I 'downgraded' from an Audio Research PH3 SE (nice, but a little sterile and lean for my tastes) to a much-less-expensive AES (Cary) PH-1 phono stage. Not as quiet as the Audio Research, but more lush, vivid and fleshed-out sounding in my opinion.
They don't turn up used that often, but are around $400 when they do. Fun tube rolling the 6SL7 & 12AU7 (and variants) tubes as well to get different 'flavors'. Only about 35db of gain though, but you'll be fine with your stated preference for higher output MMs (I'm using a step up with a MC, for what it's worth).
May not be what you have in mind, but it's another option. Let us know what you end up going with.
