bsarpolis wrote:

I just traded in my 8 year old Rega P1 and upgraded to a Rega RP3 with the Elys 2 cartridge. Here is the rest of my system:

* Pioneer SC-55 A/V Receiver
* Paradigm Studio 60 v .5
* Bellari VP 130 Phono Stage
* Oppo BDP-130D
* Rega Planet 2000 (soon to be up for sale)

I would like to upgrade my phono pre amp. I like the idea of paring with a Rega Fono MM, I am intrigued by the Vincent PHO 700, I liked the cost of the Cambridge Azur 651P, and I like the idea of saving money and using the Bellari VP1 30? The Bellari does produce a decent amount of hum even with the output volume at 12 o'clock.

What would be the best phone pre amp for my Rega RP3? My predominant music choice is classic/modern rock/alternative. Please let me know what everyone thinks!

Unless you want to spend $500 or more, the best-sounding one IMO is the Musical Fidelity V90-LPS, which Needle Doctor is selling for only $229.

I personally think that your speakers are far better than your amplifier (receiver), and that if you want a big improvement in the sound you need to replace the Pioneer with either a NAD or Cambridge Audio AVR, or a good stereo amplifier. That Pioneer AVR is going to be a serious impediment to ever getting decent sound out of those very nice speakers; it is the wrong tool for the job; sort of like trying to tow a 35-foot trailer with a Fiat 500.

That Pioneer has ridiculously misleading audio power ratings, which are belied by the fact that its total power consumption is only rated at 370 watts.

A person who does not understand the ratings system might think that it is supposed to put out 140 watts per channel to 9 channels, which would be 1260 watts...rofl. 1260 watts out from 370 watts in? I guess we just repealed some basic laws of physics here! Not on this planet. No way.

The fact is that after you subtract some control circuit power, less than 300 watts is left for all of the amplifier channels. If you are only using it as a 2-channel amplifier, you might get close to 100 watts per channel, but if you are running 5 channels 50 watts per channel is about what is going to be available.

This kind of receiver/amplifier simply has a cheap underpowered power supply, and this means it has no headroom and is going to struggle to produce any decent dynamics with speakers like yours. They have an impedance that is below 6 ohms from 80 to 600 Hz, and the Pioneer is not designed to drive that kind of load.

NAD and Cambridge Audio AVRs, by comparison have power supplies that are typically rated for over 1000 watts, which makes your Pioneer a bad joke from a design and performance standpoint.

I have an RP3 with an Exact2. The guys at needledoctor steered me to the Vincent PHO-8 for $300 and I love it. It was a big step up from the internal phono stage on my Rega Brio R which is generally considered pretty good. If you do want to spend more, I have never heard to Vincent PHO-700 but would be worth giving the guys at AudioAdvisor a call to ask about it vs. the PHO-8. Just above the PHO-700 price point, there is an awesome Jolida unit (can't remember the model) and the Musical Surrounds Phonomena II which is a great unit at $650. That being said, I don't know if you need to step up to those higher end units when you can get an exceptional value with something like the PHO-8.