Has anyone heard "The Grove" yet????

Hi,
To make a short story long, my first expensive phono stage was invested in AI M3a + Goldboard, I didn't know what I was missing until I tried a ARC PH3, then I subsequently disposed the PH3 and tried Vendetta, Krell KPA, Pentagon (rare German), Linn Linto (very good), but finally, Groove is it. I also have the Spectral DMC20.2, which has a very good phono stage built-in, almost comparable to Vendetta, but I still prefer the Groove.

I think a part swap (PH3-SE) does not really do anything to the fundamental circuit design (contact me privately for what I did to my PH3 to make it better, but don't waste your time), the Groove is worldclass, noise is extremely low, and it melts the border between tube vs. solid-state. I can tell you that you'll not hear more information retrieved before. It is like upgrading from a digital camera to a Leica (Leica, not Nikon...) because it can truly bring out the color, the shades, the beauty in the recording. In fact, I am so glad that I can listen to 50's mono recordings and enjoyed them via the Groove.

I believe Mini Groove Plus has 90% of the quality of the Groove. According to the factory, Groove is like a 'mono-block' version, and Mini Groove Plus like a Stereo version, where 2 channels are on the same PCB, and share power supply, while the Groove, each channels has its own PCB and power supply.

One point about the Groove is that the cartridge loading and gain have to be specified and not user changeable. It is done for technical reason.

I have my current set-up posted in my web.

www.extremephono.com

it's actually called the Groove. I hear it's a phenom.
Bob from audio magic.

I used to own a PH3 (not SE version), then went to a the dramatically huge and exotic Counterpoint SA 11, and later tried the "Groove", which I now use.

The Groove is much quieter, faster and thus more resolving than either of the other 2. Since it has broken in and because it can be left on all the time, it has become equally dynamic as any tube phono stage I have ever heard - more so than the PH3 I owned. Also, some early leanness has fleshed-out - perhaps not quite as "round" sounding as some tube phono stages, but certainly not solid state sounding at all.

The Groove is a terrific phono stage, it's only problem being that it is not user configurable in terms of input impedance and the like, so you likely must have an idea what your cartridge likes to see before you order one. It is, however, extremely small and easy to place - something that I think anyone would appreciate.

I love mine and will not likely change it for something else, unless some miracle and universally acclaimed unit comes along.

Hope this helps you.

The other units are called Micro Groove and Micro Groove Plus. There is a review in the Oct/Nov issue of THE ABSOLUTE SOUND. Here is the review:

http://www.besthifiintheworld.com/cgi-bin/frames?p=reviews/groove132.html&r=groove132.html&sid=KJXLPZUROEXCTUTJAEEMNYBCHTBUDPVRYA

Hope this helps in some way. If anything it may help you search for info/ reviews on the web, as "the grove" would probably have different search results than "the groove."