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Yeah, I was considering the AS301. I'm so bad at reading specs, though, that I couldn't tell whether it was compatible with my KEF Reference Model Twos (SP3188). And some people at a different audio forum told me that the phono stage on it isn't great (which could have just been audio snobbery...

Yeah, ideally I would want one that lets me adjust the capacitance, etc. Again, have heard plenty of horror stories about my cartridges sounding excessively bright without proper loading. Fortunately hasn't been a huge issue (to my ears) on my Kenwood; I'm guessing this is likely because it's...

Ugh, haha, back to the drawing board then. But your recommendations are very helpful! Thanks!

By "affordable" in this case, I mean $500 and under. These are the specs for my current receiver (on paper, of course). In a perfect world, I'd want an amp with a phono stage built-in that is in the ballpark of being as good. But it sounds like that's not really available at my price point...

Yes, both MM. And looks like another vote for the Emotiva! Good to know.

Thanks so much! Yes, I'm starting to lean towards just keeping this unit until it stops working. It's not so much that I feel a strong urge to "upgrade"; it's more that I want to see if there's a way to at least get close to where I am now in terms of performance with newer components--at an...

This is great! Really appreciate the detailed history. I'll definitely keep the Emotiva and Parasound options in mind (having seen them both described favorably in the past). Have you heard anything about the Parasound integrated amps with built-in phono stages (unless no such products exist and...

Thank you for the wisdom and pragmatic words!

Appreciate that. Bear in mind that any external phono pre amp I buy would still be pumped through the Kenwood (at least for the time being--until I can get a new amp).

Thank you for this much needed "real talk." I had a feeling diminishing returns would be at play. As my unit is from 1974, I was attempting to find a modern equivalent in case it craps out on me (it has had some L/R channel balance issues, but after cleaning the potentiometers, it works...

Thank you. I've heard a lot of positive things about that one. Are there any other options at that level that are favored by ASR folks?

Thanks! Yeah, it's proving difficult to decide where the value is. I feel like, at minimum, the one I buy should allow for adjustments to capacitance, etc., as the Audio Technica carts I own are supposedly sensitive to that. Is that true of the Rega pre?

Thanks! Good to know!

I really appreciate the thorough and wide-ranging response. You brought up a lot of great points. I'll just note that I'm definitely not an analog purist or someone who insists that vinyl is the superior format to digital or anything (I'd never make that claim). I simply enjoy collecting...

Greetings, all! Sorry in advance if my issue has been covered before countless times; I'm a new member who just discovered this great site today: My setup is a bit odd: I have two Technics 1200s (one a MK5, and the other a brand new 1210-GR); one has an AT-VM540ML and the other an AT-VM740ML...