Project Tube Box MM/MC

Tube sound for your Vinyl. Both MM or MC capabilities.

At this price, you can afford to experiment with better tubes or ring-type tube dampers, as there's just enough space to allow you to fit them. You will need the assistance of someone with tiny fingers to get the tubes out in the first place, but it's worth it. With some mil-spec 12AX7As and some Sicomin dampers, I got the noise wa-a-ay down.

What makes the Tube Box so appealing to me is its user-friendliness. (Remember: this is a phono stage, not a step-up for use in a phono input. You connect the Tube Box to a line level input.) I revelled in the blessedly simple adjustment method to suit the various cartridges I tried. Flip over the unit, and there's a basic DIP switch set-up with eight tabs, plus a small chart. You flip the little switches to provide settings for 47k Ohms moving magnet cartridges, or moving coils at 1k, 220 or 100 Ohms. Yes, a knob on the front would be nice, but we're talking about a phono stage - a damned good phono stage.