Rick , you did have a rega exact cartridge that was faulty.Which you had to return which is very rare but happens with anything but, Now you have purchased a Benz Micro Glider. Here the price for the Exact 11 new I paid 450 taxes in. A new benz micro glider is double that plus the tax here. The phono pre is what you should spend the money on in my opinion anyway. A good 500 dollar cartridge and a 1000 dollars on a good new or used phono pre if chosen properly will really open your eyes.If money is an issue like it is for most of us in this economic climate you would be even more surprised at how some of the older pre amps with a built in phono section that can be bought for low dollars and just used for phono section will still out perform most new 500 dollar phono amps. Case in point ADCOM 565 was known for a great phono section and can be had for a couple of hundred, the classe's more but better still.Not knocking you , I just don,t get the logic of using a cartridge that good and a pre-amp that just can,t dig your monies worth out of it.The pre-amplification in a system can make or break even the best gear being fed into it and if it can,t keep up with what it is being fed and convey it out to the speakers then the potential is derailed. The phono pre is just as important and in my humble opinion should not be the peice to make consessions with. Like speakers are just as important and even the best pair can,t reproduce what they don,t see. It,s just when I look at the rest of your equipment in your system which is all Excellant gear to not see its potential for anologue for you to hear how truly good vynil can be, well for a long time vynil guy its a sin ! Irreguardless of what I or anyone else thinks its your ears and your dollars so do enjoy the sounds of vynil. Cheers
Tube Phono-Stage question.
I recently purchased a REGA P5 TT and had a Benz-Micro Glider installed. I have been using a NAD PP2 phono stage with the rest of my gear. I paid about $129 dollars for this phono-stage and was happy with its performance for the price. However, I recently visited my local dealer and he gave me a brand new and unused Pro-Ject Tube Box II to demo. I instantly liked the sound of the tubes! The sound-stage was much larger and wider! Although, after switching back to the NAD I noticed that the bass from the NAD was much more clear than the tube phono stage. I know absolutely nothing about tubes. My question is if the tubes sound will improve over time? Will the bass become more clear and tight over time? Everything else sounds great, but the bass just sounds a wee bit mushy. Given the difference in price I am not sure it is worth the additional investment. The Tube Box II retails for $450 dollars! I want to improve my sound, but am not sure what to do at the moment! I don't really want to spend for than $500 dollars. Thanks for any information or recommendations!
Speakers: Wilson Sophia's Series 1
Amp: Mark Levinson 331
Pre-Amp: Ayre Acoustics K1XE
TT: REGA P5
Cartridge: Benz-Micro Glider
Phono Stage: NAD PP2 (Looking to upgrade)
Current Demo: Pro-Ject Tube Box II (Have been using for about 3 days now)
Speakers: Wilson Sophia's Series 1
Amp: Mark Levinson 331
Pre-Amp: Ayre Acoustics K1XE
TT: REGA P5
Cartridge: Benz-Micro Glider
Phono Stage: NAD PP2 (Looking to upgrade)
Current Demo: Pro-Ject Tube Box II (Have been using for about 3 days now)