MM phono preamp upgrade for $1000?

Musical Surroundings Phonomena ll+ or a NOVA lll.

Matt M

Sutherland KC Vibe!

For MM only, look at tube phono amps. Not too easy to find used in the US but the Croft RIAA R is sweet.

its below your budge, but you may want to try the zerozone EAR clone, or the Zerozone Marantz 7 phono stage clone. For MM carts. To beat them you need to get into the 1600 to 2000 range for a Chinook.

I have been looking into Musical Surroundings and Sutherland already and both are possibilities. The Croft is new to me and I will check it out. 
My amp is a Icon Audio Stereo 40 mk4 tube integrated. Speakers are Sonus Faber Concerto with REL Britannia 2 subwoofer. I think I prefer a “slightly” more exciting sound than dead neutral. Despite the fact that I’m an old guy with some high frequency hearing loss I still don’t like a thin, bright or edgy sound. I listen to mostly the classic rock I grew up with but mix in some jazz, blues and a little classical.

Take a look at the Darlington Labs MP-7 and its no feedback, high voltage approach.  

I have the first version of the Nova Phonomena.  My listening tastes are probably similar to yours.  The Nova Phonomena does particularly well with percussion and bass rich music such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, War, etc.  

That is a pretty good table. I owned a VPI Aries for twenty years. The table sounded very much better each phono stage upgrade through a Audio Research PH8 ($7K new at the time). The PS is really critical… my rule of thumb is spend as much on the PS as you do on the TT …I would save your money until you have $2,500 and see if you can get a used high end Phonostage… Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Or VAC… Presto (although I have heard of reliability issues with these).

The PS is really critical… my rule of thumb is spend as much on the PS as you do on the TT

I agree with @ghdprentice. in the importance of a phono stage. AAMOF it is the same rule that Origin Live gives. Even so, I do believe  there are also giant killers as well. The problem is that they are very few and they have their limits also. IMO, they only kill giants as large as double the price. That would be $2k in your case which will put you at the starting point of what a good phono preamp will cost. I am not sure there are any $1k giant killers in the phono pre arena. But I haven't looked either.

Croft and Hegerman for tubes, Nova or Southerland for SS

An oldie, but a goodie...

EAR 834P

One just sold here (MM only) for under $1K).

Not neutral, but extremely 3D sounding (tailor voicing with different tubes).

DeKay

I am looking at the suggestions everyone made. Being retired and on a fixed income now my budget came from selling off old toys and they are pretty much gone so not likely to go much higher. I came across a good deal on something no one mentioned and I am not familiar with but read good reviews on. Anyone have any opinions on the Vacuum State JLTI phono with upgraded power supply?

• The Ear 834P...Todd at the vinyl Junkie can help. I got a mint used one for just under a grand. Mine is both MM and MC, with built in step up transformers. It cane with the original JJ tubes as well. 

Icon Audio. Made in the UK. Tube!!!!!! And it has a mono switch. Will be offering mine shortly on Audiongon.

I’ve got the tube integrated and Sonus faber speakers so I’ve got just enough sweetness going on now. I’m not sure a tube phono stage wouldn’t be too much of a good thing. I wish I could audition some in home but I’m afraid I’m going to be buying something used without being able to hear it first. 

Worst case, you resell it and get to experience a whole world of tube joy!

Lots of good choices presented here. Here's another...........If you don't mind lurking into the used market $1000 can buy a pretty decent unit in a lot of brands. You may want to check out Graham Slee (Reflex line). If you find one that interests you, make sure it comes with their dedicated power supply. I believe they call it something like PSU1.

If you want to save some money and still get a decent phono preamp try the Parasound Zphono XRM Phono Preamplifier they go for around $500.00 new

Build a Pass Pearl II.  You can do it.  Nelson says the happiest audiophiles he knows are the DIYers.

I remember those JLTI’s from a few years back. I was really interested in them but never got a chance to try one. I’m really interested to hear your feedback if you get it. I’ve heard the Musical Surroundings stages numerous times and like them quite a bit. 

JLTI should be here Wednesday. Got a good enough deal on it that I should be able to sell without loosing money if it doesn’t work out.