Schiit Mani phono stage - $130. And a 5K ohm stereo pot connected to your long cables to reach the active KRK speakers.
25 responses Add your response
I had this Cambridge Alva Duo for a while, my plans changed, no longer needed it. https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/usa/en/products/hi-fi/phono-preamp/duo Quality construction, good price, $300. two inputs in rear:1 MM moving magnet, and 1 MC Moving Coil. one output in rear to any line level input front selects either rear MM input or rear MC input, which is very versatile for MM now, MC later, or TT with two tonearms 1 MM, 1 MC |
The Parks Puffin deserves its own discussion. I have one of those with my pro-ject table strictly for poorly recorded albums. Great way to improve any sound that needs it. Lacking treble, midrange or bass, no problem. Cool gizmo regardless that it is going through a sort of digital equalizer before it comes out analog again. |
If you're not opposed to looking at used equipment, check into the Graham Slee brand. I use one with a Pioneer PL-530 table and the result is very good. One thing about the Slee line that really makes them shine is the use of their dedicated power supply (PSU1). That may push your budget a bit but there are units out there if you search enough. |
The Schiit Mani is hard to beat for the $$. That said, I almost replaced mine, actually considered a used Parks ‘original’ phono stage, not the Puffin. But decided to gamble a bit, and bought a Chinese LPS unit for the Mani for $120 as I had read many good reports from adding one. A surprisingly nice improvement as soon as I hooked it up. Immediately switched the gain on the Manu down a notch, and everything seemed much more balanced and smooth. Right now, I have no desire to replace the Mani anymore....but eventually will, no doubt. |
Parks Puffin It'll make any color or diamond clear sonics to match any cartridge. Magic reduces record noise. More to come. Shannon's got free firmware planned out for the next 3 years that he sez will blow your mind. If you can solder he'll give you plans for SPDIF out. Or he can do it for a C. It might be needed in the future if Mads Buchardt's active speaker sets catch on. https://www.facebook.com/ParksAudio/ |
So I have a Schiit Mani in a drawer. When I was running MM cartridges, it worked fine and lots of the music made its way through. Once I shifted to MC cartridges, it was unable to reject RFI from a nearby radio antenna. I spoke with Schiit and my local experts, but there was no solution that worked. At that point, I started going up the price tree till I foundd a stage that could reject noise and sound superb. I share all this so that you can think about down the road as well. If you live in an area without much radio interference or EMI, I would agree that the Schiit Mani is a respectable contender. It will get you into vinyl playback and will let some of that magic come through. When and if you decide to upgrade, you won't be out much money. If, however, you do live in an area with interference, you can either decide now to stick with MM cartridges and avoid MC or you can look now for a stage that can do a better job at rejecting such noise. Hope this helps. |
a few alternates popped up in my recent thread asking for phono preamps with two inputs https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/phono-eq-small-inexpensive-two-phono-inputs |
