C-28 Phono Stage Question

[RKH]

Just getting back into listening to music and returning to vinyl (loving it too) and have a phono stage question. My C-28 is 1980 vintage and never had serviced as i never had a reason to. Now that I’ve added a turntable (Rega P3) I’m wondering if adding an external phono stage would be an improvement over the C-28. I’m using a MM cart (Exact 2) and would like to stay in $500 range for a phono stage if one would make an appreciable difference. Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

[dinov]

I have a C28 and I think the phono stage is first rate. In fact, all Macs have excellent phono stages. Ive used a modified upgraded Jolida JD9 and a Schitt with my C28 and my C26 and in my opinion MAC pre either meets or exceeds both. I really don’t think you’re going to get a big boost from an external phono stage with a MM. In fact, when I’ve used a MC cartridge Ive used a Dynavector SUT.
Another point is If you’ve never had your C28 serviced it may need new caps and if you do any comparisons with external phono preamps you need to take that into consideration because you may be just hearing the old capacitors in your C28 when you compare it to another phono preamp. Hope this makes sense.

 

[RKH]

I have a C28 and I think the phono stage is first rate. In fact, all Macs have excellent phono stages. Ive used a modified upgraded Jolida JD9 and a Schitt with my C28 and my C26 and in my opinion MAC pre either meets or exceeds both. I really don’t think you’re going to get a big boost from an external phono stage with a MM. In fact, when I’ve used a MC cartridge Ive used a Dynavector SUT.
Another point is If you’ve never had your C28 serviced it may need new caps and if you do any comparisons with external phono preamps you need to take that into consideration because you may be just hearing the old capacitors in your C28 when you compare it to another phono preamp. Hope this makes sense.

Makes perfect sense Dinov and you have a good point on recapping the C-28. I have a repair guy that could sure do it, but right now he’s running 90 days behind and I hate to be down that long. Maybe I could talk him into calling me closer to when he could get to it. Thanks for the advice.

 

[dinov]

Makes perfect sense Dinov and you have a good point on recapping the C-28. I have a repair guy that could sure do it, but right now he’s running 90 days behind and I hate to be down that long. Maybe I could talk him into calling me closer to when he could get to it. Thanks for the advice

The C28s phono section is definitely a winner! Good luck.