Phono Stage

[crusaderlord]

My Clearaudio Emotion turntable is running through my Arcam A32 phono stage which is historically recorded as a good stage for an integrated. But i am wondering how much i would need to spend to improve on it. I would say the quality of sound is good albeit not without a slight humm as i need to turn the volume up much more than on my cd player. I would try a phono stage if i was confident it would reduce the background noise and increase the detail. Any thoughts or recommendations ? Clearudio or Grahame Slee are on my mind but ive no idea what budget level.

 

[gregory]

What is your cartridge, as some, as they get near the motor of the TT have no sheilding, i.e Grado's but they are normally notorious with Rega's so a little hum is not uncommon as for the volume it could be that the output of your cartridge is quite low, gain wise about 3.5mv for an AT and around 5mv for a Goldring, i'm not saying a phono amp would not make a difference, it would, but maybe a change of cartridge may be of more benefit and a cheaper upgrade with better results, the only phono amp i would go for is a valve stage, in fact i have a plan that will radically improve my system no end but it's a long process that i have no time to go into here, rather concentrating on your query as i may need help in the future, that's what i like about these forums, helpful people, anyway the phono stages you've mentioned are good but a valve phono stage is much nicer and good ones can be had for about the same price as the Slee or Clearaudio. Good luck.

 

[crusaderlord]

The cartridge is a Clearaudio Aurum Classics.