Currently I have a Nova with a Technics SL-1210GR (Ortofon 2M Blue) and a Rega Fono MKII phono stage. It feels that the Rega might be the bottleneck so I am interested in exploring some alternative phone stages. I am interested if anyone has done this exercise for their Nova. Looking for some guidance from community members regarding a phono stage that has a a modern design (e.g. Primare R15, Chord Huie which both might be overkill).
I have a Techy 1200 (modded) and an Atom. Not exactly like yours but similar enough to validate my preference.
I use a Rothwell Simplex MM phono stage and am very happy with it.
I don’t own a Nova with my Technics 1200, but rather a Supernait, and use the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ (as well as its companion power supply); it’s quite good with a variety of loading options to suit every flavor.
I dont own a Nova, rather a NAC202+hicap+Nap150x I also run a modded technics 1200, I previously had a Rega mk3 phono and found an nice improvement when changing to a Lehman black cube se. Also the switchable mc loadings are nice to have due to ease of swapping cartridges on the technics due to removable head shells.
Have a look at Graham Slee, I had a Rega Fono with my ClearAudio Emotion and a Rega Aethos.
The Fono was bought as an add-on when I switched to the Aethos
It became very quickly obvious that the Fono was the Weakest Link (Goodbye) in the end I bought the Graham Slee for the fact it was dedicated to MM and I wasn’t paying for extra circuits or relays or whatever.
They said give it some time to burn in, that wasn’t needed - sounded great .
A Technics SL1210 GR is a nice turntable and you should find phono stages at all price points. In the end I bought a mid-range unit and added a power supply. Total bill £695 but worth every penny . I feel I am now getting the best out of the turntable.
To me the basic and mid-range Graham Slee units succeed because they don’t offer masses of filters, valves or MC V MM . Just straightforward engineering.
My current set-up is a Thorens TD160S, SME Series 3S arm, Grado Reference Sonata MM, into a Naimuniti 2. I had a ProJect pre-amp for a short while but wasn’t at all impressed. I replaced with the
ifi Micro Phono which opened up the music beautifully. It is a small, well-made unit with a host of sound adjustments and switchable to MC to boot. I’ve had it 5 or 6 years now, and no plans to change. It was approx £400 when I bought it, and is now around £550. In cost terms it seems to me a fair match with the Naimuniti2, and I think it still has the potential to match any upgrade in the system.