TRIGON: From Germany, welcome the Trigon Vanguard II phono preamp. Brought to us by the Golden ears over at Immedia (importers of Lyra cartridges and Burmester), this highly versatile design provides sixteen different gain settings (from 42dB - 62 dB) and thirty-one load settings (33 Ohms - 47kOhms)! Easily configured for virtually any cartridge on the market, the Trigon Vanguard II phono stage not only gives you the ability to fine tune your present phono cartridge, but the almost unlimited range of adjustment insures it will partner with any other cartridge you buy down the road.
        The build quality and solidity are exceptional for a product at this price point. Among most of the competition you’ll find a much thinner front panel, lighter gauge chassis material and a less substantial circuit board. At $500, the Trigon Vanguard II is an outstanding value that should be strongly considered.
         As an added attraction, you can combine the Vanguard II with Trigon's Volcano II battery power supply for significantly enhanced performance. We all know how batteries can lower the background noise and reduce grain, but most phono stages do not offer this option. Vanguard does. When you’re ready to take it to the next level, you won’t have sell and start over, just add the Volcano II and enhance your enjoyment. $500 

WHEST: Yep, it’s just as good as Mikey Fremer from Stereophile declares. Rocketing to rock star status with an over the top review in Stereophile, the Whest phono stage from Great Britain has been selling like hot cakes. The reason for the popularity will become clear from the first few bars it sings for you. Performance from the unassuming pair of small boxes will shock you.
         The design philosophy of the Whest is unique - they state: “The RIAA curve was designed many years ago to enable the use of vinyl as a playback medium. Back then the humble stylus and audio electronics could reproduce only a very limited bandwidth. A system with a bandwidth of 12 kHz was quite rare. Nowadays most systems have a bandwidth of 100 kHz! The modern day phono cartridge can play back 60 kHz. So why continue with a filter curve designed for systems of the 1950s?”
         Whest measured modern day cutter heads (Neumann) and found them able to operate at 50 kHz. With that knowledge they developed a very wide bandwidth phono stage that, according to Whest, “…large amounts of information are now able to beard when it was thought there was nothing there.”
         Don’t take this to mean the Whest sounds bright, it does not, rather the extended high frequency response allows one to hear further into the soundstage, while improving transients and the ability to discern faint nuance. $2595, and well worth it. 

MICHELL: The July 2005 issue of Hi-Fi Choice Magazine in the UK just concluded a blind listening test on six turntables. Compared to the Clearaudio Champion, Project RPM 9X, Rega P5, Marantz TT 15, and Roksan Radius, the Michell TecnoDec scored highest overall and was the conclusive winner. The best part is that the TecnoDec was the least expensive! The RB250 Special tonearm as supplied by Artech was used on the deck. The magazine gave the Michell TecnoDec a Best Buy rating.
        “The star though is Michell’s TecnoDec. The cheapest ($1695, complete with tonearm) of the group, it’s one of the best sounding, and it’s as smart as any. Michell’s reputation for lasting quality can’t hurt either, but its crisp, precise and extended sound is the clincher.” Hi-Fi Choice
         While we’re on the subject of Michell, let me mention the TecnoArm.
         Don’t let the overly simplistic description “a modified Rega 250” put you off. This is a fundamental mechanical and wiring rebuild that leaves little more than the cueing mechanism untouched.
        The arm tube is first bead-blasted, then drilled along its length to disperse structural resonances and reduce effective mass. Internal damping is added to further reduce resonance and vibrations. The headshell is then machined perfectly flat to insure correct alignment of the cartridge relative to the bearing cradle and arm base. Wiring is replaced using a single piece of unbroken wire from headshell leads all the way out to the male RCAs. After modification the bearings are re-adjusted for highest possible performance, according to original Rega procedures.
The result is a marvelous tonearm that beats anything I’ve heard up to $2k. Our #1 pick in this price range. The TecnoArm is strongly recommended! $1099 Oh yes, included are the Michell VTA adjuster and the TecnoWeight counterweight. Both are wonderful upgrades that you can easily install on any Rega arm.

BELLARI: A great value oriented tube phono stage, the Bellari VP-129 offers surprising performance for the amazingly low price of only $199. As an added benefit, the VP-129 serves as a headphone amplifier with volume control.
        It's a simple unit with simple circuitry utilizing a single 12AX7A providing 30dB of gain and is designed for moving magnet cartridges. The rumble filter is a nice feature and will tame feedback, suppress woofer “pumping” and reduce sensitivity to footfall-induced low frequency problems.
        Recently reviewed by Jimmy Hughes in HI-Fi+ (issue 37), he writes:” The Bellari seemed to create a sound that was rich, natural and appealing. Surface noise was low, and the music emerged from a crisp, quiet background. It was an excellent sound by almost any standards; one I was happy to listen to.
        The bane of cheap vinyl reproduction is excessive brightness/harshness. The Bellari sounded focused and articulate, but rich and warm too - with an attractively full bass and sweet, open mid-band."
        The bright red Bellari VP-129 is extremely well put together and made right here in the USA. At the price, it’s a winner!

JOLIDA: In the January issue of SoundBites I announced the introduction of the Jolida JD-9 tube phono stage at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The popularity of the JD-9 took Jolida by surprise, selling out the entire initial production run before it was completed! The unanticipated success had Jolida scrambling to process another run (which was sold) and then another. It’s taken a while to fill the pipeline, but I have stock on the units (at least at this writing).
          At $450, it’s easy to see why the JD-9 is so popular. The Jolida has what you’d expect from a Jolida design – the smoothness and ease of tubes. Unlike most tube phono stages, the Jolida can handle both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges.