Rega Planar 1 + KRK Rockit5: which phono preamp?

[psylosopher]

Hello everyone,
looking for a decent, budget preamp (ideally under 50euro) to connect a Rega Planar 1 with a pair of KRK Rockit5 monitor speakers.
Any suggestion?
thanks!
and

 

[Gray]

Have you considered the Pro-Ject Phono Box?

 

[filipplord]

I believe the Pro-ject Phono Box has some incredible value for money, it is a little bit more that your suggested 50$ but then again you are using a very decent turntable, if you upgrade your speakers you wont need to worry about having a very cheap and less reliable preamp.

 

[psylosopher]

Hi there,
thanks, I was indeed thinking about the Pro-Ject one, but I was wondering whether there was a decent and yet cheaper option available. Probably the Pro-Ject is worth the extra-money, however....

 

[filipplord]

A friend of mine had an old premium Rotel preamp, that thing was the size of an amplifier, he asked me for some help, I directed him towards the Pro-ject preamp to hook up his second turntable, he was so astonished by the difference in clarity and performance that he made the Pro-ject his go-to preamp, even though he had a technically more expensive preamp.
All in all I think that you would be wasting your turntable's potential if you go for anything cheaper

 

[psylosopher]

yeah, it makes sense. Just one more thing. I found someone close to mine that is selling a Pro-ject Phono Box II. Everywhere else I have found the Pro-ject Phono Box E, never saw the 'II' model, but this is what the picture shows. It is an older model? Do you have any idea?

 

[filipplord]

I beliebe the phono box E is the cheaper model of all as it doesnt have MM/MC selection and only runs for MM, Phono Box has the MM/MC selection and phono box II has the MM/MC selection and also a decent USB port that you can use to rip vinyl with your PC, As far as the electronics are concerned they are all kinda identical, however the phono box II USB port does a really good job (I can say from personal experience) so if you look forward to ripping vinyl to digital files then I would recommend it.

 

[psylosopher]

cool, thanks!