so in the new year I'll be shipping for a TT...
meanwhile, I've no phono stage in my Primare, so I'll either need an outboard phono stage or a new amp....
what's the consensus on which is the better solution?
Obviously it'll be a lot cheaper to get a budget phono stage, but it could be an opportunity to force the purchase of a new (valve) amp!
Are there benefits either way? is one route preferable to the other sonically? bearing in mind I'll be in and around the rega p3 price point...
phono stage: integrated or outboard??
phono stage: integrated or outboard??
Brass Bands are all very well in their place -
outdoors and several miles away....
outdoors and several miles away....
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
The general rule seems to be that outboard is better.... having said that, there is a very nice phono stage in the audio analogue puccini amp. There may well be others too....
Fran
Fran
Do or do not, there is no try
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
thanks Fran...
I'm pretty sure that's the Audio Analogue my brother has, so i may take that for a test drive....
JB
I'm pretty sure that's the Audio Analogue my brother has, so i may take that for a test drive....
JB
Brass Bands are all very well in their place -
outdoors and several miles away....
outdoors and several miles away....
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
jaybee wrote:thanks Fran...
I'm pretty sure that's the Audio Analogue my brother has, so i may take that for a test drive....
JB
I also have one Johnny and I can vouch for it.
To be is to do: Socrates
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
I thought you had a Jadis setup Fergus?
Brass Bands are all very well in their place -
outdoors and several miles away....
outdoors and several miles away....
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
jaybee wrote:I thought you had a Jadis setup Fergus?
I do JB. The Audio Analogue was the first "real" amp. that I bought from Noel Cloney and I have always liked it so I never parted with it.
To be is to do: Socrates
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
To do is to be: Sartre
Do be do be do: Sinatra
Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
Having a separate phono stage is basically about flexibility.
It allows one to swap out and change components piece by piece. So on obtaining a phono stage one really likes, swapping out the amplifier is easily done etc.
In addition there is a greater selection of choice to be had, separate phono stages start around 50 quid and go all the way up to several thousand.
However the downside is that a separate phono is another box with cables hanging out of it.. another space to be found and more clutter.
There is a much greater choice of line stage only amplifiers than amplifiers with a built in phono stage. Most manufacturers don't include a phono stage as it adds extra cost and in mass market selling it would most likely not be used.
I suppose it adds another spice to the mix of Hi Fi set ups... rather than just talking about amplifiers... one can also discuss phono stages. I recently saw a Yaquin valve phono stage... I was amazed at how much product there was for so little money, and it sounded very very good too. While there was a stigma in the quality of Chinese products in the past, this is now less of an issue, increasingly more and more of the stuff coming out of China is very well made.
Even if an amplifier is made and assembled in Europe... I suspect many of the components i.e. resistors, capacitors, inductors are all made in China anyway. I could be wrong... but I doubt I would be far off the mark.
I recently gave my father a TT, he is using a Rotel RA-921 amplifier... about 12 years old, to my surprise the amp had a built in phono stage, amazing for such a budget amplifier for the time. Those Rotel amplifiers are one of the understated HEROES of hi fi, most hifi enthusiasts would have started out with one.. and they are just about bullet proof, just work and work and work, never giving a spot of trouble.
As for sonic benefits between separate phono and amplifiers with integrated phono........... hmmmmm,,, hard to tell......... no.... I am not going to go there!!
It allows one to swap out and change components piece by piece. So on obtaining a phono stage one really likes, swapping out the amplifier is easily done etc.
In addition there is a greater selection of choice to be had, separate phono stages start around 50 quid and go all the way up to several thousand.
However the downside is that a separate phono is another box with cables hanging out of it.. another space to be found and more clutter.
There is a much greater choice of line stage only amplifiers than amplifiers with a built in phono stage. Most manufacturers don't include a phono stage as it adds extra cost and in mass market selling it would most likely not be used.
I suppose it adds another spice to the mix of Hi Fi set ups... rather than just talking about amplifiers... one can also discuss phono stages. I recently saw a Yaquin valve phono stage... I was amazed at how much product there was for so little money, and it sounded very very good too. While there was a stigma in the quality of Chinese products in the past, this is now less of an issue, increasingly more and more of the stuff coming out of China is very well made.
Even if an amplifier is made and assembled in Europe... I suspect many of the components i.e. resistors, capacitors, inductors are all made in China anyway. I could be wrong... but I doubt I would be far off the mark.
I recently gave my father a TT, he is using a Rotel RA-921 amplifier... about 12 years old, to my surprise the amp had a built in phono stage, amazing for such a budget amplifier for the time. Those Rotel amplifiers are one of the understated HEROES of hi fi, most hifi enthusiasts would have started out with one.. and they are just about bullet proof, just work and work and work, never giving a spot of trouble.
As for sonic benefits between separate phono and amplifiers with integrated phono........... hmmmmm,,, hard to tell......... no.... I am not going to go there!!
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Re: phono stage: integrated or outboard??
i spotted a LFD phonostage for sale on a uk site which sells 2nd hand i think it was called minstral- i was half asleep but you may find it- they are noted for good phono stage one of there famous users was alister robert aitkin the head man of SME