Phono Stage - The great analog tragedy

In relation to the 50's and Phonostage Technology, the Hard Medium Embedded Data was slow to grow in large volume for the the info available that was able to be embedded. Potentially meaning, without a consistency in what to work with. meant that design was not as forthcoming as a later time when there was a stabilisation of what is to be a embedded data.

I suggest it was a time when certain individuals with a capability were unsure where to with an advancing design.

This is suggested, as RIAA is recorded in historical accounts, as being Trickled into the Industry practices as Standardized EQ, reports suggest the take up was not immediate and become more popular across years of the decade.

Then there data that enabled Stereo that arrived at the latter part of the decade.

The Question is at what time was the industry in the know Stereo was not too far into the future, as this might of been a brakes on influence.  

The Question is at what time was the industry in the know Stereo was not too far into the future, as this might of been a brakes on influence.  

@pindac Stereo reel to reel was available as early as 1954 using 'staggered head' format. 

@pani 

Good topic for discussion, thanks.  I do not particularly believe that the lack of good phono stages capable of supporting low output moving coil cartridges in the "golden era" e.g. pre 1980 was a tragedy.  The better amplifiers and preamplifiers of the day did an excellent job at cleanly amplifying the signal of the better Moving Magnet cartridges of that era, 

Aside from the Denons and Ortofon SPU (which each historically used SUTS for the first amplification stage), LOMCs did not start becoming popular until after 1980 or so.  In which case it was an analog tragedy that neither existed in the golden age.  

However the industry has since responded quite well as there are a number of very high quality internal and external phono preamps that can support the best of the best LOMCs.  I would argue the golden age of vinyl playback is NOW.  

I could never understand how many audiophiles buy cartridges that cost more than 10 thousand dollars and at the same time don't care on the quality of phono preamplifiers.

I'm whish share my journey with external phono stages and the significant improvements I've experienced.

My first external phono stage was a Croft Micro tube preamplifier with a passive RC RIAA circuit and a cathode follower preamplifier output stage, which I acquired in 2002. Later, I purchased a used EAR 834p. Despite their different RIAA designs (active and passive), both the Croft and EAR offered similar sound quality, though I slightly preferred the EAR.

My next project was inspired by Romy The Cat's "End of Life" (EOL) phonostage, which is based on the EAR 834p schematics. The EOL design features a superior power supply (with a parallel stabilizer and LCLC filter) and air RIAA capacitors, which are improvements over the original 834p. I built this into a single box unit, and it was a significant upgrade from the original 834p. Over the years, I continued to refine it with further upgrades, including a larger and better power supply, as well as improved cathode and output capacitors.

More recently, I rebuilt the EOL into a two-box system, and the resulting difference in sound quality has exceeded my expectations. 

This experience has reinforced that while the RIAA schematic is crucial, the implementation truly makes a huge difference. My current EAR 834p version sounds vastly different from the original.