I am considering adding a phono stage to by vintage JVC amp that has a decent built in amp. Does anyone have any experience with the Musical Fidelity X-LPS V3 ? I want to stay used in the $300-400 range. Perhaps there may be other suggestions.
Any experience with Musical Fidelity X-LPS V3 ?
- Thread starter dantay
- Start date
I owned an X-LPS V3 for a while. It's a nice phono stage, it was quiet, and sounded good in my system paired with a Clearaudio Aurum Beta MM cartridge. Gain and loading settings for both MM and MC are fixed. That's not really much of an issue with MMs, but the lack of adjustability means you won't be able to really dial in the best gain and loading for an MC cartridge.
IIRC, the X-LPS V3 sold new for around $300-$350, so the asking price in the ad you link seems pretty high to me. If you intend to eventually dip your toe into the world of LOMC's, consider the Musical Surrounding Phonomena. The Phonomena has 13 gain and 17 load settings that allow it to be used with just about any cartridge ever made. If you're patient and shop carefully, you can find a used one in your price range. If LOMC's are not currently in your future, then there are several nice phono stages available within your price point. Check out the Musical Fidelity V90-LPS, Pro-ject Phono Box DS, Vincent Audio PHO-8, Cambridge Azur 551P and 651P, and Rega Fono Mini. Or stretch your budget a bit for a Lehman Black Cube.
IIRC, the X-LPS V3 sold new for around $300-$350, so the asking price in the ad you link seems pretty high to me. If you intend to eventually dip your toe into the world of LOMC's, consider the Musical Surrounding Phonomena. The Phonomena has 13 gain and 17 load settings that allow it to be used with just about any cartridge ever made. If you're patient and shop carefully, you can find a used one in your price range. If LOMC's are not currently in your future, then there are several nice phono stages available within your price point. Check out the Musical Fidelity V90-LPS, Pro-ject Phono Box DS, Vincent Audio PHO-8, Cambridge Azur 551P and 651P, and Rega Fono Mini. Or stretch your budget a bit for a Lehman Black Cube.
iLUVanalog
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I am a former owner of an XLPS V8, which was MF's final iteration of the XLPS. Loved it. Bought it new for $600. I echo Tendrick's comments about the unit -- very nice, quiet, sounded great with a variety of MM and MC cartridges. I sold it a few years later because I wanted something smaller. It was meticulously well cared for and never had any problems. As the unit was in 9.5/10 overall condition and complete with the original box and packing material, manual, and all accessories, a very interested buyer paid $400 for it....although I agree with Tendrick that $300 for a V3 seems pretty high. I checked the link and the seller wants $340 or best reasonable offer. For $340 you can get a very nice (and brand new) phono preamp. One additional recommendation I would like to make is the Lounge Audio MkIII ($300 -- although it's MM only).
Thanks for the help. I am in Canada so we are talking CDN $ and so his asking price is approx half of new purchase price. A professional shop in Toronto suggested that a new phono stage in the $300 range would only be at par with my built in amp. I have no intention in the near future going to a MC cartridge.
