Recommendation on MC cartidge and Phono Preamp

There goes Peter / pbnaudio, again.  Recommending components that he manufacturers without a disclosure. 

Nice job, Peter.

Ditto on the Herron. Really extraordinary.

And for an MC cartridge, the Lyra Delos is hard to beat. I have two, one for back up when the other requires retipping.

Both the EAR 834P and Liberty B2B-1 are personally recommended as great high value highly musical choices for tubed or solid state designs.

Has anyone over that side of the pond heard the new Mk2 phono amps from Tom Evans Audio ?

The specs are truly world class, even on the modestly priced Mk2 Groove A, it's signal to noise ratio ( noise and distortion ) is an amazing -114 db @ 68 db of gain !

I am told that further up the range you go the lower the distortion and noise, 50% per model. I just read this recent review (below), from what Jason Kennedy (the editor) said about the way it performs it looks like it's the real deal and he gave it 'best buy' award.
as for Tom being untrustworty he has always helped and if you require an upgrade he will help with that too ,

http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/tom-evans-audio-design-groove-anniversary-mkii-mc-phono-stage

If you want expansive musicality and imaging an EAR 834P - some people even keep them in high end systems as they may be the best at these things.
If you have a lot of pre RIAA records check out a Graham Slee Era Gold V (they have varying EQ)
If you want neutrality check out the Whest 2 (I have the the PS 0.2 and the 2 uses the same internals. I preffered it to an original Tom Evans the Groove
If you want MM get a cartidgeman conductor. If you want an MC get a Shelter 501 mk2 (I think they are now mark 3)

I like my AT-33PTG/II and Jasmine LP mkII. All in my system details. Great sound for around $1000 total. You can get the AT from 2juki on eBay and the Jasmine on amazon.

I second Parasound JC3 and Dynavector 20x2L

Parasound

Which model is it? Is it a good match for my Mac ma6600?

Ralph, I gave him the same advice on his other thread.

To the OP, Atmasphere designs and builds phono stages (and other amplifiers) for a living. He's also a recording and LP production engineer. He knows whereof he speaks.

For the kind of money you are budgeting, I would consider a moving magnet cartridge, although there are some MC cartridges available for under $1000 that are quite nice. You can see though that this does not leave you with much of a budget for a preamp if you spent $1K on a cartridge!

The Denon 103r or variants are relatively affordable and actually have stellar performance. That would allow you to spend about $2500 or slightly more on a preamp.

*** manufacturer disclaimer warning: ***
FWIW we just introduced a LOMC capable preamp in this price range.

If your budget can tolerate the small stretch, you might consider a Herron VTPH-2. I haven't heard anything better. I'd strongly suggest a call to Keith Herron before you buy a different unit.

Lyra Delos/Pro-ject Phono Box RS Reference will fit right in your budget; $1,650.00/$999.00 respectively.

I'm a huge Dynavector fan; my XX2 Mk II is an ideal match for my C50. The matching DV step-up would complete the system and hit your budget range. No matter which way you go, good luck & happy listening!

No need to spend that much :-)

Liberty B2B-1

From its maker

Good Listening

Peter

From whom did you order the VPI Prime and what was their recommendation?