Budget phonostage advice please.

[serendipitydawg]

Have to confess that until recently I had more or less given up on vinyl replay.

Not for any reason in particular other than playing CD's or ripped Cd's is so much much more convenient. Laziness I guess.

I recently dug out my trusty TD160, which I will never get rid of and dug out some LP's I bought as a teenager in the early '70's.

I now need advice on a "budget" phonostage, because I was so impressed with the sound quality the phonstage of my Pioneer A400 and feel my arm/cartridge/turntable (RB300/Goldring1012/Thorens TD160) is capable of a little better.

Budget is £100 or less.

I am thinking of the following models

NAD (the one KK used to rave about)
Cambridge Audio 640P
Musical Fidelity V-LPS


Any thoughts and suggestions, offers of unwanted items much appreciated

[REM]

Hi Matthew

You have a PM, sir.

Regards.

[DSJR]

Failing that, try a Rega Fono-Micro ;)

[Marco]

Have to confess that until recently I had more or less given up on vinyl replay.

Not for any reason in particular other than playing CD's or ripped Cd's is so much much more convenient. Laziness I guess.

I recently dug out my trusty TD160, which I will never get rid of and dug out some LP's I bought as a teenager in the early '70's.

I now need advice on a "budget" phonostage, because I was so impressed with the sound quality the phonstage of my Pioneer A400 and feel my arm/cartridge/turntable (RB300/Goldring1012/Thorens TD160) is capable of a little better.


Now there's a tale to warm the cockles of yer heart! Nice one, Matthew :)

I'd recommend this if you want to own a quality MM phono stage for beer money:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ATPEQ3&Category_Code=C2D

It sounds fantastic and, IMO, is way better than all the 'usual suspects' in terms of budget phonostages.... It often pays to think outside of the box! ;)

Marco.

[serendipitydawg]

Thanks to everyone who has responded.

Ralph (REM) kindly sold me an unwanted NAD PP2 and I have been totally engrossed in listening to old favourites!

Less than 72 hours from posting to hearing Atom Heart Mother in a different light. I swear I could hear a tambourine somewher in Electric Ladyland I'd never heard before!

Nearly has as much impact as when I first aquired my Beresford TC7510

The NAD is connected to my amp via Missing Link Silver Surfer cable (of which I am a big fan: it's only £12 per mono metre)

Next step is a new stylus as the current one is approximately 20 years old. Anyone care to venture opinions as to whether the 1042 stylus which is widely touted as an upgrade is worth the extra expense?

Next on the agenda is finding my Moth record cleaning machine which is buried somewhere in the garage which also contains 1000+ LP's.

[chris@panteg]

Hi Mathew

Marvelous ' you have over a 1000 lp's ! blimey , and yes get a new stylus not so sure if its worth getting the 1042 ! another 1012 should suffice .

[flapland]

Another vote for Rega Fono Micro. Odd one appears on fleabay or not too expensive new.

[topoxforddoc]

The Moth cleaning machine will be the biggest upgrade. Find it and you'll have a whole new audio experience (as well as some vacuum noise from the Moth beforehand). I use a Moth regularly - best value bit of vinyl kit I have.

Charlie
www.charlie-chan.co.uk

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Charlie - I'm intrigued about your user name -
- does it refer to:
'To Pox Ford Doc' or
'To Pox For d Doc'
'Top Oxford Doc'?

If it's either of the former, I'm slightly concerned for you.
Either way, welcome to the Art of Sound!

You'll be needing to pay a visit over to the Welcome section to introduce yourself.
(I agree with you on the RCM, by the way!)

[Spectral Morn]

The Moth cleaning machine will be the biggest upgrade. Find it and you'll have a whole new audio experience (as well as some vacuum noise from the Moth beforehand). I use a Moth regularly - best value bit of vinyl kit I have.

Charlie
www.charlie-chan.co.uk

Welcome to AOS Charlie

Can you pop into the welcome section of the forum and say hello, tell us a bit about yourself, your system and taste in music. Thank you in advance.


Regards D S D L

[DSJR]

Re Goldring styli, we always stocked the 1006, 1012GX and 1042 styli, sort of avoiding the 1022 versions as not really worth the bother at the time. I still think the Goldings are too expensive, but the 1042 always sounded swell in an RB300.

GET A NEW GENUINE THORENS BELT!!!!!!! The proper belt is soft and very elastic and does stretch easily over the years. Give the deck a new genuine one and I promise you it will sound better. Although your deck has a pulley clutch to aid startup, I'd still give the platter a push when turning on.

[webby]

Now there's a tale to warm the cockles of yer heart! Nice one, Matthew :)

I'd recommend this if you want to own a quality MM phono stage for beer money:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=ATPEQ3&Category_Code=C2D

It sounds fantastic and, IMO, is way better than all the 'usual suspects' in terms of budget phonostages.... It often pays to think outside of the box! ;)

Marco.

Cool.

I've kept my Audiolab 8000a in case I need a phone stage (my 8000s doesn't have one) in case I ever dig out my Rega, but that looks like a great buy. I know that Audio Technica is a solid maker of TT parts, so it must be good.

Edit: If I have, ooh, I dunno, a 1993 Rega Planar 2, will it have a RB250 arm on it?

[serendipitydawg]

Re Goldring styli, we always stocked the 1006, 1012GX and 1042 styli, sort of avoiding the 1022 versions as not really worth the bother at the time. I still think the Goldings are too expensive, but the 1042 always sounded swell in an RB300.

GET A NEW GENUINE THORENS BELT!!!!!!! The proper belt is soft and very elastic and does stretch easily over the years. Give the deck a new genuine one and I promise you it will sound better. Although your deck has a pulley clutch to aid startup, I'd still give the platter a push when turning on.

Dave, where would I get a genuine Thorens belt from? I have a 1012 prior to the GX suffix so would a D42 stylus with better stylus profile sound dramatically better?

Thanks for your observations so far

Cheers

Matthew

[webby]

If I have, ooh, I dunno, a 1993 Rega Planar 2, will it have a RB250 arm on it?

It's a straight arm. Anyone know? And what cartridge did they ship with too?