Phono Stages

AT MMs generally tend to work best with fairly dark and "earthy" sounding phono stages, i.e. nothing too light and bright - the Stageline N is one such, and has the bonus of being able to run off the powered AUX2 of the NAC282 as a first step.  Considering your system and use of an AT MM cart (which one, btw?), the Stageline N would be my first recommendation. 

Just get the stageline N and if possible supercap for the preamp, hicap DR at least if going for the stageline .

I would go as far as saying 2 hicaps do make a difference but upgrading the deck would do   more even with just one hicap in place.

If I where you I wouldn't limit myself to buying a phono stage specifically for the AT MM cart that your deck is coming with as there is a very good chance that you may wish to change it at some stage.  I would look for a phono stage that will accomodate a range of cartridges both MM and MC  for the same price as a Stageline.

Depending on whether you want to buy used or new there are lots of choices the budget Tisbury Audio Domino which accomodates both MM and MC and at just £150 represents excellent vfm and comes with a 28 day return policy if you don't like what it does.  Creek also do an excellent MM/MC phono stage for under £300 and on the used market the Trichord Dino Mk 2 or 3 are both excellent phono amps.

Richard Dane posted:

AT MMs generally tend to work best with fairly dark and "earthy" sounding phono stages, i.e. nothing too light and bright - the Stageline N is one such, and has the bonus of being able to run off the powered AUX2 of the NAC282 as a first step.  Considering your system and use of an AT MM cart (which one, btw?), the Stageline N would be my first recommendation. 

Thanks Richard - it's a VM520EB (the dealer's choice to compliment the Roksan Nima arm).

Bob the Builder posted:

If I where you I wouldn't limit myself to buying a phono stage specifically for the AT MM cart that your deck is coming with as there is a very good chance that you may wish to change it at some stage.  I would look for a phono stage that will accomodate a range of cartridges both MM and MC  for the same price as a Stageline.

Thanks for that Bob the Builder, the 2 you've recommended aren't known to me, though I know of Creek. I'll check them out. I auditioned the LP12 with a Stageline and the dealer set up a 200/282 for authenticity. It sounded great but could it be better? That's the question! 

Jonners posted:

Bob the Builder posted:

If I where you I wouldn't limit myself to buying a phono stage specifically for the AT MM cart that your deck is coming with as there is a very good chance that you may wish to change it at some stage.  I would look for a phono stage that will accomodate a range of cartridges both MM and MC  for the same price as a Stageline.

Thanks for that Bob the Builder, the 2 you've recommended aren't known to me, though I know of Creek. I'll check them out. I auditioned the LP12 with a Stageline and the dealer set up a 200/282 for authenticity. It sounded great but could it be better? That's the question! 

You can add a second hand hicap to the stageline, it’s a very huge improvement. I had made that before.    

I have had both Rega and Lejonklou MM stages and they are superb

Perol posted:

I have had both Rega and Lejonklou MM stages and they are superb

 

I think I'm trying to achieve the impossible by shortlisting a couple of stages which will compliment my set-up nicely without needing upgrades to achieve optimum performance. Now I've gone down the LP12 path, all that upgrade budget is earmarked for years to come!

I'd just get the Stageline.  I compared the Stageline with phono amps costing up to twice as much (Linto, etc) and found the improvement to be marginal at best and not worth it, IMHO.  I haven't listened to very expensive phono amps (Sutherland, Ayre, etc).  I'm sure they sound better but again, not for me at the price.

I have a Rega Aria that I’m very happy with. 

You can also use it with mc cartridges so would be quite future proof. 

I invested far more time than I intended looking at YouTube bake-offs between different phono stages and came to the conclusion I'd probably like the Stageline, if I could find one at a decent price. That I did this week in fact, there were 2 up on eBay and I won the auction I bid on at a sensible price so looking forward to it's arrival Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks everybody for words of wisdom and advice. All I need is an LP12 now and I'll be well away!

Jonners,

Please report back with your impression of the Stageline when it arrives. I'm curious if it would be a worthwhile upgrade over a Rega Fono.

Ah, the only problem is I don't know what the Rega Fono sounds like! General comments from YouTube I dug out were that the Stageline drew out more bass and was more musical. I listened to a Stageline connected to the LP12 when I did the dealer demo and he said it was his "go to" phono stage and this dealer also sells Rega, so that says a lot in itself.

I compared the LP12 to a Planar 6 and an RP8, both hooked up to the Stageline and all sounded really good but as this was the only Phono stage used, I  have no reference for comparison.

The other thing to note is the Stageline can be upgraded via the traditional Naim PS upgrade route so there'll always be room to improve in the future which was another appealing factor for me. Plenty around on eBay circa £150-£200, I got a MM version.

Thanks for the expanded info, very much appreciated. I think I'll also be looking for a MM Stageline (secondhand so no local dem viable) to link to an Ortofon 2M Black, but before committing I want to do a little more research first. Will also have to think about powering the unit with an external power supply too, more than likely with a Flatcap 2.

Drewy posted:

I have a Rega Aria that I’m very happy with. 

You can also use it with mc cartridges so would be quite future proof. 

I can second this, delighted with the Aria

My dealer tells me a new Aria is coming soon.

Keith

A quick update for anyone interested in this thread. I went with the Stageline and bought one off eBay, plugged in the LP12 a couple of weeks ago and.......was completely underwhelmed. "Harsh" is probably the best word I'd use to describe its performance, it sounded nothing like it did when I spun a couple of LPs at the dealer before leaving for home with it. I thought I'd give it a couple of weeks but it was beginning to grate. So I tried a bit of trouble-shooting and found it was the interconnect from the Stageline to the 282. It had been used the wrong way round by the previous owner.

Reversing the cable and therefore the signal travel made an immediate improvement and I am glad to say I'm a happy foot-tapper again. Just goes to show that these things aren't plug n' play and something relatively innocuous really can make all the difference!

Good stuff Jonners. Yes, the Snaic5 has to be the right way round for best performance.

Jonners posted:

A quick update for anyone interested in this thread. I went with the Stageline and bought one off eBay, plugged in the LP12 a couple of weeks ago and.......was completely underwhelmed. "Harsh" is probably the best word I'd use to describe its performance, it sounded nothing like it did when I spun a couple of LPs at the dealer before leaving for home with it. I thought I'd give it a couple of weeks but it was beginning to grate. So I tried a bit of trouble-shooting and found it was the interconnect from the Stageline to the 282. It had been used the wrong way round by the previous owner.

Reversing the cable and therefore the signal travel made an immediate improvement and I am glad to say I'm a happy foot-tapper again. Just goes to show that these things aren't plug n' play and something relatively innocuous really can make all the difference!

I'm not one to usually spend another persons money but add a used Hicap to this and you'll be very, very happy!!

Christopher_M posted:

Good stuff Jonners. Yes, the Snaic5 has to be the right way round for best performance.

Or in this case - the wrong way round! It's just something to be aware of if buying stuff off eBay and it involves directional cables because it very nearly resulted in a 70 mile drive to the Dealer for a trouble-shooting exercise to pinpoint why the LP12 sounded so rubbish.

How do you know the previous user was using it the wrong way -  Did it arrive connected?

Fueller posted:

How do you know the previous user was using it the wrong way -  Did it arrive connected?

Nope, it arrived with cable packed separately in the box. I connected it up as prescribed with the "collar" end at the source. 

I just wanted to ask a related question on this thread. New vs old Stageline N...

Mine went walkabout a while ago sadly and it was a 2016 model so I was looking at getting another but pre-owned. There are various vintage's some from 2010 some as far back as 2005. Any component change? Any change in the sound or anything to watch out for?

The main change with the Stageline came with the introduction of the i-Supply.  The Stageline was modified to add a separate signal output DIN, and the arching modified so you could take signal directly from unit instead of routing through a power supply (if using a dedicated PSU).  So the very earliest Stagelines have only a single DIN. Only other thing to be aware of, is that BNCs were optional, so while most come with RCA Phono inputs, some come with BNCs.

Perol posted:

I have had both Rega and Lejonklou MM stages and they are superb

 

Having a Slipsik 6 with my Adikt and mid-spec LP12, I can confirm that Lejonklou phonostages are superb VfM

M.