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I need a phono preamp

"ItsTooLoud"

"ItsTooLoud"

Metal Mind
Friends! I bought my first turntable recently. I've had an important-to-me record over ten years that I've never heard. Since I bought my $5.00 British turntable I've found several more local thrift that I believe I'll enjoy! Neither receiver in my home speaks vinyl. I think I need a phono preamp. I can spend about $150.00, and was told to shop Amazon. I quickly found several tube preamps that would make my wallet (and wife) happy! Unfortunately, I have no idea what brands are good/bad/high-end/door-stop quality.

Advice?
 
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"ItsTooLoud" said:
I need a phono preamp. I can spend about $150.00
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I am sure $150 will not break your bank when I see your avatar photo, do your homework it sounds like you are learning the audio world and will find what you need for now.

Good luck with your search and the audio journey.
 
onanysunday said:
I've heard very good things about the TCC TC-750 (no variable gain) & TC-750LC (variable gain model) phono preamps for just north of $50 shipped new. They are said to sound very nice.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Technolink...163135?hash=item19b785847f:g:kjAAAOSwALtaXRxI

View attachment 2176208 View attachment 2176223
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I just gave one of those away to a friend who was putting together a cheap system for his garage. They are fine for what they are, but nothing to write home about. I got it for testing gear mostly, but hadn't used it in a long time. It's comparable to what you'd get in a cheap 2 channel receiver these days. They are perfectly usable and for the price, and I had no complaints, but for a bit more, you can jump up in quality pretty quickly.
 
"ItsTooLoud" said:
Friends! I bought my first turntable recently. I've had an important-to-me record over ten years that I've never heard. Since I bought my $5.00 British turntable I've found several more local thrift that I believe I'll enjoy! Neither receiver in my home speaks vinyl. I think I need a phono preamp. I can spend about $150.00, and was told to shop Amazon. I quickly found several tube preamps that would make my wallet (and wife) happy! Unfortunately, I have no idea what brands are good/bad/high-end/door-stop quality.

Advice?
Click to expand...

What receivers do you have now?
 
halkaloogie said:
I just gave one of those away to a friend who was putting together a cheap system for his garage. They are fine for what they are, but nothing to write home about. I got it for testing gear mostly, but hadn't used it in a long time. It's comparable to what you'd get in a cheap 2 channel receiver these days. They are perfectly usable and for the price, and I had no complaints, but for a bit more, you can jump up in quality pretty quickly.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thank you! I revoke my recommendation then. I am not interested in mediocrity. I hadn't heard one (personally) but someone here on ak mentioned they stepped all over the old, Realistic phono preamps that I was comparing, and I think those are pretty great. He claimed to have heard the Realistics and the TCC, and said the TCC was clearly better than them, which I thought was quite the compliment. He may have been blowing smoke. Here is a thread I started about some great little Realistic phono preamps. Some even like these cheap 45+ year old models more than the modern, tube-based EAR834P clones (which I've also built) and I would have to agree with them. I rate my modded EAR834P clone only about a 3% better (more or less) in SQ over the Realistics.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-phono-preamp-mod.949579/page-2#post-14579414

As mentioned earlier, check out Realistic 42-2930 and 42-2101A (and their ilk) I've personally heard these and they sound great for being almost 50 years old, stock, and they run in pure Class-A.
 
onanysunday said:
Good to know, thank you! I revoke my recommendation then. I am not interested in mediocrity. I hadn't heard one (personally) but someone here on ak mentioned they stepped all over the old, Realistic phono preamps that I was comparing, and I think those are pretty great. He claimed to have heard the Realistics and the TCC, and said the TCC was clearly better than them, which I thought was quite the compliment. He may have been blowing smoke. Here is a thread I started about some great little Realistic phono preamps. Some even like these cheap 45+ year old models more than the modern, tube-based EAR834P clones (which I've also built) and I would have to agree with them. I rate my modded EAR834P clone only about a 3% better (more or less) in SQ over the Realistics.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-phono-preamp-mod.949579/page-2#post-14579414

As mentioned earlier, check out Realistic 42-2930 and 42-2101A (and their ilk) I've personally heard these and they sound great for being almost 50 years old, stock, and they run in pure Class-A.
Click to expand...

Everyone is different, and maybe in certain systems they can shine, but with everything I used it with, it was adequate and perfectly usable, but nothing I'd go out of my way to recommend for anything but a budget minded person. I had no complaints with it, but having owned some very high quality phono preamps, it was somewhat lifeless in comparison.
 
Thanks for the replies!
My receiver is a YAMAHA RX-V665
Turntable: Garrard GT 120apS
Streaming Blu-ray: SONY BDP-BX58
Main L/R speakers: polk DYNAMIC BALANCE R-40 (I believe)
 
onanysunday said:
Good to know, thank you! I revoke my recommendation then. I am not interested in mediocrity. I hadn't heard one (personally) but someone here on ak mentioned they stepped all over the old, Realistic phono preamps that I was comparing, and I think those are pretty great. He claimed to have heard the Realistics and the TCC, and said the TCC was clearly better than them, which I thought was quite the compliment. He may have been blowing smoke. Here is a thread I started about some great little Realistic phono preamps. Some even like these cheap 45+ year old models more than the modern, tube-based EAR834P clones (which I've also built) and I would have to agree with them. I rate my modded EAR834P clone only about a 3% better (more or less) in SQ over the Realistics.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-phono-preamp-mod.949579/page-2#post-14579414

As mentioned earlier, check out Realistic 42-2930 and 42-2101A (and their ilk) I've personally heard these and they sound great for being almost 50 years old, stock, and they run in pure Class-A.
Click to expand...

You grabbed my attention with pure Class-A. I owned/loved the three Class-A Marantz amplifiers I used before the eighty-mile-per-hour blow to my noggin ten years ago. My ridiculously good hearing is no more, but I've healed enough to be picky again! Realistic phono preamps would've been items I'd've turned my nose up to (Radio Shack brand?) we're it not for my trust in the opinions here.

I'm now off to eBay!
 
They're cheap and surprisingly good; a wolf in sheep's clothing. They flew under my radar until quite recently as well and are the first Realistics I've owned, besides a pair of Minimus 7 and MC-1200 speakers. Let us know which model you end up with and any listening impressions you may have.
 
"ItsTooLoud" said:
You grabbed my attention with pure Class-A. I owned/loved the three Class-A Marantz amplifiers I used before the eighty-mile-per-hour blow to my noggin ten years ago. My ridiculously good hearing is no more, but I've healed enough to be picky again! Realistic phono preamps would've been items I'd've turned my nose up to (Radio Shack brand?) we're it not for my trust in the opinions here.

I'm now off to eBay!
Click to expand...
Today I just got a reminder from EBAY the one I linked for you may have a price change.. or something..
 
Well, shoot. I missed it! EBay is now directing me to identical auctions, so I'll get my rear in gear and arrive at hi-end audio vinyl assp.
 
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