tubes and analog

Hmm, well I have found that using a Tube phono stage is superior to the built in, or outboard solid state phono's I have used… Tubes with a cartridge just seems like a match that makes a lot of sense.. However if your using a Moving Magnet cartridge that would be possibly where I would start to upgrade and get it all back to tube plus some.. Maybe going to a MC cart will change your views on this, they seem to be much more detailed as well as weighty with more solid foundation in my experience. Again I only used MM with solid state Phono stage, but when I went to MC and Tubes With fully adjustable Loading which is very important all things changed for the Far better. So if you want to spend money maybe switch to a super sensitive MC setup. Its just a suggestion in a direction to take without screwing with you new found match between the Zu and the Tubes you have, and excelling your Phono performance, I don't see any reason to put money anywhere else for your system right now, Cd is far tougher to live with and if you found the match for that you have 80% of the battle won! I find sometimes we just look at the wrong things to upgrade, now you need to come to a higher level of analog to compete it sounds.

Adjustable for MC only.. MM I believe you will have one option, 47kohms… So yes if you decide to go with a better MC cart over the Rega you have which I assume is MM then it would be important. For MC you have several loading options to optimize the sound. I am guessing the stage you have now is MM only, if it is MC too I would assume it has some loading options for you already. I am not familure with the equipment you have, other Analog guys could help you out further. I think the AES is MM only?

Csmithbarc, nothing is off topic, its your thread!! I will say this, there is no definate answer to your recording consistency problem.. However I will give you this, I have had worse sounding recordings on LP back with less serious Phono stage and Cartridge just not compete well with better recordings.. In all honesty Yes once I made a move to a good MC cart and Tube phono stage many of the differences dissapeared and became shockingly excellent sounding original recordings..

But as with everthing, other issues changed along with this, such as putting an expensive cart on the table needed much more attention to setup, and loading with the Phono amp etc.. Which were just more flexable than using a Straight MM cart… Also the excellent recordings are Still just as good and actually far better as well, but all the lesser recordings with a sweet stylus digging deeper are much more detailed and smooth.. So you could be very happy, but it costs more money and more time to get familure with setting up and tweaking your system to your sound, you just need the tools to do it…

And really just ask yourself is all this worth it to me? Or am I pretty happy with CD and not ready to worry about it in the long run? Also for these recordings your not finding too stellar, if you have not invested in a serious LP cleaner and solutions that would be a huge start to find more out of your collection.. Again I am not an expert, but an enthusiast and I have just found in my experience these levels do exist and can be obtained, even without spending a Ton of money but it will cost some cash with no doubt.