???Phono Preamp for Rega RP3 W/Elys2 ????


Just purchased a Rega RP3 with Elys2 and looking for reccomendations for a decent preamp. My system includes the following;
Paradigm Studio 100 mains and servo sub
Parasound preamp
Theta Dreadnaught Amp
Kimber Kable thruout.
Have been searching on line for suggestions. Currently considering Jolida jd9, Cambridge Audio 651p, and a few others. Tube vs SS??? Prefer to keep around the $500 ballpark. Thank you all for your opinions. Im a vinyl virgin and a bit nervous diving in.
audiofire5228
I really like the ProJect TubeBoxII. I have no idea if you will like it or not.
Both Jolida (owned this one) and Cambridge phono pres are good choices, as is the Musical Fidelity V LPS (home auditioned).
A bit more than you are looking to spend - but as always you get what you pay for.

Liberty Audio

And i do make them :-)

Good Listening

Peter
IMO, as you have a sub and some large speakers - and the fact that the Rega is not exactly the most well-isolated player on earth, I would suggest a phono preamp with a subsonic filter. I believe the pro-ject boxes have them, the Bellari as I recall and some others. You don't want to have to deal with rumble. I wouldn't agonize over this purchase, as you have a entry-level player anyway. Just buy any decent one and listen to music.
You may want to consider a different way of doing this. Your preamp is not in the same league as your Theta by a wide margin. My recommendation would be to upgrade your preamp to something that sounds better and has a built in phono stage.
PBnaudio:

A "bit more" for your product = $1,249.00 more (which is 3.5 times more than the OP's stated budget).
I agree with Zd542. There's a Conrad Johnson PV-10A with MM phonostage in the classifieds right now at a great price. It would be a really nice one box solution. Old CJ preamps are classics. Do a search. If I were in your shoes, this would be at the top of my list.
Look for a Hagerman Cornet. There may be one on aud circle.

great tube phono pre
Processor is Parasound C2. I had a Classe' SSP-35 mk2 then moved to the Classe' ssp-75 but had nothing but issues with it hence the "downgrade" to the Parasound that has performed flawlessly.
Ok, everyone has missed the boat here with suggestions....1st off the turntable is awesome.Bearing in mind the costs of the other components in the system and type, I fully recommend the Musical Fidelity V-LPS MKII at $200.00 it is a perfect choice for your system.It will out perform or work as well as all these others. Good Spinning!

Matt M
Thanks Mattmiller. Leaning towards the V-LPS mkii or the jolida jd9 at the moment. Jolida runs $570 new whereas the MF will run around $320 ish with the PSU.
Just an alert...the Pangea P100 power supplies are now 69 bucks (I have 2 of the full price ones), and they work really well with a Cambridge 640P.
I have had my Jolida JD9 for two years now and love it. I had considered the Vincent PHO-8 with its rave review in TAS, but liked the idea of getting some tubes into the signal path. The Vincent distinguishes itself with a large, separate power supply. The Jolida has a similar-sized power supply in the corner of a single full-width chassis. I managed to get a demo JD9 for a little less than the Vincent.

The Jolida lends itself easily to tweaking and mods. I swapped in NOS Sylvania Gold 5751s for the stock 12AX7s and put Herbies Tube Dampers on them. I also have a Zu power cord and the unit sits on Vibrapod footers. You can also swap out the opamps for much nicer ones. In most versions this is a pull/replace drop-in replacement with no soldering work.

The other thing that distinguishes the Jolida at this price range is its wide range of adjustability for fine-tuning the cartridge load. It has three levels of gain for MM, HOMC, and LOMC. It has two levels of output as well. In between, it has a wide range of capacitance settings for MM and a wide range of resistance settings for MC. The only other broadly adjustable phono at this price range (that I know of) is the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II, but its minimum capacitance setting is 200 pF, a deal-killer for me.

The Vincent has the standard 100 ohm input for MC carts and 47K ohm for MM carts.
So the V-LPSii has just became available on Audio Advisor today.... and of course at the same time i find a JD9 and simaudio moon 110 both lightly used. Audioitis sucks!
i have the same TT and use the Clearaudio Nano which has a subsonic filter as well - i love it ! highly recommended
In your price range the Jasmine LP2.0MKII is tough to beat. Nicely made piece, available on Ebay.
Decided to give the Jasmine a try. Just recieved it today. I will let you know how it works out. Thanks again for all the help!