Phono stage suggestions

[Ubi]

And IMHO sounds equally just as good

How have you heard one? In your system or in Alan's?

[rmcin626]

As it £2k over my budget , will not be considered no matter how much I would like one, I will be sticking to my budget

[Firebottle]

How have you heard one? In your system or in Alan's?

Barrington heard it in my system and bought it.

[Ubi]

As it £2k over my budget , will not be considered no matter how much I would like one, I will be sticking to my budget

Sorry, you are correct.

I am sidetracking the thread.

[mac72]

I would be interested in the reading the outcome of this comparison of Phono stages, was anyone present at this bake off ?
Alan

Someone pointed me out to this thread and I believe it refers to Jamie-Karma67 and myself , not exactly bake off but we have listened to several tracks through mentioned stages .
When directly comparing BB3 with Paradise and Vida first thing to remember is to level match them as former has fairly high gain compared the latter ( something like 70dB vs 62dB but I might be couple dB out in either case) , 1kHz track and VU meters were of much help in this case .
Few notes before making conclusion , my system was quickly put together just before "bake off" as our flat was supposed to be re-decorated which hasn't happened as the guy got Covid , afterwards I realised VTA was fairly bit off - tail up , BB3 didn't have many hours under the belt, Jamie recently mentioned that new valves made quite positive difference. Paradise also was barely "finished" with no inductors in Calvins as the ones I've had were of too low inductance , RIAA section resistors plugged in not soldered , RIAA caps of low quality.
As far as I remember we listened to following records:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2123...urns-Norman-Bl
https://www.discogs.com/release/4870...pton-Unplugged
https://www.discogs.com/release/10464493-Yello-Flag
and possibly couple others I do not remember right now
The final conclusion was Vida was most universal on all the tracks we listened with Paradise second and BB3 last , we both agreed that BB3 definitely didn't disappoint with quite impressive bass notes but on some tracks we spotted a bit of "glare" in the highs .
Now I have to put a spanner in the works , after some more listening to completely finished and dialled in Paradise with a few tweaks to my TT setup I decided to sell Vida as Paradise was in overall better also mentioned by Jamie valve upgrade made a substantial change to the sound so final conclusion is who knows - another bake off needed .
Almost forgot accompanying equipment :
Kef ref 201/2
McIntosh MA2275
SME10-SMEV-Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
but I'm using Koetsu BGL atm also I'm experimenting with SVS sub filling some gaps in the lowest range <60Hz using bit of DSP on the sub

[rmcin626]

Sorry, you are correct.

I am sidetracking the thread.

Thanks

[rmcin626]

Original post

As some you may know I bought a Pathos Classic Remix Amp from Grant a few weeks ago, I am now thinking of a change to my Phono stage currently a Primare R32 , there is of course an obvious choice the Pathos in the Groove, which is around the £1500 mark.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or recommendations around that price mark or ideally cheaper. The Primare R32 is doing a fine job by the way and will be an excellent purchase for someone very soon.

Please note the budget.

[mac72]

Original post

As some you may know I bought a Pathos Classic Remix Amp from Grant a few weeks ago, I am now thinking of a change to my Phono stage currently a Primare R32 , there is of course an obvious choice the Pathos in the Groove, which is around the £1500 mark.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or recommendations around that price mark or ideally cheaper. The Primare R32 is doing a fine job by the way and will be an excellent purchase for someone very soon.

Please note the budget.

apologies Robin
I see others suggested earlier different cartridge , IMO it would be your best option , I heard good things about R32 and I doubt any other £1500 stage would make much of a difference

[rmcin626]

apologies Robin
I see others suggested earlier different cartridge , IMO it would be your best option , I heard good things about R32 and I doubt any other £1500 stage would make much of a difference

No Problem Slav, just trying to get the post back on track.

[mac72]

No Problem Slav, just trying to get the post back on track.

All 3 stages I mentioned are sort of within your budget , BB3 is around £1300 , I've sold my first Paradise for £1400 , Vida slightly more expensive - I've sold one for around £1800 and IMO is definitely worth saving/waiting a bit longer as re-sale value seems to stay on the same level in case you didn't like it .
If you're somewhere down south you're welcome to listen to my Paradise with Koetsu or Cadenza Bronze , we could also ask Jamie to bring BB3 .
Not sure if anyone mentioned earlier Whest PS30RDT , I have soft spot for this one and there is one for sale on Ebay for £1200 with make an offer option: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144174308...2-646333663332
if you decide to go for a different cartridge try Audio Emotion , they carry Ortofon and sometimes you can even borrow one for a home demo
good luck with the search