Ideal TT & Arm for the following top cartridges...

Ctm, the person you should ask about the Tri Planar is Doug Deacon.

Nsgarch - Thanks for the reference on an experienced TP user.

Raul - Please further elaborate as to why the TP does not do it for you relative to the arms that do knock you out (no pun intended).

I completely agree on the importance of the phonostage. My MCP-1 is a dual mono all tube, MC amp with a 6922 and 6072 gain stages in series with RCA loading plugs and external tube regulated PS. Electron Images is/was Canada based and had two highly regarded phono stages (with the top of the line model having more user selectability than the MCP-1). Both units were desiged by a former Sonic Frontiers guy and who later was a consultant to Audio Note UK, but he is no longer with them and cannot be contacted at the moment.

The MCP-1 was always a champ in my system when it comes to dimensionality, transparency and resolution. Thanks to the help of a superb circuit designer, it has gone through extensive and necessary mods to address inherent design issues having to do with power regulation. It was somewhat lean when it first arrived from its original owner. This person did not have a tube tester so the unit also badly required retubing. Consequently, equally involved was the tube rolling required to dial in that balance between tonality and dynamics while retaining the above attributes.

The above adventures have led me to the discovery of how sonically influencial are output coupling and other signal carrying capacitors. Boy was I floored when a capacitor change (at $18 to $35 each) impacted the sonic signature significantly more than an IC, PC and tube change. To add to this madness, the sound changed over a period of 2-3 days and at even a week or two, to the point that what I preferred sonically at the outset is different once voltage and signals have passed through the new caps. Although the power regulation issues and tube/tonality have been addressed, the caps experimentation is what is currently keeping me preoccupied.

Many other units have come and gone and yet the analog is just not yet at the "reaching out and grabbing me" stage. I've had opportunity to hear the BAT VKP10SE, Air Tight ATE-2, Steelhead, Hagerman Trumpet, Groove, Basis Exclusive, Art Audio Vinyl One, and now the Whest and Ear 88pb. In my system and as you might guess, I prefered the tube units, especially the Steelhead followed by the BAT and ATE-2 (the rest were not close), but their prices were a bit steep for me at the time. Only one other unit was able to handily compete with the above preferred trio. It is also a tube based design; a MM phonostage with a cathode follower circuit and an overbuilt external PS that required the use of my Bent Audio step up device for the MCs I use. Unfortunately, it was a prototype/work in progress/experiment by a designer/solo operator who was swamped with many other higher priority orders that I simply could no longer wait. The MCP-1 came during my evaluation of the above units and was REALLY good for the price. It was flexible with its RCA loading plugs and it had ample gain for MCs with outputs as low as 1.5mV all the way up to about 0.8mV, thanks for the headroom allowed by the gain of my linestage and the input sensitivity of my amps.

I will soon receive the Wavestream Kinetics phono stage and I cannot wait! Others have suggested the Doshi full function pre but, as always, one step at a time. The VPI Aries and convenient arm wand interchangeability has allowed me to hone in on the cartridges I like. It would be great if I can complete the arm and tt upgrade before I really focus on the phono stage. Or should I do that now before I decide on the table or arm? TIA and best regards.

Did Raul just make a joke about "getting the one that goes to 11"?

Raul, have you ever seen the movie Spinal Tap? :)

I really think the Brinkman LaGrange/with Brinkman's own arm is a major player,if it can be found at a reasonable price.List is a bit over what you want to spend,yet there is frequently some interesting pricing found,if you search a bit.
This combo is built to a ROLLS ROYCE standard.BIG TIME,and can accomodate the fine cartridges you mention.Also,the tubed power supply can be had here,as well,which supposedly puts this combo on a very short list of SOTA arm/table combos.

For a nice American combo,and more in line with getting a lower price,but "killer combo",with superb vacuum clamping,you may want to consider the Graham Phantom atop a SOTA COSMOS.The SOTA tables of the last couple of years are in another league from the older units,as to fit,finish,and attention to detail.Quite stunning,but the Brinkman line really floats my boat!

Best!!

Nsgarch and all - In my prevous post aboout the Tri-Planar and the Graham, I mistakenly referred to the Graham when I really meant the Brinkman tt, arm & cartridge. So this brings me to...

sirspeedy70680@'s comments - A few of our audio club members recently got together for a phono stage shootout. We began this task by deciding which tt/arm/cart we want to use. We preferred the Graham Phantom with a Shelter 90x vs. the all Brinkman setup, which was more analytical and not as involving. I forget the tt used with Phantom and 90x for now and will provide this info when I recall or when one of the shootout attendees either email me or chime in.

Surely this was not an apples to apples comparison, but it certainly gave me a taste of the Brinkman sound.

Thanks for your continued suggestions and follow-up.