Stand out phono stages

Sirspeedy,
What are some of the strengths of the Zanden in comparison to other top phonostages, other than the fact that you can select various equalization curves?

The Zanden is set with a gain of about 34dB. It was designed for the higher output of mm cartridges. Mike Fremer used it to good effect with low-output mc units by adding a step-up transformer. IIRC
cheers apo

Banpuku, Maybe you ought to re-evaluate the other preamps with a 10K load on your cartridge. Perhaps it is the cartridge that is working optimally into the Lyra piece but not so well with the 100-ohm load afforded by the other gear you tested.

Altho I know that it is a relative rarity, I wonder why no one has mentioned Raul's Phonolinepreamp in this thread. Earlier comments led me to believe it is a contender, but I've never heard it myself.

Lew, Pat: In my view (and experience), the issue of cartridge loading primarily concerns what the phono stage can tolerate, and then as a lower priority what the cartridge would be most happy with. Put another way, what is commonly talked about as "cartridge loading" should probably more usefully thought of as "phono stage input termination."

To cut to the chase, the Connoisseur has been designed so that it is quite tolerant of loading across a broad range of cartridges - but the same is not necessarily true for other phono stages. With the Connoisseur, I happily run any of my own cartridge designs at 10kohm (used to be 47kohm) without feeling the slightest desire for heavier loading, but with most other phono stages, I find that something between 330~120ohms sounds better.

For a technical writeup as to why this can be so, please see Jim Hagerman's article at www.hagtech.com/loading.html. Some time back I wrote a much more detailed post on this same topic on Audiogon, and I wish that I could simply link to that, but I don't know how to find my own post! (^o^;)

cheers and hth, jonathan carr

Perhaps I was misunderstood.I personally never heard the Zanden.Some of my friends are high on this design,due to different selectable RIAA curves,that one can play with.
Supposedly "fantastic" if you have a large Columbia/Decca collection of vinyl,amongst other labels."They" have this LP wealth,so are very interested.One of them heard the demo,given by Hi Fi Plus(where the unit got a rave review some time ago)at RMAF,and was extremely impressed.The various RIAA curves were utilized,from what I was told(this is only second hand,mind you)and it appeared that the Zanden was "fantastic".Especially if you have a wealth of Decca,Columbia etc classical discs.
From the input I got,the "thinning" we hear on many Columbia lp's is "dramatically" improved through the Zanden.I trust the info,since these guys are quite reliable.
Bad news....Incredibly expensive!!! No surprise there.
Best.