Micah McDowe
New Member
Hello all,
I've been enjoying my AF-4 for many years with almost no maintenance other than some new caps and a thorough cleaning when I found it. I previously used it with digital sources, but lately I've been using it almost exclusively with a turntable.
Since the AF-4 only has crystal/ceramic cartridge inputs, I was using it with a cheap Pyle phono preamp to get me by. I've now upgraded to an Audio Technica AT-PEQ3, but it still feels anachronistic. Is there a good option for a phono stage that would compliment the AF4 in sound and aesthetics? An HF-85 seems to be overkill just for the phono section. Budget is important as well.
Also, is there a better option for the volume/tone pots? The dual volume pot always requires a great deal of fiddling to get the volume the same on both channels. I never use the tone pots; can they be bypassed to clean up the signal path a bit?
I've been enjoying my AF-4 for many years with almost no maintenance other than some new caps and a thorough cleaning when I found it. I previously used it with digital sources, but lately I've been using it almost exclusively with a turntable.
Since the AF-4 only has crystal/ceramic cartridge inputs, I was using it with a cheap Pyle phono preamp to get me by. I've now upgraded to an Audio Technica AT-PEQ3, but it still feels anachronistic. Is there a good option for a phono stage that would compliment the AF4 in sound and aesthetics? An HF-85 seems to be overkill just for the phono section. Budget is important as well.
Also, is there a better option for the volume/tone pots? The dual volume pot always requires a great deal of fiddling to get the volume the same on both channels. I never use the tone pots; can they be bypassed to clean up the signal path a bit?