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New phono preamp or tonearm?

Hi,

Presently own a ClearAudio Master Solution with a Tecnoarm from Michell and a Benz Wood M2, phono pre is an ARC PH3. I am in the process of upgrading my phono pre and tonearm and I was wondering which I should do first, arm or pre! Short list for tone arm is the Graham Phantom II, phono pre I will be looking at the ARC PH7, Nagra VPS, Aesthetix Rhea, EAR 88BP and Artemis Lab PH1. I think I will be keeping the Technoarm for a second mono cartridge, so some phono pre are better suited for my purpose than others (2 inputs).

Current system consists of an ARC Ref3 pre, ARC VS110 amp, SF Cremona speakers, YTER interconnects and Shunyata Orion speaker cables. I listen mostly to jazz.

Thanks for reading
redsectora

Showing 1 response by countingbackwards

countingbackwards
138 posts
 
Don't know too much about the ARC phonos, but from everything I've read they seem to be top-notch.

I would presume that a better tonearm will be a noticeable improvement. A few years back, I tried a Michell Gyro first with a Tecnoarm and Benz M2, before settling on a Gyro with a Graham 1.5tc (upgraded to 2.2) and Benz L2. The same setup with the Graham arm was far better than with the Tecnoarm. The top end is more open, the bottom end is tighter, and the mids are smoother. There was something I found unnatural about how the highs, mids and bass were held together by the Tecnoarm as compared with the Graham.

Now, I haven't tried the Clearaudio table or ARC phono stage, but can say for certain that even an older Graham arm seems to hold a Benz wood cartridge better than does a Tecnoarm.
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