I have had my 990 for several months now, but I finally fired up my Bang & Olufson turntable to listen to "Thriller" by Mike Jackson.

I thought the sound was superb! My teenage son had some friends over, and they did not believe me that it was a record being played.

Granted, the B & O is a fine turntable, but the sound was great.

Glad you liked the 990's phono performance, cp1966 - I wouldn't have bought it without a phono input but it was great to find not just equal, but better sound than the Adcom GTP500 it replaced. I do wish the phono level was about 10 db higher, though.
How the 990's phono performance compares with the 2150's I don't know (and am a little afraid to find out).

Have the same album. Boy that takes me back. Can't believe that album is 25 years old. I remember when that album was playing in all the dance clubs when it was first released. Though the built-in phono stage is good, I went with a separate phono preamp for my Pro-Ject turntable. I'll bet your son and his friends were shocked to hear how good vinyl sounds compared to digital. My vinyl rig sounds better than my digital rig any day. Keep on spinning!

What is accomplished with seperate phone preamp? Do you have the same Pro-Ject turntable as reviewed in "Sound and Vision"?

Hi CP1966,

Not sure which Pro-Ject turntable reviewed but I own a 1.2. The reason using a separate phono preamp is to obtain better sound. My Jolida JD-9 uses two 12AX7 tubes for that warmer "tube" sound. There is greater depth and detail vs. the built-in phono stage of the 990. Having tubes, gives me the ability to tailor the sound to my system. I use the GT Mullard clones that many recommend for the Jolida. Also, the Jolida has a wide range of gain adjustability so one can use low output MC cartridges. That will be my next upgrade changing my current MM cartridge to a low output MC cartridge.

I too have a pro-ject turn table and a pro-ject phono preamp - I just like the sound better than the outlaw's phono. I do use it with another turn table I added though.

They reviewed a Pro-Ject Debut III. Here is a link;

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/av/2387/platter-matters-three-turntables.html

How much does one of those phono pre-s cost? Honestly, I only have about 20 albums and seldom listen to them so I will probably stay with what I have.

Thanks for the link. Interesting read. If you are already satisfied with the phono amp in the 990, you probably don't want to spend the additional monies for a separate phono preamp. The other poster using Pro-Ject's phono preamp costs about $119 while my Jolida JD-9 costs around $400. I also use Pro-Ject's Speed Box MkII which is a quartz-locked speed controller for my turntable. Makes life easier changing speeds with a push of a button but it also makes my turntable sound much better as well.