That LCR phono looks fantastic.

The quad phonostage doesn't seem too bad a deal if you have bought into the rest of the quad system. It can be a cheap to produce but you are buying the brand and the phonostage fits nicely into the quad system. If quad brough out a budget amp and pre then a budget phono would follow. So there is no need for them to have a lower priced product as the £1K phono will sell very nicely.

There are lots of other more expensive phonostages that can possibly argued not very good. But we don't know unless we try. For all i know the Quad phono could be a killer product.

Best phono i have heard around that price tag is the Anatek MC1.

I think it could be the bechmark.