Finding good phono stages can be a real nightmare as they are one of the hardest components to get right within a system. Many designs so beloved by the press are able to capture much of the detail within recordings, but few find the passion that great musicians are able to put into their work. We feel the mid market to hi end designs we offer allow you to get closer to both the performance and the performers than many other stages.

The Fono Mini is the new Rega new entry level MM phono stage and possibly the cheapest UK made design available! Mains powered by an external power supply


An entry level stage, perfect for use with budget turntables and system. Switchable for use with both MM and MC cartridges. Mains powered by an external power supply.

The MM1 is a fantastic moving magnet phono stage, and whilst its set at a very reasonable price it contains design elements you wouldn’t normally see at this price, including features such as a dual rail power supply. It is also one of the most stylish looking stages we’ve seen and quite diminutive at just 11.5cms wide.

The Fono is available in two versions, one for MM cartridges (£165) and one for Moving Coil (£225). They both have an external power supply for low noise, and the audio circuit itself is enclosed within an Aluminium box which is available in Black or Silver.

Housed in a smart extruded aluminium case this phono stage can be switched between MM and MC, the latter with two loading options as shown below. It also features an external power supply for low noise.
Please note the picture here is for the mk1 version, new images coming soon.

The MC1 is a superb sounding upgradeable MM and MC switchable phono stage. It uses a gold plated circuit board and a very novel active/passive eq stage for the RIAA correction which gives an accuracy of 0.5dB throughout the audio band. It can be upgraded with the addition of the £250 PSU2 (pictured above left) which takes the sound to another level, and frankly one that competes with some of the best transistors phono stages I’ve heard, all at a combined price of just £500. Unlike many transistor designs which have a habit of stripping the sound of texture and concentrate solely on resolution, the MC1 (pictured below outside its aluminium box) strikes a wonderful balance of tonal substance and detail retrieval. The power supply brings effortless dynamics and a completely strain free sound that remains exciting and involving to listen to.

Neat valve MM & MC valve phono stage, includes switchable subsonic filter and external power supply. More details and photo coming soon.

The Tube Box SE is a compact valve phono stage with inputs for both MM and MC cartridges that is very reasonably priced.
The audio stage uses a pair of ECC83 valves and there’s an external 16V power supply to ensure noise is kept as low as possible.
When used as an MC stage it offers adjustable loading via links mounted on the rear, allowing it to work with a wide range of cartridges.

The sound quality is very impressive for the money. Auditioned with moving magnet cartridges the sound stage is expansive with good detailing and transparency. The bass may be a little rounded in character but this will be only noticeable with wide bandwidth speakers whose price is likely to be way beyond the level of this humble box.

Our experiments with the MC input have so far been not quite as impressive - on test we were not able to get the same sound stage and openness with our favourite coil cartridges (whatever the settings), however this is a trait we feel is common on almost all phono stages with internal active MC stages (whatever the price), however this shouldn’t be seen as a limitation of this phono stage as such, more a limitation of active step ups in general.
The solution is to use a good external step up transformer to raise the MC cartridges output up to the level of a MM design, and whilst this sounds great it does dramatically increase the cost.

So in conclusion this is box is quite superb value for money, but stick to using it with MM cartridges (unless you can afford a good transformer) to hear it at its finest.

The P10 is a superb MM valve phono stage (for Moving Coil use it in conjunction with a Step Up transformer). It uses a completely hard wired purist circuit with passive equalisation and no feedback. It produces an effortless sound with great tonality and is very highly recommended.

The Premier is a valve phono stage that uses 6922 tubes mounted on an aluminium half width chassis. It is a very quiet MM stage which has a transparent sound that is very revealing without being excessively analytical in presentation, and works wonderfully with step ups for use with moving coil cartridges.

Arguably not strictly just a phono stage, as the Verdier is actually a full pre amplifier that just happens to have a phono stage output around the back.
We have had enormous success with the little box into everything from integrated amps up to the Music First TVC pre amplifier. Internal links allow adjustment for use with either MM or MC cartridges (via high quality internal step up transformers).
If it’s just going to be used as a phono stage we recommend buying it with the passive line stage option (as that will be bypassed when running as a phono stage anyway) and saves £300, making it cost just £900. It is also upgradeable with an external regulated valve phono stage.
For further details please see the pre amplifier section here

We were frustrated by the lack of what we considered truly musical sounding phono stages on the market, so two years ago we started the process of having one made to our specification. The result is the PhoNote, a valve stage designed and produced in the UK by valve guru Graham Tricker to our specification.
It is available in either MM or MC guise (the latter by internal high quality step up transformers) and uses passive RIAA equalisation. Its ultra low noise and output impedance make it suitable for use in almost any system.
The MM version costs £1,500 and the MC model costs £1,750.


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