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Phono Stage

I am getting near the end of my current system journey.  I have my digital (streaming) side set (for now). It sounds glorious to my old hearing aid assisted ears. And streaming is where I spend the vast majority of my listening. 
Regardless, I am now focusing on vinyl, with the recent addition of a P8. 
My analog side: Rega P8 w/ Hana ML > Rega Aria > Kimber KS1018 > BHK pre > Zavfino Fusion mk2 > Moon 330A > Transparent + > KEF Ref 3’s. If do a weak link analysis both chatGPT & Gemini say it  my phono stage.

So looking for potential replacements. As always I am very space constrained, (half wides are perfect) no tubes and looking to stay under $3,000 used. I like accuracy, clarity & cleanliness. 
My current candidates: 
Rega AOS

Gold Note PH10

Sutherland 20/20 w/LPS

Sutherland Little Loco

The Sutherland’s work because they are thin and con fit under my raised center channel speaker. The duo stack is too high  

Please let me know your thoughts and/or recommendations. Thanks!

 

signaforce
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,861 posts
 

@signaforce your listening habits will change no matter what you upgrade, cartridge or phono stage or both (which is most likely what will happen). You’ll be going thru your collection playing your favorite albums, as well as buying new vinyl of albums you enjoy on streaming. I’m almost100% certain of this. 

BTW I followed your footsteps and picked up KS1116. Love them! They’re a much better version of Carbons that are already really good. Great sound, very engaging and never cross the line to become analytical. They’re still settling on DAC but I’m pretty sure they’ll be staying. 
 

signaforce's avatar
signaforce OP
547 posts
 

@audphile1 Your probably correct… we shall see. Enjoy your new KS1116’s! I always follow in yours. Nice. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,861 posts
 

Thanks @signaforce ! 
Looking forward to your updates here, whatever the upgrade is…

porchlight1's avatar
porchlight1
95 posts
 

@mdalton 

I completely agree with your statement. In my experience,  the MM stage outperforms the MC stage in phono stages that offer both, especially in terms of noise. A properly sited SUT effectively negates that problem. Which raises the option of purchasing at the outset a phono stage optimized for MM only, likely to be noticeably less expensive than a MM/MC unit.

merland100
33 posts
 

I have a Moon 810LP and highly recommend it. There is nothing that I could ask for to improve the sound, and I use it with my Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3. You could probably find one used for around $6k broken in. Mine sounded totally amazing after 200+ hours of break in.  It is highly rated as a reference piece and even bought as new a great value.

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