Best phono stage?
- Thread starter awsmone
- Start date
what's your listening experience with the Allnic H5000 ? In your own system or at a show ?
Hi R,
The Allnics at CES/RMAF/etc--over the past 2/3 years--they are excellent stages I concur-- no, never a side by side comparison-but a similar Lp I know well after hearing on both the A and Thoress
the Thoress impressed more-- I would certainly own both
but the slight versatility of the RIAA adjustments in the Thoress would swing it as well I feel. Rest assured both are "Absolute Spitzenklasse "!
Good Listening
BruceD
The Allnics at CES/RMAF/etc--over the past 2/3 years--they are excellent stages I concur-- no, never a side by side comparison-but a similar Lp I know well after hearing on both the A and Thoress
the Thoress impressed more-- I would certainly own both
but the slight versatility of the RIAA adjustments in the Thoress would swing it as well I feel. Rest assured both are "Absolute Spitzenklasse "!
Good Listening
BruceD
I guess my point was, imho it is very difficult to evaluate phono stages w/o doing it in your own system. There are just too many variables in play that can alter the sound such as cabling, cart, arm and tube choice(tube phono amps). I believe Allnic covers most of the widely known RIAA curves out there.
I also have Thoeress in my system and love it. I use it with Ikeda Kai which is only 0.19 mV with no problem but I have CJ GAT preamp so gain is never really much of an issue. For a tube unit, it is dead quiet, may be a tad less detail than Aesthetix Io Eclipse but very musical and it can match with solid state preamp with 10K ohm input as well. Before I bought Thoeress, I compared it to Zanden 1200 mk3 and Phasetech and prefer Thoeress. It also outclass my old Lamm LP2 and competes well with my Aesthetix Io Eclipse.
Thanks to everyone so far….
This website is great at getting feedback from people with real experience
My new wife refers to it as the " audio porn" website as she misread phono for porno lol when I was typing this thread
I have just looked at Thoress which was not on my horizon… thanks to those who suggested It would seem version 3 might suit me
I should mention I have 6000 records or more I have put links to my dedicated vinyl library room, the classicals are all originals and the jazz a mixture of originals and reissues
But back to the Thoress website….phono enhancer
I have to say it has one of the most interesting manuals I have read
http://www.thoeress.com/manuals/thoeress_phono_enhancer_manual.pdf suggest others who haven't read it who are interested in lp reproduction !
So far phonos I have looked into
Boulder 2008
Boulder 1008 ( a bit quieter and half the price)
Burmester 100 similar price to boulder
Allnic 3000
Ypsilon but requires separate step ups?
Accuphase c27
Audio Research Ref 2SE and Ref 10
Soulution 750 with power supply
Fm acoustics I have ruled out for compatibility issues as mentioned vide supra
And the Vitus Mp P201 and SP 102
Any others?
This website is great at getting feedback from people with real experience
My new wife refers to it as the " audio porn" website as she misread phono for porno lol when I was typing this threadI have just looked at Thoress which was not on my horizon… thanks to those who suggested It would seem version 3 might suit me
I should mention I have 6000 records or more I have put links to my dedicated vinyl library room, the classicals are all originals and the jazz a mixture of originals and reissues
But back to the Thoress website….phono enhancer
I have to say it has one of the most interesting manuals I have read
http://www.thoeress.com/manuals/thoeress_phono_enhancer_manual.pdf suggest others who haven't read it who are interested in lp reproduction !
So far phonos I have looked into
Boulder 2008
Boulder 1008 ( a bit quieter and half the price)
Burmester 100 similar price to boulder
Allnic 3000
Ypsilon but requires separate step ups?
Accuphase c27
Audio Research Ref 2SE and Ref 10
Soulution 750 with power supply
Fm acoustics I have ruled out for compatibility issues as mentioned vide supra
And the Vitus Mp P201 and SP 102
Any others?
I have the original Thoress / TW Acustik phono stage. 3 inputs and front dial loading changes. Tube gain with fet bringing up the total gain to around 64db - very quiet for a tube unit and neutral sounding - no bloat. 50's sc-fi look grows on you. It has seen off many challengers - higher and lower in price.
I prefer this topology to tube RIAA with SUT as very difficult to get SUT's without some level of syrup. Even the expensive Allnic uses and external head amp for more neutral/transparent sound.
The new Thoress looks complex, but has lots of flexibility, point to point wiring and I am sure it will sound great.
A friend of mine used to have the Boulder 1008 and has found the Thoress better sounding, so has sold the Bolder.
You have Accuphase gear, so perhaps look at the Accuphase C-27 3 input phono stage.
I prefer this topology to tube RIAA with SUT as very difficult to get SUT's without some level of syrup. Even the expensive Allnic uses and external head amp for more neutral/transparent sound.
The new Thoress looks complex, but has lots of flexibility, point to point wiring and I am sure it will sound great.
A friend of mine used to have the Boulder 1008 and has found the Thoress better sounding, so has sold the Bolder.
You have Accuphase gear, so perhaps look at the Accuphase C-27 3 input phono stage.
Thanks to everyone so far….
This website is great at getting feedback from people with real experience
I have just looked at Thoress which was not on my horizon… thanks to those who suggested It would seem version 3 might suit me
I should mention I have 6000 records or more I have put links to my dedicated vinyl library room, the classicals are all originals and the jazz a mixture of originals and reissues
But back to the Thoress website….phono enhancer
I have to say it has one of the most interesting manuals I have read
http://www.thoeress.com/manuals/thoeress_phono_enhancer_manual.pdf suggest others who haven't read it who are interested in lp reproduction !
So far phonos I have looked into
Boulder 2008
Boulder 1008 ( a bit quieter and half the price)
Burmester 100 similar price to boulder
Allnic 3000
Ypsilon but requires separate step ups?
Accuphase c27
Audio Research Ref 2SE and Ref 10
Soulution 750 with power supply
Fm acoustics I have ruled out for compatibility issues as mentioned vide supra
And the Vitus Mp P201 and SP 102
Any others?
I think Ken/Lasersedge has the Boulder phono.
I will have to disagree with that statement if you are talking about the H5000. Having the head amp to compare, I prefer the built in step ups. More neutral and far quieter than the head amp. With correct rectifier choice, the slight dynamic range advantage of active gain is neutralized. I haven't run the head amp setup in weeks. It's nice to have an optional sound though.
Really Christian?
I was mainly thinking of you and your previous comments re the head amp being more neutral the the SUT's.
Interesting how a different recitfier tube has changed that.
cheers
Shane
Just went on the FM acoustics website
I want the declicker lol ….good video too
http://www.fmacoustics.com/products/phono-linearizers/fm-223/
In fact my preamp can handle it….
I want the declicker lol ….good video too
http://www.fmacoustics.com/products/phono-linearizers/fm-223/
In fact my preamp can handle it….
Rectifier rolling changed that opinion. I can't get over the added noise floor when going active. Not really an issue for lively jazz and rock. Classical it becomes distractingly more evident.
Nope. ASR Basis Exclusiv. I demoed the Boulder 1008 for about a month. It was a great phono stage ultimately I preferred the incumbent ASR a bit more. I've since upgraded to the current version of the Basis Exclusiv and its a significant step up.
(Myles I'm using the Boulder 2010 pre)
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
(emphasis mine)
Guess I'll have to chew on that a while
I've been chewing on mine for a while! Just sent it back to Nick for an upgrade. Can't wait to hear it!
Thanks to everyone so far….
This website is great at getting feedback from people with real experience
I have just looked at Thoress which was not on my horizon… thanks to those who suggested It would seem version 3 might suit me
I should mention I have 6000 records or more I have put links to my dedicated vinyl library room, the classicals are all originals and the jazz a mixture of originals and reissues
But back to the Thoress website….phono enhancer
I have to say it has one of the most interesting manuals I have read
http://www.thoeress.com/manuals/thoeress_phono_enhancer_manual.pdf suggest others who haven't read it who are interested in lp reproduction !
So far phonos I have looked into
Boulder 2008
Boulder 1008 ( a bit quieter and half the price)
Burmester 100 similar price to boulder
Allnic 3000
Ypsilon but requires separate step ups?
Accuphase c27
Audio Research Ref 2SE and Ref 10
Soulution 750 with power supply
Fm acoustics I have ruled out for compatibility issues as mentioned vide supra
And the Vitus Mp P201 and SP 102
Any others?
Forgot to mention, another friend, after listening to Thoeress in my system, went ahead and did home audition for Thoeress and ended up selling his Burmester 100 and kept the Thoeress. However, his system is mostly tube based though so milleague may vary.
Suteetat
Just curious . Are you still using the Thoeress Enhancer as your one and only phono ? That was the case when I visited some months back though your system profile on WBF is silent on this.
Cheers
Pradeep
Just curious . Are you still using the Thoeress Enhancer as your one and only phono ? That was the case when I visited some months back though your system profile on WBF is silent on this.
Cheers
Pradeep
Hi Pradeep,
I have both Thoeress and Aesthetix Io Eclipse. I think you heard both Thoeress with TW/Lyra Atlas and a little of the Koetsu/FR/Aesthetix when you came to my place if I am not mistaken. I have 4 arms currently on 2 tables. It is still nice to have Aesthetix as I can change loading quickly when I want to experiment.l Thoeress has 6 inputs but loading on each input is fixed and I will have to change resistors which require soldering if I want to change loading any particular input. Luckily most of my cartridges seem to work best at 100 ohms so I have 3x 100 ohms input on my Thoeress
Since I switch to Ayon amp, now I find Koetsu seems to work better with Thoeress than Aesthetix which was not the case when I had Lamm amplifiers. However, Lyra seems to work equally well with either now although I prefer Thoeress with Lyra with my old setup.
