Phono/preamp/amp chain. One of them tube the others SS. Which one?

The cartridge is the most important piece of equipment in your entire rig, it should not be selected the same way you might select a preamp, by buying the "best". No, a cartridge is a very personal thing, that can only be selected after you have tried many cartridges. It should be selected based on the elements of the music that you enjoy most.

Right now, I'm not talking about some fantasy hypothetical thing, but a reality with limitations in regard to expense. I think you should first identify the "house sound" of the cartridge family, and then go from there.

Corey Greenberg was my favorite reviewer at "Stereophile", and I have a number of items he reviewed and recommended that I'm using and quite satisfied with. If Corey said it was OK, and I needed it, I bought it.

That worked out just fine, until we got to "cartridges"; he had ever so much praise for the "Blue Point Special", which I purchased, only to discover that it was not the cartridge for me; he liked rock, and I like jazz, especially jazz vocal, and that made all the difference in the world in regard to cartridges. That made me aware of the fact how personal a cartridge is; just because everybody says it's the best, it may not be the best for you


Enjoy the music.

Actually Inna, I'm going to upgrade to the next highest "Grado". I've got a proven winner for me. What this cartridge does with female vocals is incredible.

Believe it or not, I'm quite satisfied with 100% of nothing; no noise, no hum, just the sound of the cartridge without any alteration.

I have gone from using a SS phono (JC3+ and Audia Flight) to tube (Allnic H-3000 and HA-3000) and it has made a huge difference in the presentation of the music.  Even my mother (since moms are frequently used as a lowest common denominator) mentioned that it sounded like Ella and Louis were in the room with us when she heard the tube phono in my system for the first time.  For comparison, the Audia Flight only got a "that sounds nice."

I have gone all tube in my system and, if you do eventually go in that direction, be prepared to have sufficient ventilation because having that many bulbs working at once can put out some serious heat.

Theo, although I have SS Phono, I have tube pre and amplifier, plus "Grado" is a relatively warm cartridge. I believe my end result is the same as yours, because that's the way I would describe it.

What I'm hearing in regard to phono pre, is that you could buy a lesser cartridge, and get the end result of a step up in cartridges; by having a boss phono; is this true?

As has been discussed here previously, synergy is key, but in my opinion, a great phono exposes the shortcomings of a lesser cart much more than the other way around.  That being said, if I had to choose, I would invest as much as you are comfortable in the phono and upgrade the cart as funds allow.