It’s a real shame the Indian Rosewood has now been banned Toon, it looks fantastic in the high gloss
Simon Price plinths are the best , I have 2 of them, he’s a master
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Rosewood banned? from international trade, you mean?
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Correct
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What made you go for the aura phono stage vs urika Toon ?
Or even the Naim Superline ?
I spent 6 months auditioning a new phono stage to upgrade from my previous Cyrus Phono Signature and PSXR2 power supply. During that period I auditioned Urika, Stageline, Superline, Roksan RPP and Rega Aura. All auditions were set up in the same system as I have to provide as close a relevance as possible. I visited 3 different dealers in this period to remove any specific “dealer favourites”. I knew it would be my last phono stage purchase so I took my time and treated it like a project in its own right.
The Aura was the hands down best performer in my system in my room to my ears. So I bought one.
Even though it was the most expensive of the pack I have no regrets at all. Best phono stage I’ve ever heard.
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The Rega Aura is very good.
It’s definitely worth consideration.
Presented with the same choices, seems that users make different decisions, according to preferences and the specifics of their use case.
Here’s another case…
@Toon chose Aura
@philiprst with NSC222 chose NVC TT
With what we have at home, we chose SuperLine
It’s all good.
Wouldn’t life be boring if we all did the same thing.
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Morning @Toon & @ratrat
I run a Cyrus Signature Phono plus PSXr2 as my phono stage.
It is the last piece of my pre Linn/Naim system and I had been considering looking at alternatives in the new year, to see if it could be bettered at a decent price.
I am particularly interested @Toon in your experience demoing the Stageline against your Cyrus.
Can you give any insights as to what you experienced?
Thank you🙂
I think you have to be very concerned about most topical hardwoods
I suspect if I had a bespoke plinth made it would be in something like high gloss English yew
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Morning @QuickSticks and @ratrat
The Stageline was nowhere near as good as my Cyrus. Superline was better but still not at the level of Aura. The Stageline produced a more muddied presentation with cymbals, vocal and piano less well defined and seperated than with the Cyrus. I quickly dismissed Stageline but spent longer assessing Superline. In the end, Aura won out. I was particularly impressed with the sophisticated power supplies inside Aura making it a 1 box solution (one of the reasons why it weighs 13kg I guess?)
HTH?
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You know, I meant Superline not Stageline🤦🏻♂️
We have a Stageline on my wife’s system for her MM cart.
I’m not really thinking about spending over £4k on replacing my Cyrus, if I do so at all 
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You could consider a Prefix (£200ish) powered by a Supercap (£1200ish). I think for the money, it’s got to be hard to beat. I think many miss this option because the Prefix itself is so cheap. I’ve never heard the Cyrus but I’d put money on the Prefix/SC seeing it off. Difficult to dem though which may be another reason it doesn’t get considered.
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Paul
As you know, I’m intrigued by this combination. Would defiantly jump at the chance of hearing, to better understand how it works.
Also, challenging to find a nice Olive SC as we’ve discussed in the past.
For @QuickSticks both systems in the house are OC so this isn’t an issue.
@QuickSticks
Which of your two LP12’s were you thinking
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I’ve been considering Superline/HiCap DR for about 4 months now Paul.
It’s something that appears on the preloved market a lot and I already have a HiCapDR I could repurpose 
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That’s probably your best move. You can then upgrade to a Supercap later
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Well Ian @Toon
His Indian Rosewood high gloss Simon Price plinth looks very impressive to me I must say
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Agreed re the Prefix/Supercap - along with a Urika, best VFM stages out there IMO and both great.
Obviously, the latter only makes sense if you also have a radikal…!
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For me, my old SC2 was preferable to HCDR with Superline so I’d recommend hearing both. With HiCap the sound seemed more ‘hi fi’, impressive but a bit much compared to the SuperCap which was more ‘musical’ and involving - to my ears (similar difference as 282 vs 252 to me.)
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Yeah - I see where you’re coming from for sure. Cartridge choice is obviously a major factor and the Cyrus does a great job, especially if you have the PSXR2 power supply too - do you?
I had my Cyrus for about 7 years with a DV XX2 cart and it was magical. But my move to Ekstatik meant a required step up in the phono stage to get the best out of it. The Aura outpaced everything else I listened to and I reckon I’d have to go >£10k with a Whest or a Accuphase to better it (which would be a step too far)
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‘78 Sondek Cirkus / RB1000 / 2M bronze with custom motor PS and phono stage.
Suspension just refreshed with springs & grommets renewed, belt cleaned, armboard screws nipped up and a couple of drops oil in the bearing. Sounding very good 
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Yeah, Phono Signature with PSXr2.
Currently running Apheta3 on RB880.
Not envisaging breaking the £1.5k mark on replacement cartridges going forward.
Considering Lyra, Dynavector, Hana or staying Rega, so Phono Stage to match😊