Best mm phono stage for £200?

Am thinking of:

graham slee gram amp2 se

Any other suggestions gratefully recieved (esp. 2nd hand)

 

Hi,

Have a look at the Cambridge Audio 640P phono stage. It's only £60 new. It can handle moving magnet and moving coil. Well worth a try.

SCIDB

 

I'm looking for an upgrade on my rotel amp phono stage. Do you think the 640p would be significantly better?

 

Hi Dos,

Which Rotel is it? and what is the rest of your system?

SCIDB

 

SCIDB - it's comprised of
Rotel ra-04 / Rega planar 3 -rb300 - dynavector 10x5/ Rega ela mk1's (& a meridian 206b cdp)

Thks for your advice.

 

This advice sounds a bit like it has come from the pages of 'Practical Hi-Fi' (if you are old enough to remember that) but....; I would buy the cambridge 640p (they do a mm only version that is even cheaper) and put the rest of the money towards saving for a better turntable.

 

push the boat and and try and get a whest two secondhand. I wish I'd kept mine. Its better than some companies high end stages!

 

Hi Dos,

There is a very good chancce that the Cambridge audio stage is better. If you did buy one, I think Richers sound will give you your money back within 14 days. This allows you to try it.

The Whest phono stage is a very good one but you will not get one for £200.

SCIDB

 

Good lord..... Practical Hi-Fi ...... Still have a few old copies knocking around

Those were the days.


Oh, another vote for the 640P. Silly not to try one for £60.

 

I've heard the Cambridge phono stage in my system and was really very impressed for the money. No doubt the Whest is a good phono stage but there is no point in having a better phono stage than source component. I believe the Cambridge to already be capable of revealing everything the Rega 3 has to offer - and more.

P.S. This isn't a blind 'fan boy' recomendation of the Cambridge - I don't own one. I preffered my phono stage but then it is worth quite a lot more.

 

Thks, I guess i'll try the 640p - now, can anybody recommend some interconnects????

 

Hi all

Heard the 640p and had one in my system for about 2 weeks. Not bad and worth every bit of £60...BUT no giant killer! The output from a Rega 3 is a lot better than most people think and certainly worthy of a phono stage better than the 640p. I now use a Rega 3/24, 10x5, whestTWO in my second system and it works soooo goood....and better than the 640p in that system...but what to buy for £200 ???? A Creek unit, a used Trichord Dino ??

rob.

 

Not easy to find (but one on ebay last week(!) ) the DPS 200S phono stage is really good (switchable MM/MC) and outperforms many you find at the highish end today. 100 - 250ish in terms of price.

 

What is a DPS 200S? How about one of those Moth units from back in the day?

Back to the 640P... I had to have mine 'adjusted' for the 10x5. the standard gain settings for not quite right for the 10x5 and if using a really good MC then it is a 'tad' on the noisy side.

rob.

 

Not touching that one :chop:

 

Hmm...perhaps my expectations are artificially high these days.

 

What do you mean by 'adjusted'? (i have a 10x5)

 

I've heard the 640P give a rather expensive Dynavector P100, Naim Stageline and my own WD tube stage a very close run. A smidgen behind the Dyn and WD but better than the Naim.

Buy one. For £60 what's the worst that can happen?
You absolutely hate it, dump it on ebay and lose the grand total of about £15......

 

I have a Whest Two. It will be for sale in a month or so quicker if you are desparate £300. PM me if you are interested

 

check out fleebay....

Naim MM stageline for £175.00

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Naim-MM-Stageline-Phono-Stage_W0QQitemZ190224644753QQihZ009QQcategoryZ12050QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Pick up an old SNAPS power supply and your off.