Phono stage with gain control?

Mingles, I cannot offer a quality comparison because I used the two phono pres only a short time with the same table/cart, but overall, I can say the Lehmann was a strong performer. I'd not hesitate to own another. The Lehmann was quieter. The Wright has a bit more "life" in the music provided by the tubes, but the diference is not night and day. Of course, because of the availability of tube swapping, the sound of the Wright can be tailored whereas he Lehmann's cannot.

I also like the dual gain controls of the Wright.

Eldartford, in the 'old days' we called them pre-preamps.

Salut, Bob P.

Eldartford, You are correct...unfortunatly now a days most preamps have no phono stage as you know. I was just thinking that if vinyl is the only source material I listen to then why have a preamp with all that extra electronics. Less is better in my opinion.

Inpepinnovations,,,That was what we called the extra gain stage that went in front of the preamp when using a MC pickup. Nowadays it is no great feat to provide sufficient gain for MC pickups without additional stages. And I don't think they had any gain control (that was in the preamp).

Dean_fuller...If your pickup yields sufficient volume when the power amp is fed directly from the phono stage there is no need for extra gain, which you will just "throw away" using the volume control pot.

Dean_fuller...If your pickup yields sufficient volume when the power amp is fed directly from the phono stage there is no need for extra gain, which you will just "throw away" using the volume control pot.
Eldartford (Reviews | Threads | Answers)

Which is exactly why I'm running my Wright WPP200C into the preamp inputs of my Leben CS-600.

Sweet.