You know, that is a kind of question like: what colour for my car should I choose ? I am a little bit joking.
I know some of your equipment very well ( Cardas, Pass amps, Benz system ).
This is only my opinion, so no one should be dissapointed, the ARC Phono is a nice unit, but it is not an excellent one, it uses Tubes right, but it is sounding ice cold and I think that is the reason why you ask for help.
I think there are a few units available which will satisfy you:
These sound not really warm, they sound right !( and a world class better than an ARC )
Jeff Rowland Phono stage ( doesn't matter which one )
Stan Klyne Model 7
the list is of course not complete but from these I know they go the way you need.
With tube phono amps I am not so well informed, but I heard the Aesthetix is interesting and maybe the Hovland ( Integrated preamp ) but this can be noisy.
That you will definetly hear when using Threshold and Pass amplification.
I know some of your equipment very well ( Cardas, Pass amps, Benz system ).
This is only my opinion, so no one should be dissapointed, the ARC Phono is a nice unit, but it is not an excellent one, it uses Tubes right, but it is sounding ice cold and I think that is the reason why you ask for help.
I think there are a few units available which will satisfy you:
These sound not really warm, they sound right !( and a world class better than an ARC )
Jeff Rowland Phono stage ( doesn't matter which one )
Stan Klyne Model 7
the list is of course not complete but from these I know they go the way you need.
With tube phono amps I am not so well informed, but I heard the Aesthetix is interesting and maybe the Hovland ( Integrated preamp ) but this can be noisy.
That you will definetly hear when using Threshold and Pass amplification.