Hagerman "Blue Cornet"

Queg,

I hope I did not paint the picture wrong. The Cornet's bass was not as good as the Trumpets when I compared them but it did not mean that it is not good compared to other phono stages. Its just that its sound was being compared to a phono preamp that has a different price point.

My brother have the K&K for almost three years now and I am familiar with the sound. He too, comes from the Cornet camp before jumping to K&K. Yes, bass is good just like the Trumpet. But there is a very important reason for this. Do you know? Ahh, yes you do. The Trumpet have a choke regulated supply and SS rectified. The K&K, which is a hybrid, is SS rectified and choke loaded also? Different animals IMO because a true tube rectified phono stage sounds way different in bass than its SS counter part.

FWIW, I cannot find any spec or schematic of the K&K phono to verify. Why is that? Maybe I'll asked my brother what he knowsor better yet, contact Kevin in his forum and post the same question.

Anyways, I can assure you that the "tubby-ness" of the base on the Cornet can be remedied easily. BTW, mine was a Cornet 2.

Amandarae,
I agree with you. The Cornet is quite exceptional and I recommend it without hesitation. It was a bit unfair of me to mention a weakness that is minor for its price point and can be somewhat rectified (pun intended) via creative tube rolling.

Truth be told I don't have any technical knowledge and my K&K unit was actually built by Kevin with swappable tube or ss rectification. Following expected stereotypes, it sounds faster and cleaner with ss rectification, and more lush and forgiving with the tube.

Thanks Queg for the info!

regards