MM Phone Preamp for DL103 (Already have a stepup)


Looking for a great MM phono preamp to use with my Ana Mighty DL103R. I already have a stepup. My Lamm phono pre is going away for awhile for repair and upgrades.

dhcod

Presuming this is a placeholder for the Lamm , a Hagerman pre would do the job very well. Or if you are considering a challenger what about the Le Phono from Ana? 

How about vintage? There was a Conrad Johnson PV3 for sale on EBay a while back $700 + shipping! Pretty neat unit - three 12AX7's and a 12AU7. I bought one there several years ago too!

Thanks for the suggestions @solypsa. Hageman is a great idea. I wish I could get a Le Phone fast enough but shipping from Ana takes quite a while.

@dhcod My pleasure :)

If you end up in a bind I can arrange to send you a demo of the AudioSpecials Phonolab that I represent, but I figured you were looking for a lower cost option while you get your Lamm worked on!

Slightly OT: what upgrades are you doing to the Lamm? Just curious ;)

I lost a channel because the tube sockets need replacing (It's a LP2). I still haven't asked what upgrades they are doing for the LP2s still. They may not offer anything anymore but I'm prepared to listen if they offer something.

Eastern Electric Minimax would make a nice stop gap if you can find one, and won‘t lose $$ on resale. Has inbuilt MC transformers which are OK, and you could actually prefer.

You might take a look at the latest Analog Planet newsletter from Michael Fremer.  There you can find a compilation of more than a half dozen reviews he has written in the last few years on what one could call "budget" phono stages.  As he says, it's a burgeoning category, and there are lots of excellent choices.  it's also a competitive slice of the market, so products that are subpar are pretty quickly weeded out.