New classic-2 or PV-5 ?

[mfm22]

Hi ,I'm new here & have been having a tough time deciding on a preamp .
I remember back in the day CJ'S were considered very nice . I need this to use with Phono so
The phono stge is important as well as line .
The Calssic was being offered at a good price but the m8080 tubes are going to be hard to find...
so I looked at the Classic 2 1 x 6922 in phono & 3x 12ax7 line easy to find ..

I'm hard pressed with the cost of these so looked at some preowned . The PV5 came up and
Is a fraction of the price but.... Iwonder if it's a can of worms waiting to explode ..
CJ charges dearly to redo these

any other choices ? good phono !
Thanks

[admin]

mfm22,
First, welcome to CJO, it's nice to have you.

As for your questions, I think there are a lot of good phono sections in many models of CJ gear. I don't think that is the limiting factor. Rather, how much do you want to spend? New or used? There is nothing wrong with more vintage models like the PV5 but you have to look at potential tube replacements as well as possibly recapping models from the 80's as those tend to degrade over a few decades.

The only other thing I would mention is that if you are looking specifically for a good phone section, have you thought about just getting the TEA2 http://www.conradjohnson.com/It_just_so ... /tea2.html? You don't mention your current setup so it's hard to say whether the best bang for your buck would be getting a TEA2 and using your current preamp or getting a combo unit.