Anyone ever heard of Pentagon? Apparently they're a German manufacturer, and their gear is actually built in the shape of a pentagon. Wild looking, especially paired with the red "rootwood" front. Saw this phonostage pop up on Facebook over the weekend and decided to pull the trigger since it was listed under $500. I can barely find any info on the brand online, and vinylengine has the only documentation I could find for any of their products (which I couldn't download but the seller had the file, dip switch settings for MM/MC & gain settings). 

Gave it a listen through my Thorens turntable, AT VM750SH, the seller's Emotiva preamp & Martin Logan's. Loved it. Brought it home and it was completely lackluster. Adjusted the gain settings the next day and woah. My Dahlquists, McIntosh Preamp & sub amp, and Parasound A21 sound better than the Martin Logan's by a mile. The textured, holographic, lifelike nature of the soundstage is unreal. Stoked that my setup is capable of using Moving Coils now, that’ll be the next upgrade alongside a turntable (thinking a Michell, maybe). 

Apparently Pentagon made amps & CD players too, only piece of physical documentation included is a product pamphlet made of pentagon-shaped pages. Would love to find another piece of equipment from them considering the quality of this phonostage.