Budget Vintage Phono Preamps

[TheStarman88]

I'm looking for a vintage phono preamp my budget is 50-100 dollars any suggestions. Thanks

 

[salamander]

Shure M-64 or M-61( M-61 germanium transistors ) , Dual TVV-47

 

[bimasta]

The Shack had a nice one, Realistic 42-2109, and another very similar, 42-2101. They're very popular still, and they're under your budget. I had one years ago and ran it through a high-end system (Martin-Logan Electrostatic speakers, Luxman Audio Research) — other preamps surpassed it but they were far far far more expensive.

Several of the Realistic preamps are available now, take a look:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...itleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=seas+tweeter+19taf

 

[bimasta]

Double post. See above.

 

[TheStarman88]

Wow thanks so much!

 

[tusntuk2]

Listening to the RS 42-2109 now, it's pretty transparent and doesn't color much, at least as far as my old ears go (which isn't very far!).
I recap a lot of amps, but this little guy is still original and sounded fine, so I'm just playing it.

 

[dogwan]

I recently picked up a Creek OBH-9 which is a MC only. The OBH-8 is for MM. Oddly, the 9 seems to run about 1/2 the price of the 8 on that auction site. Must be a function of demand.

I got mine in a box of audio goodies for practically nothing. I tried it out with a Denon DL-103 and it sounded pretty good. I recapped it out of my stash of parts and it sounds even better now. It won't unseat any of my other better phono stages. But I am happily living with it in my living room system with that Denon on a Pioneer PL-L1000.

I can only imagine the OBH-8 performs equally good. Both are discrete designs (no opamps).

I also have the Realistic 42-2101a and it's decent. I do find it a little rolled off on the extremes. That doesn't necessarily make it bad. I think that is really only a handicap because the rest of my gear is highly resolving and thus shows its weakness. I did recap the unit too.

BTW, OP didn't define "vintage". In my mind the Creek's are vintage at about 20+ years old.

 

[spark1]

Curious as to why you are limiting your search to vintage units?

Have you tried the phono section of your Denon receiver?

 

[slimecity]

The Shack had a nice one, Realistic 42-2109, and another very similar, 42-2101. They're very popular still, and they're under your budget. I had one years ago and ran it through a high-end system (Martin-Logan Electrostatic speakers, Luxman Audio Research) — other preamps surpassed it but they were far far far more expensive.

Second this - I've heard good things about these - and there are quite a few posts/sites I think that are dedicated to their tweaking- to get even better results.