Phono pre-amplifier

RE: the M.S. Phonomena cited above... FYI -- I had a chance not long ago to pick up a Phenomena II at a better than Audiogon price, so I G**gled my way around the reviews and forums to get the scoop. Opinions were as positive as you could reasonably hope (a small noise issue was mentioned in SOME cases). The other big under $1K favorite of the crowd was the PS Audio. I didn't have a clear need for the Phonomena II in my upcoming No.2 (vintage-y) system, and figured that my nice #2 phono/line preamp (which I expect to upgrade in a few sensible ways) would be around here for awhile. So I passed. I just saw my tube options, if I would ever need an additional phono unit for a very modest investment -- including Joe's design, maybe with an additional twist or two -- as being likely to produce a somewhat better musical balance and more emotional satisfaction overall. It's fair to note that I can DIY and design. FWIW, and YMMV.

At this budget level, I would stick to moving magnet or moving iron cartridges. Neither cheaper moving coils, nor budget step-up devices, be they add-ons or part of a high gain option in-circuit, tend to produce very musical results in most potentially strong budget systems.

As for the the phono preamp itself, I would personally try to go with tubes. For musicality, you are asking quite a lot of lower-priced solid state devices in this application. Magazine reviews will mislead you badly here. If you are ambitious enough, there are numerous non-layout-critical tube circuits out there, including derivations of what some folks call "classics", which you can DIY -- or have someone do for you. Parts selection is key; but the circuits themselves are relatively simple -- almost always a good thing, executed properly, in cost-sensitive situations.

Though Neither I, nor those I tend to hear from, can directly vouch for the following, here are two inexpensive options on the DIY side of things that particularly catch my eye for their practicality and potential (?) to comfortably excel the choices you mentioned [Google]:

1. Joe Tritschler's phono preamp, a design with a long track record (says Joe) and fine-tuned a bit not long ago -- [2x] 6DJ8/6922/7308,et.al., or (better, probably) [2x] 5842 (Raytheon recommended). Joe sells the audio circuit and the power supply boards -- ALREADY CONSTRUCTED -- for the better than reasonable price of $249. This isn't a profit-making venture; there are no other products. Add a chassis, a few lead wires, jacks... you're done! A couple of finished examples are displayed on the website. Kevin Carter of K & K Audio (Lundahl), in response to a query on his forum, even suggested some output transformers to replace the coupling caps. A poor man's Tim deP. goodie, perhaps? An implicit sort of endorsement? Well, I wouldn't want to put words into Kevin's mouth... I found that interesting, though.

2. My second "interesting" candidate IS solid state (with IC's for easy construction... like choices you proposed above). This is a relatively straightforward circuit from Mike Danbury, like Joe's circuit, published in the now sadly adulterated 'AudioXpress' "DIY" magazine (This was Dec. 2009, as I recall it). Here's the twist: an INDUCTOR-based circuit for RIAA EQ! Sort of like the poor man's Ypsilon or Audio Note M10? O.K., you can stop laughing now... but Mike did publish a more ambitious such design -- no caps AT ALL in the EQ circuit -- back in 1996 (in 'Audio Electronics', as it was then called) where he wrung out the details, down to the sound of different solders... for different circuit locations! Now that's a high end sensibility, is it not? Mike even has some really cheap IC's for you -- NOT the usual suspects -- which he seemed to feel integrated especially well with this design (no pun intended). Why go pedestrian, when maybe you can find a little touch of magic, that inductor being the key? This one's DIY in the raw, but it didn't look too daunting at all.

BTW, eBay is just FULL of goin' cheap solid state gear. Find a nice chassis with a suitable power supply foundation -- preamp, or more likely a bargain, small integrated amp -- and your DIY task could be very much simplified. And you could have yourself a full-function custom preamp in the bargain. I won a nearly pristine and very stylish whiteface Chicago-made Sherwood S-9500 SS amp on eBay for $51. It will some day be a nice tube amp in its reincarnation. See? Have fun!

Interesting about your good result with the Lehmann, Marty. Just as a matter of satisfying my perversely persistent curiosity, did you ever get to hear one of those cheap Lehmann clones from eBay?