Phono Stage upgrade over Marantz 2240

[coryloew]

Hi all,

I've recently been really enjoying LP sound over my Ipod. My current setup is Kenwood KD-2055 turntable with Grado Black cartridge>Phono input of Marantz 2240>tape out of Marantz>Little Dot MKIII>Grado SR60's. I'm loving almost all parts of the LP sound over the digital sound except one major area. There seems to be some distortion with my vinyl setup. It's just loud enough to get in the way of full enjoyment. My turntable was recently refurbished, new cables, Grado cartridge, etc. about a year ago, so I assume all is good with the turntable. I know my Little Dot is good without any issues. I'm guessing the issue is somewhere in the Phono stage of the Marantz. It is a very old unit, so who knows.

Anyway, are there any cheap phono stage units to easily upgrade the sound over my existing Marantz phono stage? Maybe the issue is something else, and I just haven't diagnosed it properly yet. Thanks for any suggestions.

Cory

 

[Bones13]

Look at the Cambridge Audio Phono units. Great sounding, very cheap.

540p has just MM input.
640p has MM and MC input. (I have this one and liked it, only just replaced it for RSA F-117 Nighthawk)

If you can spring for the Nighthawk, it will serve you for a long way into the audiophile journey.

 

[ssportclay]

Other affordable phono preamps that seem to come up in discussions lately are the DB systems DB-8, Musical Fidelity V-LPS with power supply upgrade, and the Vincent PHO-111.

 

[RonaldDumsfeld]

Quote:

Look at the Cambridge Audio Phono units. Great sounding, very cheap.

NOOooooooo!. Well maybe you will have more luck than I did.

I bought a CA 640P because I wanted to hear what a MC cartridge sounded like on my Technics 1210s and was never as happy with it as I expected.

Then I bought a new (MOTU) soundcard which comes with extensive channel monitoring and graphic signal analysis software and discovered why.

When power to the 640P is connected (doesn't have to be connected to a signal source) it generates between 3-5 dB of noise at various frequencies below 100hz. At first I though I thought I had an earthing issue but since I cannot get rid of it, even in different premises, and it doesn't happen using the pre amp on my mixer or receiver it's still poor.

At first Cambridge Audio tried to fob me off but I'm an engineer and have documentary evidence so they offered me a replacement unit. It turned out to be just the same.

Now 3dB below 100hz isn't really much and you need big speakers and a lot of gain for it to be intrusive. Maybe I was just unfortunate, there was a bad batch and another new one will be fine but I'm reading this thread with interest because I want something different and, frankly, I don't think £90 for something as simple as a phono pre amp in 2010 is fantastically cheap. You may disagree.

Keep looking is my advice.