PH9 Phono Stage

PH9 Foundation Series Vacuum-tube Phono Stage. It's sneaking up on twenty years since I (John) bought his very first high end tubed phono stage, an Audio Research PH3.  I was just getting into vinyl, and had a Rega Planar 25 with an Elys cartridge. I went from a decent midrange solid stage phono stage straight to the PH3, creating in a sense a system where I had a lot more phonostage than turntable/cartridge.   The PH3 was an absolute revelation in what a tubed phono stage can do for a turntable setup.  My system went from having an excellent analog sound, to a magical and alive analog sound that rocketed it's performance above my much more expensive SACD digital front end.  It's because, as I found, the tubes give this inner resolution and amplify the natural sense of presence and warmth of vinyl, bringing about what many feel is the best sound source available - Tubes and Vinyl. Fast forward today, and Pearl Audio is somewhat magically Portland's Audio Research Dealer, a dream come