Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Music listening is funny ...I swapped around my old turntable upstairs last year to my man cave music room ...felt the vinyl set up was a bit harsh sounding on the amp and speakers and the cd set up sounded better ...a year on ..the deck seems to have settled in ...and sounding fabulous..really warm ....have the electrics settled , has tweaking speaker placement done it...or is it just imagination .. nothing new added ...has the cartridge hit a sweet spot ...has the VC S2 cleaning made the records sound better ...am I listening to better music ....

Are my ears getting older .....probably
 
MikeH said:
I heard that if you look into a mirror and say "audiophile cables" three times....he appears
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Possible, but if he did appear he'd likely just shove a tangled ball of unidentifiable Radio Shack cables into your hands as he pushed by you and started ransacking your cupboards in search of "tasty morsels" and high test hooch.
 
Ok. Seems my Mani is on the fritz so I'm on the hunt for a new preamp. What's my best option in the $300 range? Mofi Studio? Darlington MM-6? Other?

I did audition the MM-6 on the tour. It was impressive but I feel like it was weak on the bass compared to the Mani.
 
dbarila said:
Ok. Seems my Mani is on the fritz so I'm on the hunt for a new preamp. What's my best option in the $300 range? Mofi Studio? Darlington MM-6? Other?

I did audition the MM-6 on the tour. It was impressive but I feel like it was weak on the bass compared to the Mani.
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i like my musical fidelity LX-LPS and got it open box for around that price. but no clue what the current price is for it (or if its still in production...)
 
dbarila said:
Ok. Seems my Mani is on the fritz so I'm on the hunt for a new preamp. What's my best option in the $300 range? Mofi Studio? Darlington MM-6? Other?

I did audition the MM-6 on the tour. It was impressive but I feel like it was weak on the bass compared to the Mani.
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Still rocking my StudioPhono. There are times where I’ve been a little hot and cold on it, but I’m quite happy with it in my current system.
 
MikeH said:
do you happen to know what the difference is? i see there seems to be a different power supply but not sure if there are other differences?
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I don’t know either well enough tbh, I have one of its bigger brothers, I just remember the switch happening around about the time it was in vogue on here.
 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t know either well enough tbh, I have one of its bigger brothers, I just remember the switch happening around about the time it was in vogue on here.
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all i notice on first glance is that it has the barrel style power supply plug vs the miniUSB one that the older version has.

@dbarila -- i think it's a pretty solid preamp for the price but haven't compared it to much else. i also think the old one was $500 list price and new one seems cheaper now. nice that it has the option for MM or MC cart.
 
MikeH said:
all i notice on first glance is that it has the barrel style power supply plug vs the miniUSB one that the older version has.

@dbarila -- i think it's a pretty solid preamp for the price but haven't compared it to much else. i also think the old one was $500 list price and new one seems cheaper now. nice that it has the option for MM or MC cart.
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I think the DC Voltage might be different too. I’m not sure if I’d trust something at this point with the extra gain for an MC tbh.
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Still rocking my StudioPhono. There are times where I’ve been a little hot and cold on it, but I’m quite happy with it in my current system.
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Agree that the StudioPhono is a great buy. Another to consider at this price point is the Cambridge Audio Alva Duo.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Review and Measurements of Cambridge Audio Duo Phono Preamp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Cambridge Audio Alva Duo Phono Pre-amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member who purchased it and drop shipped it to me. The Duo costs USD $299 and includes Amazon Prime or free shipping from the company itself. Despite its budget price...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
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I'm trying a Graham Slee 2SE soon, $400usd, great reviews, lineage.
www.lpgear.com

Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 SE phono preamp "Best Buy Rated" - See latest model

Check out the deal on Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 SE phono preamp "Best Buy Rated" - See latest model at LP Gear
www.lpgear.com www.lpgear.com

Hagerman is another company worth looking at, they make a budget unit for $200, and tube unit for $490. Great reviews, if you can get past the diy look. Products
 
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Angsty said:
Agree that the StudioPhono is a great buy. Another to consider at this price point is the Cambridge Audio Alva Duo.

www.audiosciencereview.com

Review and Measurements of Cambridge Audio Duo Phono Preamp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Cambridge Audio Alva Duo Phono Pre-amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member who purchased it and drop shipped it to me. The Duo costs USD $299 and includes Amazon Prime or free shipping from the company itself. Despite its budget price...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
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I'm not very familiar with this one but the reviews seem very good for it.
 
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