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Tube Preamp Paired with Tube Phono Stage?

Hello everyone. I wanted to know if you paired a tube preamp with a tube phono stage, would that be overkill with respect to the warm sound qualities produced by the equipment? I have a PrimaLuna Prologue Three with all NOS tubes, Clearaudio Smartphono, and CODA Technologies 10.5r SS amplifier. My turntable is the Pro-Ject Debut III with Ortofon OM40. I was considering upgrading to the Clearaudio Basic+ with battery pack OR checking out the new Manley Chinook. But, with two tube units combined, would that be problematic? Thanks for your input.
wescoman

Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
12,429 posts
 
Dear Actusreus, If what you say is true about the JC3 load resistor for MC, I share your chagrin, but one might always open the chassis, find said 100R load resistor, remove it, and replace it with a resistor of the desired value. I do agree that the task is tedious, if one wants to play with a variety of cartridges and/or experiment with different load values.
lewm
12,429 posts
 
The late Allen Wright was also among those reputable designers who advocated "no load", or 47K ohms in other words, for use with LOMC cartridges. I am sometimes astounded to read what some listeners prefer in terms of phono load resistors, often so low in value as to significantly drain off signal voltage to ground, i.e., where the load R is much less than 10X the internal resistance of the cartridge.
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