Why is the trend to make separate phono stage


Why is the trend to make a separate phono stage. Say a high end pre-amp such as Audio Research Reference 2 you need to spend $ 10,000 for a line stage and another $ 7,000 for the reference phono stage. Almost every manufacturer has started to separate the two components. Is this to make more money selling two boxes or has technology gotten so sophisticated that it needs to be separate or lastly maybe only 25 % or less of the buyers want phono, so the manufacturer focuses on the 75 % population that need a line pre-amp. For us oldies it used to be easy to add a MC/MM board to the pre-amp to add the phone section. What happened??
dcaudio
Answered your own question...
"maybe only 25 % or less of the buyers want phono, so the manufacturer focuses on the 75 % population that need a line pre-amp"..
Some companies will mod a preamp to add a phono board. However, most purist companies will take the stance that a separate chassis, power supply, etc. will make it sound better.
Cheers, Spencer
Everyone was right so far. Most people have dumped their vinyl and listen to a poor substitute like CDs. They don't want to have to pay for a phono stage that they will never use.

Most companies that make a pre-amp are in the CDP business too. They would rather have you buy their CDP rather than someone elses TT. Having to drop several thousand more dollars will prevent many people from going with an outboard phono section. So all the way around the pre-amp company wins!