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June 5, 2012 - 11:32am
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Marantz Pm5004 or Harman Kardon HK3490 - HEAVY EMPHASIS ON VINYL
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audio section than a home theater receiver. It looks like your budget is around $500. You also wouldn't need a unit with a phono input as the ProJect Phono Box II is a competent phono stage. While both the Marantz and HK have their attributes, I would also look into the Music Hall A15.2. Even though it does have a phono section, it has a simplicity and feature set which make it to my mind worth considering.
First question is: would it make any sense to use my phono box with an amp that has a phono input?
What about the Music hall makes it a better buy over the marantz Pm5004?
Thanks,
Yes, it is likely to be better than an onboard phono stage of an integrated amp. You would just connect it through a line level input like AUX.
More power, better preamp and power amp sections, and sounds better from what I can remember.
I recommend the Music Hall A15.2.
It is really an excellent amplifier for the money IMO.
I just demo'd this and was impressed. Sounds very warm and at my local dealer, they had it for $499. It doesn't have a phono stage but that clearly isn't an issue.