MC, 0.2 mV. Design by Ikeda-san. A MC Decca. Needs heavy tonearm/special counterweight in Linn.
Ortofon Kontrapunkt B
Wonderful cartridge much better than Mikey describes it. 150 hr. break in.
Pass Labs Aleph ONO
Musical, detailed, quiet and focused. Has latest P/s upgrades. Sounds good S/e and balanced.
Adcom GFP-750
with remote, 25 lbs. Undergoing Black Gate mod.
Wolcott Audio P-220m
220w, mono pair, absolutely fantastic sound and user friendly
Sound Lab A-3
pair, 290 lbs. Will output 20HZ cleanly with correct amps in the right room.
HardBar.net Tripods
Composite mounting system designed by aerospace materials engineer increases coupling of A and M series Sound Labs by 5 x stock. Soler Points optional.
Cardas Golden Reference
Balanced 0.5 M rewired to correct SA-14 polarity. Needs 100 hours to break in.
Innersound Balanced
8M run from preamp to amps. Electrically sound - low capacitance - for this application.
FMS Blue
special cable from Ittok to Pass Ono.
Magnan Signature
Flat and wide. Sonically detailed and neutral. Synergistic with electrostats.
Accuphase T-100
am-fm, 31 lbs net. Mods by Don Scott.
McIntosh MR-7083
30 lbs. Under-rated sonically compared to earlier tuners.
Well, passive is the way I heard the active Atma-Sphere beat the passive Adcom and the passive Sonic Frontiers SL-2. I went ahead and got the phono stage as well. Don't know if it's better than your Pass but it sounds pretty damn good. But please try to remember the price difference. It's quite large, you know. BTW, the Adcom is not truly balanced like the Atma-Shere and probably the BAT, SF, Pass, ARC.
Having owned CLSIIz, various Quads, and other M-Ls, heard several Sound-Labs extensively and now own Magnepan 3.6 (how long, who knows?), AND owned the Adcom 750, I can say that my Atma-Sphere MP-3 wipes the floor with it. The only actual head-to-head comparison of the Atma-Sphere was with a Sonic Frontiers SL-2 (model # correct?) and there was no contest. Having never heard any BAT gear, with all the mostly good reports, it must be some real nice sounding stuff.
But wait, you can buy a used Adcom for about $700. I got to believe the BATs are way more, even used. But, given the pedigree of the rest of your system, maybe an upgrade should be considered, on trial, of course.
ivanj on Opinions Please