Just got my Absolute Sound Jan 2012 issue today. If you look at Jonathan Valin's review of the Magico Q1 speakers, he mentions that the vinyl setup included three phono preamps -"the Aesthetix, Soulution, and (the surprise of the bunch) The Tube (Phono) Preamp from Dan Schmalle of the Tape Project and Bottlehead Electronics." Later in the review, when Valin had some issues with a couple of the phonostages, he settled on the third and "the Q1s sprang into even more convincing life - transparancy, resolution, delicacy of tone and texture, see-through clarity, and above all liveliness markedly increased and the vague sense of mechanization vanished. Clearly, it was not the amps or cables that were causing the problem... it was the other two phonostages." It looks like Mr. Valin had a good time with the Bottlehead. Larry
