

With the OP's budget I'd have Leema Elements stage on the list.

 

[Al ears]

I have recently bought myself a Project 2Xperience turntable and I am using a Project phono box through my Abrahamsen amp, I know its not the best phono stage but it was all I could afford at the time when i got the turntable. In the next few weeks I am planning to go and have a listen but having a look the choice is huge, could anyone point me in the right direction, my budget would be around £500 but hopefully I wouldn't have to spend that much.

Thanks in advance.

go Cambridge audio...their phono stages are stellar! Cheap too..usual Cambridge audio'you get a awful lot of electronics for your money' my 640p is great!

The Project phono stage you currently own should be perfectly adequate for most cheaper moving magnet cartridges which I assume your turntable is fitted.

Buying a new phono preamp on its own, therefore, is not the way to go in my opinion.

You will see (hear) bigger improvement by changing your cartridge if it is still the standard one normally fitted to your turntable and worry about phono preamp in the future.

For what it's worth I would agree with those already mentioned, in the order I would consider: Rothwell Rialto, Cambridge 651P, and completely leftfield the Jolida JD-9 II if you can ever find one. ;-) I have heard good things about the two-box Sugden A21SE Stage Two but haven't heard it myself.

However, better than all those is the Tom Evans Audio Microgroove X. This will take all of your budget new but they do crop up used sometimes.

 

[BigH]

I have recently bought myself a Project 2Xperience turntable and I am using a Project phono box through my Abrahamsen amp, I know its not the best phono stage but it was all I could afford at the time when i got the turntable. In the next few weeks I am planning to go and have a listen but having a look the choice is huge, could anyone point me in the right direction, my budget would be around £500 but hopefully I wouldn't have to spend that much.

Thanks in advance.

Which cartridge?

 

[Al ears]

I have recently bought myself a Project 2Xperience turntable and I am using a Project phono box through my Abrahamsen amp, I know its not the best phono stage but it was all I could afford at the time when i got the turntable. In the next few weeks I am planning to go and have a listen but having a look the choice is huge, could anyone point me in the right direction, my budget would be around £500 but hopefully I wouldn't have to spend that much.

Thanks in advance.

Which cartridge?

BigH, assuming it's the standard fit it is the Ortofon 2M Silver ( the 3M Red tweaked for Project).

 

[Burnsie]

yes its a Ortofon 2M Silver that came fitted, I was planning in upgrading the cartridge after the amp but if it would give me a bigger improvement I will look at cartridges.

With that what sort of money would make an improvement and is there a limit that the T/T could take?(where the cost wouldn't justify the increase in sound quality.)

 

[BigH]

yes its a Ortofon 2M Silver that came fitted, I was planning in upgrading the cartridge after the amp but if it would give me a bigger improvement I will look at cartridges.

With that what sort of money would make an improvement and is there a limit that the T/T could take?(where the cost wouldn't justify the increase in sound quality.)

I don't know the OM Silver, but yes that may give you more of an upgrade than the phono stage. What sort of music? Do you like the sound at the moment?

 

[Al ears]

yes its a Ortofon 2M Silver that came fitted, I was planning in upgrading the cartridge after the amp but if it would give me a bigger improvement I will look at cartridges.

With that what sort of money would make an improvement and is there a limit that the T/T could take?(where the cost wouldn't justify the increase in sound quality.)

Burnsie, the cartridge you have fitted at the moment is a tweaked Ortofon 2M Red that costs about £75. If you like the sound you can upgrade the stylus alone for about £130 but I wouldn't. For that sort of money I would switch the cartridge to an Audio Technica AT440Mlb, but that's personal preference for a better all-round cartridge.

Your tonearm will take much more expensive cartridges but it's difficult to say exactly where the cost to sound quality increase actually kicks in. That's going to depend on your bank balance. Think around £300-400 region would be my idea. Take, for example, the excellent Nagaoka MP200 (roughly £350), the fact that the next best cartridge in their line up (the MP300) costs about £600 should tell you something.

 

[ifor]

... my Graham Slee Reflex M. It's a bit over your budget, but others in the range aren't. You could take advantage of the Slee home loan scheme and try them all out if you so wish.

https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I would concur with Al.If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while . £500 will get you a lot of mm cart nagaoka mp300...if your lucky you might find a mp500 also don't ignore the 2m bronze or 2m black from ortofon.

 

[Al ears]

I would concur with Al.If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while . £500 will get you a lot of mm cart nagaoka mp300...if your lucky you might find a mp500 also don't ignore the 2m bronze or 2m black from ortofon.

Unfortunately, with recent price rises, you aren't going to find an MP300 for £500....

 

[Burnsie]

Well it looks like I can tinker with it forever*biggrin* thanks for all your help, I will start by having a listen to carts and phono stages and take it from there. I am in no rush and if I need to up my budget to make significant improvements I will just have to save some more.

Thanks again

 

[ifor]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

 

[jamesrfisher]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

Agree with you ifor. I have an old planar 2 upgraded by inspire hifi. It had a rega bias and was running into an Arcam A80, I upgraded to an mp150 and was very pleased with the significant increase in quality, I subsequently added a Garham Slee Era V Gold and it took it to another level again. Both were money well spent.

 

[BigH]

I agree about the Nagaoka MP200 thats sone I would be considering, a couple of others to consider would be the Denon 103 and 110, The 103 is low outout MC so would need a MC phono stage, the 110 is high output mc so can use on mm phono. The 110 is good is you don't like a lot of surface noise but maybe a bit refined for rock music.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Let me rephrase . You'll get better bang for buck with a £500 cart upgrade than a £500 phono stage if sticking to moving magnet carts . I'd had a few beers last night.lol.

 

[ifor]

Let me rephrase . You'll get better bang for buck with a £500 cart upgrade than a £500 phono stage if sticking to moving magnet carts . I'd had a few beers last night.lol.

... but I haven't tested the theory. I don't see a lot of point in having a cracking good MM cartridge if you can't get the best out of it.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I have done it.

Was using project 1 expression a project phono box se with ortofon om10,changed to the 2m blue,with a fantastic improvement,changed turntable to project 2 xperience (2m blue)a bit better but not huge.next step was changing the project se to the trichord dino mk3,was expecting much more but still an improvement none the less,the thing is the moving magnet carts don't need much in the way of amplification compared to a moving coil.the next major leap in performance was when I added the at33ptg2 mc cart and lastly the nc psu which again was a subtle upgrade but on the whole the listening xperience has improved progressively...but my biggest bang for buck was within the cartridge changes.

 

[BigH]

Let me rephrase . You'll get better bang for buck with a £500 cart upgrade than a £500 phono stage if sticking to moving magnet carts . I'd had a few beers last night.lol.

... but I haven't tested the theory. I don't see a lot of point in having a cracking good MM cartridge if you can't get the best out of it.

Yes but its the cartridge that makes a difference to the sound. I agree you need both but I would get the cart first then upgrade the phono stage when funds allow.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I don't think anyone is saying not to get a good phono stage...just that your more likely to get the biggest improvements with a cartridge change first and then think about a good pre amp further down the road.