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There's Only 1 Budget Phono Stage I Like Better Than the 640P

Over the past year I have been auditioning manyt "budget" phono stages. In no particular order, I've listened to: Rotel RQ970BX, Cambridge Audio 640P, Grado PH-1, Musical Surroundings Phonomena, and that cheap little unit that sells on ebay for $73.50, the TCC-760LC. In addition, I bought a used Parasound zPhono that came in just a couple of days ago.

The reviewer's results do not surprise me. I compared the Cambridge directly to the $500 Grado PH-1, and kept the 640P. Besides costing only 40% of what the Grado goes for, the 640P sounded better to me in every way.

The 640P also sounded as good as the Phonomena (a $600 unit), so off went the Phonomena.

The Rotel was outclassed by everything else, so it went.

The zPhono is on its way out as well. As soon as I got it connected I noticed a distinct buzz in the tweeters and mids. When music plays the buzz isn't audible, but on silent backgrounds it's there. Asked the previous owner about it and he wants me to triage my entire system. But since I've tried, what, 5 other phono stages and all have been silent, I don't think it's my system. Besides, the zPhono sounds too forward to me, overly bright and excited. So it's on the way to ebay.

In direct comparison with the 640P only one unit has held its own. And that's the TCC-760LC. I spent a lot of time comparing these 2 units. It was close. Very close. In the end it was a toss-up -- on some music the 640P sounded better to me. Other times, the 760LC sounded better. Since the 760LC is less than 50% of the cost of the 640P, I sold the 640P.

I have avoided posting these impressions because, frankly, I'm afraid of being flamed here. I was going to leave the 760LC out of this post all-together and just confirm the fine results I had with the 640P -- besting $500 and $600 models. But I'm feeling confident and strong today, so what the hell.

The real budget giant among phono stages is the TCC-760LC. By the way, did I mention that it will handle both MM and MC carts? And that it offers a choice of 20 or 100 ohms for MC input impedance?

Well, there you go.

But the journey continues.... Just got a wicked good deal on a NIB Bellari VP-129, which should be here next week. I've read so many good things about it, so I'm sure it's the budget model to finally beat the TCC-760LC. Then, again, that's what I've thought about all the others!


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