Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

DoubleM said:
I’m back on my search to jump into a new phonostage and near certain I’m landing on a Hana SL as my dive into MC cart world.

I’m coming from my upgraded Lounge Gold and I’d like to stay below $3k on the new phonostage and am looking at this as being a bit of an endgame piece for me. I really don’t want to keep chasing from here and something that will keep me plenty satisfied for years to come. I’ve been eyeing these three and would take any feedback, pros/cons to those who’ve used these in the past or pairing with the SL.

Manley Chinook - the special edition that Upscale sells has really caught my eye with plugging into a full tube setup (as much as I can at the moment). This is really as far as I’ve wanted to take my budget and could buy this new but seems as though used units are harder to come by.

Gold Note Note PH10 + PSU10 - this pair seems a bit more attainable on the used market and with lots of ease for adjusting as needed

Sutherland 20/20 + LPS - of these three I get the sense that this set comes available the most but with mostly glowing reviews

I don’t necessarily want to open things up that much further beyond these three but could hear other ideas if another pairing would be more ideal and remember some folks in these parts had experience with these pieces.
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I am really enjoying the Musical Fidelity M6x Vinyl. Has three inputs including one balanced, and memorizes your settings, which are numerous. I previously owned an Insight and the M6x loses nothing to it from a sound perspective and is more convenient and adjustable IMO. Worth a listen at the pricepoint.
 
So, was listening to a blues/rock album with a fair bit of verb/fuzz/delay and atmosphere stuff in it. It was super nasly in the upper mids. To the point I thought what a horrible master it was. Wife comes home and I switch to headphones and it's on point. I mean really great. I've never had this experience before. I always prefer my speakers to headphones even with my current set up.

Should this be an excuse to upgrade speakers or change? Seriously, curious what would make such a huge difference in a record. No other album has been like this so far.
 
HiFi Guy said:
You know I’m going to say Sutherland. The $3k mark puts you in a preowned Duo though. I paid $3199 for a “demo” Duo from MD. Demo is in quotes because it was brand new. A used one will come in under $3k. Mine is not for sale. It’s endgame for me.

I’m partial to solid state phono stages. They tend to be quieter as far as noise/hum. Tubes also naturally degrade in use- solid state doesn’t. In an amplifier, ok, no big deal. In a phono stage when you are dealing with a signal in millivolts as opposed to volts, I’ll pass on tubes.
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I’m another one in the Sutherland camp. Could consider the Little Loco if going in the LOMC direction. Ron Sutherland raved about his experience with a Hana EL with the bigger Phono Loco.
 
VMPKJ said:
So, was listening to a blues/rock album with a fair bit of verb/fuzz/delay and atmosphere stuff in it. It was super nasly in the upper mids. To the point I thought what a horrible master it was. Wife comes home and I switch to headphones and it's on point. I mean really great. I've never had this experience before. I always prefer my speakers to headphones even with my current set up.

Should this be an excuse to upgrade speakers or change? Seriously, curious what would make such a huge difference in a record. No other album has been like this so far.
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I Don't think there is one speaker that is perfect on everything but it sounds like the Linton thread beckons another member ?
 
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debianlinux said:
They're fairly wide and deep speakers, are they not? I would expect the manufacturer provided ones to be the best by a significant margin.
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They are and also because they’re between a bookshelf and a floor standing in height a traditional stand for bookshelves would fire them far too high. I’ve not really seen third party speaker stands in the wild that are even close to the right proportions plus most are kinda ugly and the Linton ones are really quite handsome, even more so in person.
 
Saw a used listing for a Yamaha A-S2000 integrated amplifier in excellent condition that I was curious about. Does anyone have an opinion on how it would match with a Sutherland Insight preamp and Wharfedale Lintons? I'd be running an Oppo into it along with a turntable, that I'd be looking to upgrade in the next year (currently a uturn, but probably shooting for something in the 1500-3500 range).
 
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