Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 Pure-Tube MM/MC Phono Preamplifier (Black)

Very gladly suprised.This was a step up from the phono amp included in my integrated amplifier, a Rotel 1592MKII which already sounded pretty good. I was ready for let down, as in "there is no difference here". WRONG. There is a very clear difference.Everything sounds better: bass, mids, treble. Low noise floor. Good clean gain.No strange noises, they all dissapeared!Very easy setup.Looks: well built, feels solid, definitely not a "looker". A black box with 2 tubes. WYSIWYG. Can't be comared to a 1,000 dollars and up preamp. Not fair.Sounds good with the stock tubes, but: just an idea, throw away the OK but walmartish stock tubes. No need to spend big bucks. A good pair of current production 12ax7 will do great in this preamp (I am running a pair of Electro-Harmonix 7025 and also tried a pair of Tung-Sol 12ax7): the tone improved again significantly, let's say 20% better tone than the stock tubes, better "body" to the stringed instruments, and way more clarity in the upper registers.A good buy!!!

This is a tiny but solid phono preamp, tubes are a bit generic for the hefty cost of this unit however it does sounds great. The phono preamp on my Marantz 2325 works just fine with my Technics SL1200 MK3D but wanted to enhance it further. I will also be upgrading the tubes to Telefunken which will be costly however spending this much already on a preamp, I want to get the most out of this setup. The instructions are not that great but still understandable. Tip for anyone using Ortofon blue cartridge, the example dip setting on bottom switches for the red described in instructions are the same, It’s only #3 on. I did increase the gain slightly from 43 to the 50 as 47 is best setting and sounds amazing.

I have to start with...I'm certainly no audiophile. This is my very first turntable since I was a kid (U-Turn Orbit Plus) - and definitely my first tube preamp. I'm running U-Turn Orbit Plus ->Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 -> AudioEngine A5+ speakers.Now, I was/am very happy with the built-in Pluto preamp. The system sounded great to begin with. But I just had to try a tube preamp. (I'm a guitar player...I like tubes...sue me). I only compared the Pluto to the Pro-Ject once - very early on. And frankly, it didn't sound much, if any, better than the Pluto to me. For that very reason...it's simply not worth $400 to me. However, all that being said, the Pro-Ject, now, sounds just fantastic to me. Perhaps it was tube burn-in. Perhaps it's all psychological. But it sounds great!I did change the tubes to new production Mullards immediately. Didn't even try it with the supplied tubes.Regarding sound: You'll see this in many reviews - the bass is fantastic. Deep, rich, room-filling. But not overdone. I can't say, "I'm hearing things I never heard before!" That's not the case at all. But it just sounds good.I'm running it at 40db (was originally at 43db, but backed it down). Also have the Subsonic filter on. With my Ortofon OM20 stylus, I've got it at 220 pf and that seems to sound best to my ears. (You'll have to read up on the pF settings based on your particular set-up/slylus, etc. Very cool that you can customize to your preferences). I have very short cable runs. (Mogami cables - one 2549 and one 2534 - I think).Bottom line, I really don't know that it's worth $400 to me. But I have to give it a great review. The system sounds great! If you've got an extra $400 burning a hole in your pocket - and you're not 100% sold on your current preamp - I'd say go for it.

This phono pre is amazing! The sound is warm, fat and glassy…much better than my Cambridge Audio solid state pre. The seller was awesome…got it in a day or two. Thanks guys!!!

Im picky about my home audio setup and didn't have any intentions to upgrade until I realized my old phono preamp did not survive our recent move. This led me to decide on an upgrade and find something new. Coming from mostly solid state in the past I decided I wanted to give tubes a try but also did not want to break the bank. Boy was I impressed. This Tube Box S2 was a huge upgrade to my system. My vinyl's felt warmer, and I was picking up details in the music I hadn't before. Setup is simple if you follow the provided instructions. It looks modest and isnt a big obnoxious bright amp by any means which I like as my entertainment center is already crowded with other audio and gaming equipment. Everything pro-ject builds that I have used has had great quality and I fully expect this to last me a long long time.

Spent two days with the adjustments with this pre-amp and nothing I did would help the muffled sound. The music sounded ok but, when the singing came on it sounded like there was a bag covering my speakers. Went with the less expensive digital pre amp and sounded much better to my ears.

First of all the reason I bought this unit, was due to dual moving coils cartridge, they produce very low signals and this unit brought my signals up very nicely and warm, makes my turntable sound 100%. Clean and clear, you will notice a difference, there are other phono preamps that are cheaper, due your homework and you will see why this item and others like it are very expensive