Phono Stage Question

[Ijon_Tichy]

I am looking for a phono stage to go with my rsx-1055.

I thought about buying a used RC-8xx or RC-9xx preamp with a phono stage instead of a new RQ-970. The RC's can be bought at a much lower price than the RQ and they include headphone output as well.

Is there any reason why I should go with a RQ instead of an RC (like tge RC-870BX)?

[Green]

Look at the Sumiko phono box, inexpensive and sweet sounding

[eelco74]

Hi Ijon,

The 970 phono pre-amp is a fully discrete phono amp, capable of MC and MM elements. If you own a nice turntable like a pro-ject rpm-4 or a rega, I would invest in a 970 pre-amp. In combo with a Ortofon MC element (X3-MC or MC1) you can get excellent results.

The phono stage in a pre-amp is not nearly as good as a seperate phono stage. Most of them are only suited for MM elements. So if you have an older Dual turntable with a Ortofon OBM5 or 10, that will do.

Pro-ject makes some fine phono stages ( www.project-audio.net) as well as musical fidelity.

[gd]

Another option:

Parasound PPH-100.

It nicely outperforms its $120 price point.