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Andover SpinStage Phono Pre-Amp
Vinyl Playback with Exceptional ClarityEditor's Choice - eCoustics Don’t just connect a turntable—elevate it with the SpinStage phono preamp. Designed for both Moving Magnet and Moving Coil cartridges, it offers high-end circuitry and adjustable features that rival expensive preamps.
SpinStage - Moving Magnet & Moving Coil Phono Preamp
SpinStage has been painstakingly engineered to deliver outstanding sound quality with virtually any Magnetic or Moving-Coil cartridge. It is the perfect choice to add a phono input to an audio system that lacks one, to add Moving-Coil compatibility, or to simply improve upon your system’s internal circuit.
Exactly the Right Impedance
Most audio systems don’t accommodate low-output Moving Coil (MC) cartridges. The SpinStage preamp offers four MM input impedance settings and 15 MM capacitance options, ensuring your MM cartridge performs at its best.
True Moving-Coil Gain Stage
Many budget phono preamps boost gain on Moving Magnet inputs for MC cartridges, adding noise. The SpinStage has a dedicated MC gain stage, delivering true MC performance with minimal background noise.
Highly Refined Circuitry
The SpinStage preamp uses isolated dual-mono circuitry, a DC servo circuit, and a switchable subsonic filter (20 Hz, 12 dB/octave) to minimize noise, distortion, and turntable rumble.
Matched Pair
Spinstage is a match with Songbird HR
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Professional Reviews 88/100
Nicely Roasted
Sound Quality
84/100
Cartridge Compatibility
91/100
Build Quality
88/100
Value for Money
96/100
The SpinStage brings lively clarity, wide layered imaging and remarkably controlled bass to affordable vinyl playback. Ian White found its speed and detail exceptional for the money, while Steven Stone praised its expansive staging. Extensive MM loading, a quiet current-mode MC input and a defeatable subsonic filter make this a flexible, high-value phono stage.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Delivers lively, transparent detail, speed and clarity that reviewers found exceptional at its price.
Produces a wide, layered soundstage with stable image placement and convincing dimensional cues.
Offers unusually broad MM loading adjustment, capable MC operation and a useful subsonic filter for the price.
Strong value and build quality, with performance that belies its affordable cost.
&
Cons
Its forward, highly revealing balance can sound leaner and less colorful with already open cartridges or neutral systems.
Bottom-mounted DIP switches make cartridge-loading and filter adjustments less convenient.
Low-level 60-cycle hum may be audible with very low-output MC cartridges or at unusually high volume.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 84/100
The SpinStage is widely praised for its unusually clear, lively and detailed sound at its price, with controlled bass and sweet, airy treble. Its presentation can be somewhat forward and lean with an already open or highly detailed cartridge, while spatial performance varies by system. One reviewer also heard low-level 60-cycle hum at unusually high volume.
Transparency Noise Floor
78/100
Michael Fremer found the SpinStage "dead quiet" from the listening seat, and Ian White likewise called it quiet in his systems. However, Steven Stone heard low-level 60-cycle hum when volume was raised substantially above normal levels; he considered it unobtrusive in ordinary listening, but it remains a meaningful limitation for a phono stage.
Tonal Balance Musicality
87/100
Reviewers describe a lively, clear and revealing character, with robust, controlled bass and a smooth, sweet top end rather than the roughness often associated with inexpensive phono stages. It is not wholly neutral: White found that it brings music forward and can sound a little short of vocal color or body with the wrong cartridge and system balance.
Dynamics
84/100
The SpinStage was commended for speed and a lively presentation, and Stone reported that both of his turntable systems stayed composed through demanding dynamic passages. White suggests pairing it with a warmer, more dynamic cartridge, indicating that system matching has a noticeable influence on how much drive and weight it conveys.
Soundstage Imaging
86/100
Stone heard a wide, layered stage with stable orchestral placement, clear depth and preserved dimensional cues. White also found images vivid and sharply drawn, though he felt the stage was more constrained between the speakers than through more expensive alternatives.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Cartridge Compatibility
91/100
The SpinStage supports both MM and MC cartridges, offering 40dB of MM gain and 66.5dB for low-output MC designs. MM users receive four resistive-load settings and an unusually extensive range of capacitance choices, while the current-mode MC input automatically adjusts impedance; reviewers indicate that all but the very lowest-output cartridges should be viable.
Build Quality
88/100
White specifically praises the SpinStage's build quality alongside its loading options and transparent presentation. Its compact aluminum enclosure, separate MM and MC inputs, grounding provision, defeatable subsonic filter and thoughtfully implemented adjustment options make it a well-equipped and purposeful unit.
Value for Money
96/100
At $249, the SpinStage drew unusually emphatic value praise. Fremer called it "ridiculously good," Stone initially assumed it cost twice as much, and White placed it among the best affordable phono preamplifiers, citing its loading flexibility, construction and detail retrieval.
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Authorized dealers for Andover SpinStage Phono Pre-Amp
- Abt Electronics — online and in-store — Glenview, Illinois, United States (website)
- Audio Advice — online and in-store — Raleigh, North Carolina, United States (website)
- Audio Artisans — in-store — Bozeman, Montana, United States (website)
- B&H Photo — online and in-store — New York, New York, United States (website)
- Brian's Custom Theaters & Hi-Fi — in-store — Nashville, Tennessee, United States (website)
- deciBel Audio — in-store — Chicago, Illinois, United States (website)
- Elusive Disc — online and in-store — Anderson, Indiana, United States (website)
- Fred's Sound Of Music AV — in-store — Portland, Oregon, United States (website)
- HiFi Heaven — online and in-store — Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States (website)
- Minneapolis Hifi — in-store — Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (website)
and 6 more verified dealers