Phono Stage

[STD305M]

Hi all
I'm looking for help, I'd like a phono stage thats more revealing than the stage thats in my Rega Brio ( 2017 ).
Current turntable STD305M fitted with an AT1120 tonearm. I have a choice of cartridges ( ADC zlm ) (At440Mlb) but currently using ortofon red.
Really don't want to spend a fortune, advice would be received with thanks...

[walpurgis]

Best tell folk what your likely budget will be Steve.

I've not tried the Rega Brio, but guess its phono stage is probably not too bad. I can recommend the Graham Slee Era Gold V. I had one for a few years and loved it. Second hand maybe around £350.

[Bigman80]

Ive PM'd you with my recommendation.

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[STD305M]

Thanks for the info
I'll google it then check ebay

[walpurgis]

I have a collection of ADC cartridges (amongst others) and they sounded very fine with the Graham Slee phono stage.

However, other members may also have useful suggestions, so perhaps bide your time before deciding what may suit.

[STD305M]

Thanks for your input. Advice taken will
research and wait for others to comment:)

[Spectral Morn]

Ive PM'd you with my recommendation.

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Surely the spirit of the forum is to share, so we can all learn. Info shared by private message means the membership are robbed of your wisdom. Its a shame, no one learns.

[Infinitely Baffled]

I have had very good results from a NVA Phono Stage. They come in different levels of sophistication. I believe they all have the same gubbins inside them as far as the equalisation goes, but the basic one comes with a "wall-wart" type power supply only, the next one up - at £500 - has a separate high quality power supply in a matching box, while the top jobbie (at £750 I think) has twin separate power supplies - one for each channel, making it true dual mono, I believe. Mine is the middle model out of the three, and I have been very pleased with it. Probably the best phono stage I have owned to date. Good luck with the quest.
IB

[walpurgis]

I'm sure you'll get recommendations for such as, Icon Audio, EAR, Angle Audio and the like, but take your time and wait for some informed input. Check online reviews too, but not user reviews. They are often written by enthusiastic people who have just 'moved up' to a product they like, but have little comparative experience.

[Simon75]

I am currently using the Rega Brio R 2017 and am finding it's phono stage pretty satisfying. I've only previously used a Schiit mani phonostage but I suspect you would have to pay fairly big bucks to improve on what you have already.

[Bigman80]

Surely the spirit of the forum is to share, so we can all learn. Info shared by private message means the membership are robbed of your wisdom. Its a shame, no one learns.
I understand your point and agree with it but im also concerned ill start to sound like a broken record !

My recommendation was the FB-OTP.

it was in a blind test with a modded Tron Convergence, a Nighthawk F117 and another version of the OTP in the development stage.

I picked the FB-OTP out of the group as my favourite (personal opinion of course). Superb soundstage, clarity, detail, tight bass, glistening treble! It also sounds realistic, which to me is paramount. Its £225, it sounds fantastic and its foolhardy not to listen to one if you're in the market.

I love mine to bits and lately ive heard a fair few others and they just hadn't made me want to change it. Im trying to get hold of a Nakamichi to test as ive heard they are difficult to dislodge from a system.

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[Spectral Morn]

I understand your point and agree with it but im also concerned ill start to sound like a broken record !

My recommendation was the FB-OTP.

it was in a blind test with a modded Tron Convergence, a Nighthawk F117 and another version of the OTP in the development stage.

I picked the FB-OTP out of the group as my favourite (personal opinion of course). Superb soundstage, clarity, detail, tight bass, glistening treble! It also sounds realistic, which to me is paramount. Its £225, it sounds fantastic and its foolhardy not to listen to one if you're in the market.

I love mine to bits and lately ive heard a fair few others and they just hadn't made me want to change it. Im trying to get hold of a Nakamichi to test as ive heard they are difficult to dislodge from a system.

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I think we all knew what you were going to plug.

[Bigman80]

I think we all knew what you were going to plug.
Firebottle™

Find a better, new phonostage for under £250 and ill buy one myself.

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[Arkless Electronics]

Firebottle™

Find a better, new phonostage for under £250 and ill buy one myself.

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I take cash. paypal or bank transfer :ner:

I see it's "TM" now eh :lol: FFS...

The op may well find it interesting to google the Arkless 640P ;) Probably the best budget phono stage in the world :cool: < Carlsberg unfortunately....

[Bigman80]

I take cash. paypal or bank transfer :ner:

I see it's "TM" now eh [emoji38] FFS...

The op may well find it interesting to google the Arkless 640P ;) Probably the best budget phono stage in the world :cool: < Carlsberg unfortunately....
😂😂 the ™ was purely in jest mate.

I say this sincerely, I would love to hear one of your units, Jez. Maybe we can come to a gentleman's agreement? Ive read a lot of good things about the Arkless.

I'll PM you.

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[hifi_dave]

The Rega internal phono stage is very good and better than many separate units. So, you need to be careful with your choice and audition before splashing the cash, to avoid disappointment.

[cre009]

Hi all
I'm looking for help, I'd like a phono stage thats more revealing than the stage thats in my Rega Brio ( 2017 ).
Current turntable STD305M fitted with an AT1120 tonearm. I have a choice of cartridges ( ADC zlm ) (At440Mlb) but currently using ortofon red.
Really don't want to spend a fortune, advice would be received with thanks...

My understanding is the Brio is MM only but should be quite good for that type of cartridge compared with other stages at the sub £400 level if you intend to stick with that type of cartridge. Extending the choice to MC could make it an expensive hobby.

If you are going to stick with MM then I would suggest you visit a dealer with a listening room who has a Brio and get them to demonstrate to you which stages would represent an upgrade. Alternatively you could try one of the demo units that is circulating via this forum and see if that provides the kind of performance leap you are looking for. That should give you an indication whether an upgrade would be merited for the budget you are prepared to spend.

For my own use for MM and MC I have a budget Cambridge Audio stage and a Nakamichi CA5E pre amp (which has a highly regarded phono stage) along with a Kinshaw Perception SA phono stage set internally for MC. When comparing MM there is an improvement over the Cambridge when using the Nakamichi but for me its quite subtle. I find for MC the improvements over the Cambridge with the better stages are more pronounced. I would expect your Brio is closer to the Cambridge in performance for MM but I have never heard one and the Rega MM stages have a good rep so they may well be better.

[Arkless Electronics]

���� the ™ was purely in jest mate.

I say this sincerely, I would love to hear one of your units, Jez. Maybe we can come to a gentleman's agreement? Ive read a lot of good things about the Arkless.

I'll PM you.

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Read your PM and the answer remains no.

[Bigman80]

Read your PM and the answer remains no.
Ok, cant say I didnt try!

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[steve-z]

Hi all just thought I'd chip in having recently bought a new phono stage. My previous phono stage was a Graham Slee Grammamp 2 Communicator which I had for about 2 years, I have just replaced it with the USA built Schiit Mani phono stage, although quite a bit cheaper than the Slee I have found the performance to be a significant improvement, unlike the Slee which is MM only the Mani has 2 gain setting for MM and 2 for MC. I've not tried it with a MC so can't comment on how it performs with them, with my current cartridge the Nagaoka MP110 on the lowest gain setting it performs extremely well, I've also tried it briefly with my second tier cartridge an Audio Technica AT120EB which also suits it well. The setup is via a 2016 Rega Planar 3 + TTPSU. The Schiit Mani is £149 including postage and at the price it's great VFM.


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[mayebaza]

£250 for an FB is a no brainer[emoji6]

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[struth]

Schiit mani is very good. IMO the Emotiva xps-1 is even better. 2 options at affordable prices; both from the USA (ive had both)

[karma67]

i was going to suggest a nakamichi ca-5,the phono stage is stunning and beats the fb with ease,i searched ebay for some to link to and had a shock,look how much they go for!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nakamichi+ca-5&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2

[Bigman80]

£250 for an FB is a no brainer[emoji6]

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+1

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[Bigman80]

i was going to suggest a nakamichi ca-5,the phono stage is stunning and beats the fb with ease,i searched ebay for some to link to and had a shock,look how much they go for!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nakamichi+ca-5&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2
Ill ring you about yours soon, for an opinion, not a sale lol

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[Jimbo]

Hi all just thought I'd chip in having recently bought a new phono stage. My previous phono stage was a Graham Slee Grammamp 2 Communicator which I had for about 2 years, I have just replaced it with the USA built Schiit Mani phono stage, although quite a bit cheaper than the Slee I have found the performance to be a significant improvement, unlike the Slee which is MM only the Mani has 2 gain setting for MM and 2 for MC. I've not tried it with a MC so can't comment on how it performs with them, with my current cartridge the Nagaoka MP110 on the lowest gain setting it performs extremely well, I've also tried it briefly with my second tier cartridge an Audio Technica AT120EB which also suits it well. The setup is via a 2016 Rega Planar 3 + TTPSU. The Schiit Mani is £149 including postage and at the price it's great VFM.


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+1 for the Schiit Mani

[moodybuilder]

I have the angle audio pro which is a mc phono stage set for what cart you are using I found this to be real value for money, I've had a Graham slee era gold which the angle audio out performs also prefer it to my Onix pre amps built in phono, it also has a mono switch.

[Ian7633]

I understand your point and agree with it but im also concerned ill start to sound like a broken record !

My recommendation was the FB-OTP.

it was in a blind test with a modded Tron Convergence, a Nighthawk F117 and another version of the OTP in the development stage.

I picked the FB-OTP out of the group as my favourite (personal opinion of course). Superb soundstage, clarity, detail, tight bass, glistening treble! It also sounds realistic, which to me is paramount. Its £225, it sounds fantastic and its foolhardy not to listen to one if you're in the market.

I love mine to bits and lately ive heard a fair few others and they just hadn't made me want to change it. Im trying to get hold of a Nakamichi to test as ive heard they are difficult to dislodge from a system.

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Nakamichi is really worth hunting down but they are getting bloody pricey and no I'm not parting with mine :ner:

[martian sunrise]

Ill ring you about yours soon, for an opinion, not a sale lol

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Fancy a short swap with my FB+? A couple of weeks, for research purposes?

[Bigman80]

Fancy a short swap with my FB+? A couple of weeks, for research purposes?
Fb+ for the OTP? Yes, im up for that.

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[martian sunrise]

Cool. I'm back in London next week. I'll pm you.

[Bigman80]

Schiit mani is very good. IMO the Emotiva xps-1 is even better. 2 options at affordable prices; both from the USA (ive had both)
I quite fancy trying an Emotiva. Very good reviews and a very good price. Ive not heard a Shiit Mani, id like to though.

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[Bigman80]

Nakamichi is really worth hunting down but they are getting bloody pricey and no I'm not parting with mine :ner:
They were a few hundred quid a while back when I looked, now they're £500!!! Im thinking I should've bought one lol

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[steve-z]

Schiit mani is very good. IMO the Emotiva xps-1 is even better. 2 options at affordable prices; both from the USA (ive had both)

If you check out phono stage shootout by Hifivinylnews on Youtube the Emotiva is ranked quite low while the Mani came out best in the test.

https://youtu.be/wZpgjd-hE_8


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[Jimbo]

For the money the Mani is superb. Nothing really near it at that price.

[Arkless Electronics]

The last person to try the Arkless 640P is in the process of selling his Graham Slee Era Gold V (£430, MM only) with a view to upgrading to the Arkless (MM and MC) @ £225 ;)

There are many reviews on the inter web thingy of the Arkless, mainly on pfm, and comparisons to units at £500 -800 are common, with the Arkless coming out on top 9 out of 10 times.... Check 'em out yourselves folks...

[Bigman80]

For the money the Mani is superb. Nothing really near it at that price.
Looking into listening to a Mani and a Nakamichi CA5e. Should be interesting.

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[struth]

If you check out phono stage shootout by Hifivinylnews on Youtube the Emotiva is ranked quite low while the Mani came out best in the test.

https://youtu.be/wZpgjd-hE_8


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I did my own test end to end with both mc and mm. For me the emotive beat the schiit out of it. Lol

No there wasn't an awful lot in it but it was better so I sold the mani. Had a firebottle and a whest before that. And a nak ca5 b4 that. I'm happy with this one

[Bigman80]

I did my own test end to end with both mc and mm. For me the emotive beat the schiit out of it. Lol

No there wasn't an awful lot in it but it was better so I sold the mani. Had a firebottle and a whest before that. And a nak ca5 b4 that. I'm happy with this one
Thats VERY interesting Grant. I know as youre a Mod you cant be biased either.

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[struth]

Thats VERY interesting Grant. I know as youre a Mod you cant be biased either.

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Just my take mate. Everyone is different. I first had the nak that jamie has, then tried a whest. Thought it nothing special. Then a fb. Plus. It beat both for me so moved the nak on. Then a mani to try. Thought the fb plus slightly better but not much, then the emotiva was imo better than schiit. Probably on par with fb but they were not tested together. Just schiit and emotiva. So sold schiit and still got the xps1 to this day. No intent to change either.

[Bigman80]

Just my take mate. Everyone is different. I first had the nak that jamie has, then tried a whest. Thought it nothing special. Then a fb. Plus. It beat both for me so moved the nak on. Then a mani to try. Thought the fb plus slightly better but not much, then the emotiva was imo better than schiit. Probably on par with fb but they were not tested together. Just schiit and emotiva. So sold schiit and still got the xps1 to this day. No intent to change either.
Youve gone through some gear mate so if anyone is qualified to judge........

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[walpurgis]

I know as youre a Mod you cant be biased either.

I'm as biased as hell! :D

[struth]

I would say Jez's stages are good too if I thought they were :) But Ive not heard any so cant comment. Heard a few firebottles mind, as a lot of us up here had them. Think mine was the first plus, or pretty close to it. Lovely valve job. But my system went another way. something everyone should remember different systems will give differing results. as will different musical tastes.
Reviews online have sometimes got to be viewed with a little trepidation as we dont ness know the person etc, etc.....;)

[Arkless Electronics]

I would say Jez's stages are good too if I thought they were :) But Ive not heard any so cant comment. Heard a few firebottles mind, as a lot of us up here had them. Think mine was the first plus, or pretty close to it. Lovely valve job. But my system went another way. something everyone should remember different systems will give differing results. as will different musical tastes.
Reviews online have sometimes got to be viewed with a little trepidation as we dont ness know the person etc, etc.....;)

You've never asked to hear any of my gear...

[Bigman80]

I'm as biased as hell! :D
😂😂

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[struth]

You've never asked to hear any of my gear...

never came up really. You weren't a member I dont think when I was doing most of my trials and changes Jez.

[Floyddroid]

I understand your point and agree with it but im also concerned ill start to sound like a broken record !

My recommendation was the FB-OTP.

it was in a blind test with a modded Tron Convergence, a Nighthawk F117 and another version of the OTP in the development stage.

I picked the FB-OTP out of the group as my favourite (personal opinion of course). Superb soundstage, clarity, detail, tight bass, glistening treble! It also sounds realistic, which to me is paramount. Its £225, it sounds fantastic and its foolhardy not to listen to one if you're in the market.

I love mine to bits and lately ive heard a fair few others and they just hadn't made me want to change it. Im trying to get hold of a Nakamichi to test as ive heard they are difficult to dislodge from a system.

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I concur.

[Bigman80]

I concur.
👍

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[twotone]

For the money the Mani is superb. Nothing really near it at that price.

I just sold one recently for what I paid for it on PFM and it really is excellent for the money (£75 in my case).

I tried a few different stages and the Mani was as good as anything else (plenty of posts from me on the ones I tried).

BTW, nothing to do with me but there's on on PFM classifieds at the minute or there was last night, think the guy's looking for about £120.