"No reason to make record-playing any %4#k!@ harder than it has to be.“

Never a truer word, thank you Roy Hall.   Not built for tweakers, Roy’s company, Music Hall just announced the introduction of a very interesting phono stage, the Analogue A3. Both MC and MM compatible, (60db gain and 100ohms impedance for MC, like it or lump it),  12AU7 tubes, small footprint (10″x7″) and it comes with its own flight case so you can travel around with it presumably too, just in case (ahem) you spot a table that could use a little improvement. But seriously, this looks very interesting, and true to the Hall philosophy, it is priced reasonably (audiophile scale that is)  at $1200. Anytime I’ve heard Music Hall gear I’ve done a double-take at the value on offer so expectations for this one are high.  More info here