Phono stages - anyone heard Slee, Valab, Mingda or MF?

[hal55]

The phono stage I'm currently using is a near 30 year old CRAFt AUDIO unit from New Zealand. It's designer, Garry Morrison, describes it as better than NAD and "will give any of the current entry level phono stages a run for their money". I'm looking at units in the $300-$500 area as a replacement, with some likely contenders being:

Meixing Mingda MC767-RD Tube Phono Stage (tube, about $430 delivered)
Graham Slee Gram Amp II Special Edition (about $385)
VALAB TF-1 MM / MC (also $385)
Musical Fidelity V-LPS - not sure on pricing but possibly cheaper than the above, and has had some great reviews.

I like valves, but the Mingda is a bit extra. Looking for a clean clear not solid state sounding unit (ie not harsh or fatiguing). I don't want a unit that will try and make vinyl imitate digital, so no ultra sterile cold sounding units. If any of these is kind to surface noise that would be a big bonus.
Turntable is an SP10, Decca London International unipivot (surprisingly lovely) and cartridge will be, in the near future, a Nagaoka MP100 with, I hope, the MP200 boron stylus. Currently a little Ortofon Omega till I get funds together.

All input most welcome,

Hal55

[PLINIUS]

Hal, have you considered the s/h market, for the same money you can get something a lot better than any of the ones you have mentioned.

[hal55]

Yep, I've no problem buying second hand, and if I'm ever financial enough to get the Audio Research SP8 I've long lusted after I'll put it on my shopping list. Trouble is that phono stages, 2nd hand, don't appear that often and if it's from a prestige company it can cost just as much for a 15 year old unit as something new. The cost of Meridian gear from the 5 series astounds me...
The other thing with second hand phono stages is that finding reviews or comment from enough people to get a balanced view of what they are like can be difficult. Slee, Mingda and Musical Fidelity are reasonably well known (make that very well known in the case of MF) while Valab is a bit of a stab in the dark. Looks good, lots of options but no idea what it actually sounds like.
At the moment maybe leaning towards the Musical Fidelity, probably the cheapest of the lot and supposed to give anything up to $1000 a hard time.

Cheers,

Hal55

[Stratmangler]

I've used a Gram Amp 2 SE for years, and it's a great performer.
Since I bought mine (as in the left hand picture) Graham Slee managed to source some nice extruded aluminium casework, so it looks nice too :eyebrows:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/jpeg/gram2se.jpg http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/Gram-amp-2SE-phono-preamp-md.jpg

[PLINIUS]

Yep, I've no problem buying second hand, and if I'm ever financial enough to get the Audio Research SP8 I've long lusted after I'll put it on my shopping list. Trouble is that phono stages, 2nd hand, don't appear that often and if it's from a prestige company it can cost just as much for a 15 year old unit as something new. The cost of Meridian gear from the 5 series astounds me...
The other thing with second hand phono stages is that finding reviews or comment from enough people to get a balanced view of what they are like can be difficult. Slee, Mingda and Musical Fidelity are reasonably well known (make that very well known in the case of MF) while Valab is a bit of a stab in the dark. Looks good, lots of options but no idea what it actually sounds like.
At the moment maybe leaning towards the Musical Fidelity, probably the cheapest of the lot and supposed to give anything up to $1000 a hard time.

Cheers,

Hal55
I'm not sure how much of an improvement you are looking for, but of those you listed I would go with the MF also.
In the last few months though I have picked up 3 very good valve phono-stages within your price range off Trademe. The most I paid was NZ$500 for one of these7272 Just to let you know what else is out there.

[julesd68]

Your lovely SP10 deserves a better stage than any of the options you mention IMO. If second-hand is too difficult to source than I would try and save up a bit more cash for something new.

It wouldn't cost a fortune to get a second-hand stage shipped from Europe - Interparcel quote £70 for 10KG to Australia. Just a thought!

[walpurgis]

If you are interested in the Graham Slee products, definitely pay the extra and go for the ERA V Gold with PSU1 power supply, for use with an MM cartridge.

Its a superb phono stage, I sold my Esoteric Audio Research 834L valve phono stage after trying the Slee, it was in a different league altogether. At it's price the ERA V Gold an absolute bargain. I regard it as one of my best purchases.

It has no discernable colourations, it presents a sound that has good weight and body, it is superbly transparent, very detailed and dynamic and imparts no 'transistor' character at all.

As you'd expect, it also sounds superb with low output MC cartridges when paired with a good SUT.

Check out the online reviews, there are no negative ones!

[Patrick Dixon]

I have a Graham Slee Revelation (MM) which I'm happy with although I haven't directly compared it to anything else. I swapped the PSU1 for a self-built linear, super-regged, PSU and I'm using it with a variety of Decca cartridges and vinyl has never sounded so good.

AFAIK, the Revelation is the same as the Reflex but with adjustable equalisation.

[hal55]

I think the thing I look for, notably in vinyl, is tonal richness and 'liquidity", which is why I tend to favour valves. Any comments on whether the little MF has this characteristic, or indeed any of the others whether valve or not? In a perfect world I'd have a lot more money to spend on this gear.......

Hal55

[MartinT]

I have owned both Gram Amp 2SE models that Chris has pictured. They are good performers, but as has been mentioned elsewhere you need a better phono stage than this level. See if you can find a used Whest, which is in another league altogether. Solid state but not at all harsh, just very detailed and insightful.

[awkwardbydesign]

If your supply is 240v, like the UK, be careful with Ming Da. I had a (different) pre-amp, and it ran so hot I gave up on it after trying 3 different ones. I still use their mono blocks, but through a variac to step down to 220v. If you can get the correct voltage version, then ok.

[StuN]

The Slee Gram Amp 2 SE is a decent sounding item, but you really need the PSU1 power supply to get the best out of it.

[ppat2]

I owned the Gram Amp Slee SE for over a year, then went up to a $2,000 rig so a bit of a jump up.

The GA Slee SE is a very musical and tonally rich phonostage. It would be well suited to today's modern electronic music, pop, and rock, which all tend to be a little brash and bright sounding. The SE model would tame some of that.

It is not the last word in detail if you are playing classical or jazz all the time, but it also works there if you are playing some older leaner jazz such as the Blue Note releases, it gives them a bit of a fuller sound.

It also depends a lot on your matching gear, turntabe, amp, preamp, etc. If your gear is already tonally dark or emphasizes the bottom end, the Gram Amp might not be such a good match.

[chris@panteg]

I think the thing I look for, notably in vinyl, is tonal richness and 'liquidity", which is why I tend to favour valves. Any comments on whether the little MF has this characteristic, or indeed any of the others whether valve or not? In a perfect world I'd have a lot more money to spend on this gear.......

Hal55

I heard the art audio vinyl one mm valve stage yesterday , it's right up your street , but not cheap , would be a great 2nd hand buy if you can find one ?

[hal55]

Thanks for the advice. At the moment I think I'll just go for the Musical Fidelty. It's cheaper than the others by a reasonable margin and, being by MF, it will sell quickly when or if I feel the need to go better. There's always the option of upgrading it with the external PSU, which apparently is quite a useful improvement, and these units do turn up 2nd hand cheaply. The Slee units definitely look nice, as do a number of other things, but with a better stylus for the Nagaoka and a Beresford switching unit all needing to be bought quite soon there's only so much I can spend on the phono stage at this point in time.
All that will, of course, change if a screaming bargain turns up on Ebay. Pity they are getting fewer all the time.

Hal55

[esperowl]

I heard the art audio vinyl one mm valve stage yesterday , it's right up your street , but not cheap , would be a great 2nd hand buy if you can find one ?

+1

I have a Graham Slee Revelation M and Elevator EXP step-up (both with PSU1units). It replaced a Dynavector P75 mk2 (which in itself is an excellent phono for the money) and saw off a PS Audio GCPH unit plus various mid-price tube phonos. Very happy with the Revelation / Elevator combo... until I heard an Art Audio Vinyl One :wow:
Bought the Art Audio; selling the Slees.
Lesson learned - if you want a good tube sound, gotta spend big bucks (in my system, IMHO etc...)

[chris@panteg]

+1

I have a Graham Slee Revelation M and Elevator EXP step-up (both with PSU1units). It replaced a Dynavector P75 mk2 (which in itself is an excellent phono for the money) and saw off a PS Audio GCPH unit plus various mid-price tube phonos. Very happy with the Revelation / Elevator combo... until I heard an Art Audio Vinyl One :wow:
Bought the Art Audio; selling the Slees.
Lesson learned - if you want a good tube sound, gotta spend big bucks (in my system, IMHO etc...)

Excellent:) it's a lovely bit of kit , all you need now is the Diavolo , lush ;)