Phono Stage Advice??

Hawk,

I depends on the TT being used.

I have a Roksan Caspian phono stage for my TT and its a stunning piece of kit.


Regards


NB

I can recommend the Naim Prefix very highly

Laurie S

I have a Stageline and it was a fantastic improvement on my previous phono stage. You need to get the version compatible with your cartridge type. I have the version designed for MM and high output MC cartridges.

Mike

Thanks for your replies, my plan A was to get the phono stage first so that when i got a turntable (probably used so choice will be affected by availability) i could plug and play so to speak!? Generally does a MM perform better than a MC or visa versa? The sort of TT on my hit list are anything from a Rega P3 to an LP12 depending on whats available around the £500 mark

I have a Garrard 401 and it was considerably improved by the fitting of a Prefix.

A MC cartridge is by far better, but as usual, much more expensive.

You will be better off deciding whether you are going for MM or MC as I believe this affects the type of prefix you buy.

Regards

Mick

Hawk,

Given your total budget of about £1000, IIRC, I think a stageline will do you nicely. If you have 5 series or the new reference kit, you don't have to buy an additional power supply. I have only compared the Stageline with the Musical Fidelity X-LPS2, and despite the fact that on a Nait 5, regardless of an addition preamp supply, that it is powered from the Nait 5 power supply, it gave better cohesion and rhythm. I've had my Stageline over two years now and, as yet, do not feel it's the limiting factor in my rig. (Well, I'm still not sure if it's the cartridge or the phonostage that I should be paying attention to).

If you add a c. £150 mm or High Output MC to the cost of the stageline that leaves you enough change to buy a Nottingham analogue horizon with an RB250! (or used LP12 if you must).

Peter

User34 at Laposte dot net

Thanks for the comments guy, all very useful...

Peter you mentioned the following..

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Peter Stockwell:
Hawk,

Given your total budget of about £1000, IIRC, I think a stageline will do you nicely. If you have 5 series or the new reference kit, you don't have to buy an additional power supply.

I have a 282/Hicap/250-2, does this mean that i will need a further power supply to go with the stageline???

'If you add a c. £150 mm or High Output MC to the cost of the stageline that leaves you enough change to buy a Nottingham analogue horizon with an RB250! (or used LP12 if you must).'

can a high output MC be used sucessfully with a stageline designed for MM???

Thanks again for the advise guys..

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawk:


I have a 282/Hicap/250-2, does this mean that i will need a further power supply to go with the stageline???

can a high output MC be used sucessfully with a stageline designed for MM???

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You can power the stageline directly from the 282.

Yes, a High Output MC can be used on an MM phono stage. Given your budget I would stick with MM. Some people will say get an AT91E (or is it AT95E) at about £20 and stick the rest into the table and the arm (and the phono stage in your case) then get a better cartridge when more funds are available. When I returned to vinyl after an almost 10 year hiatus I bought a planar 3, with which I quickly grew dissatisfied. If you like what vinyl replay does you may find yourself scooting down the road of turntable upgrades so, if you did buy that £20 cartridge you'll loose very little on it if you decided you wanted some high quality MC. Now to be hones, I don't know where the starting price for High Quality MC is, because for the kind of money I've been prepared to pay on a cartridge (<£200) I didn't find one with which I could live. But others here would surely have ideas.

Peter

User34 at Laposte dot net

High output MC cartridges By Sumiko are pretty good IMO.

The Sumiko Blue Point is reasonably priced (you would need to check what it is the UK). There is also a Blue point Special which gives quite a boost in performance. Both have an output of 2.5mV which works fine with an MM Stageline.

I don't say you have to spend a large amount on a cartdridge but I think it is worth putting about 150 - 200 GBP's into one. If you want to get a good idea of how much you are going to like Vinyl it needs to be given a good chance to show it's potential as a source. It needs a reasonaable performance cartridge to do that.

Finally though it is a temptation to get the phono stage first you really should hang on until you have finalised your cartridge choice then get the proper stageline for the cartridge rather than restricting your cartridge choice toan MM Stageline.

FYI I run a stageline off my 282 powered aux 2 socket/Supercap/250mkii and like the performance 2.5mv needs the volume at 12.00 -2.00 to be at the sane volume as the CDX2 at 9.00, using the MM stageline.

regards
GEOFF

Hawk,

At the 450 GBP / 600 USD mark I think it would be hard to improve on the Dynavector P-75. I can't say how it compares with a separate Naim phono stage (Stageline or Prefix) and given power supply (Flat-Cap, Hi-Cap or Super-Cap), but the P-75 is very good and a considerable improvement over the internal phono boards I was using in my 102 preamp.

The best way I can describe the P-75 is to say that it doesn't impose itself on the music. In other words, funky, groovy music comes across as more funky and groovy, sombre music comes across as more sombre, and so on.

An added bonus is that the P-75 has adjustable gain and loading (via internal jumpers), so it will work with a variety cartridges, from regular moving magnet, to high-output moving coil, to low-output moving coil.

Since getting the Dynavector stage I haven't listened to CDs that much. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but it might give you a clue how good the P-75 is.

Joe