[fnemick]

More or less a newb. Any help most welcome!

I have a Grado Sonato cartridge putting out 0.5mv into a load of 47k ( Grado's specs ). My current phono pre is a ARC PH3 with about 54db of gain. Not enough gain so I am currently running the signal thru half of a 6sn7 to up the signal. I would like to try upping the signal before the preamp (is there a benifit to this ?). If this would be a good thing, would the piccolo or stepup Tranny be better suited. I am also currently building a octal cornet to possibly replace my ARC. comments?

[alpa6]

I have that combo.I run a piccolo.I upgraded the caps in it to auricaps.I find little to no degradation in sound adding the piccolo.
In my opinion adding a transformer will change your sound more.There are some very exspensive tranies out there so if you spend enough you migh find one that beats the piccolo.At it's price its hard to beat.

[fnemick]

Thanks for your view, price is always a consideration!
Frank