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Help me pick a phono, pre and cart

Hi all,
My WF spending restraints are going away so I’m going to upgrade my system.
I primarily play CD, but also have an MMF-5 with Glass platter, Golding GX1022 cart going through a Clear Audio Nano to Ayre Ax-7e to Sig 2 Ce’s.

This year I’m going to Quatro CT’s and upgrading my vinyl pre and source side. Next year I’m upgrading my main pre and power amp.

I’m looking for help in picking a phono player pre and cart. My musical taste is pretty wide: female vocals, rock, blues, jazz; not much classical on vinyl. Think Amy Winehouse/Cold Specks/Pixies/Weezer/Jeff Beck/Johnny Winter/Winton Marsalis and Maynard Ferguson for you other old timers. LOL
My budget is about $8-10k

Right now my main thoughts are VPI Prime Scout or Prime with Grado Statement series cart, and an Ayre Px-5e pre.
In addition to specific item recommendations, I’m very interested in how to split the budget item wise. In other words more or less on player vs cart vs pre, I.e. Scout with Statement2 or Prime with Reference2 for example. Or go higher than 20-30% on the pre?
I lean towards spending the most on what’s least upgradeable - sorry if that’s too general or obvious.
Thanks much
Jim

jetson
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
I'd be careful about impedance compatibility between the phono stage that you choose and your Ayre integrated amp.  The Ax-7e's input impedance of 20K unbalanced and 40K (20K per phase) balanced is too low to be optimal with either the Herron or ARC phono stages that have been suggested.  Or with many other tube-based phono stages, for that matter.

Also, +1 re the ART9, which I use in conjunction with a Herron VTPH-2.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al
toddc2
11 posts
 
@jetson 

I swapped out a few phono preamps recently: Zesto Andros to ARC PH6 to Whest PS.30RDT SE+ (the Whest was the keeper for me). These phonos all sounded vastly different and in my case I liked the clarity and lower noise of the Whest. One thing I learned was I needed a little more gain from my phono preamp than the KAB calculator recommended. Buying a phono with several gain settings to match the rest of your system might be a good idea with at least of couple of settings > 60 dB.
jperry
1,408 posts
 
I would buy a Dr. Feickert Woodpecker turntable with Jelco tonearm, and look for a used Audio Research phono stage, maybe a PH-6 and a new AudioTechnica ART-9.

The Dr. Feickert is a great turntable.
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almarg
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From the specs provided at arcdb.ws for both the PH-6 and the PH-8:
Output impedance:  200 ohms Unbalanced. Recommended load 50K-100K ohms and 100pF. (10K ohms minimum and 2000pF maximum.)
From the manual for the Herron VTPH-2A:
We recommend that the VTPH-2A be used with a line stage having an input impedance of 50,000 ohms or higher for optimum performance.

All three of those phono stages provide only unbalanced outputs.  The input impedance of the unbalanced inputs of the Ayre AX-7e is 20K, as I mentioned earlier.

Regards,
-- Al
dodgealum
976 posts
 
Some strong recommendations made here--I like the setup @bpoletti has recommended, having run it myself with good results. The Prime/OC9MLII/Herron is a great combination. I would agree also with upgrading the VPI feet--I'm using HRX Mini Feet with the Symposium Prime/Classic inserts which do provide some additional isolation. I'd love to try the Stillpoints, which are likely a much better route, but those would break my bank.
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