Am I a hopeless audio snob?


I think that I may have a problem, I am becoming an audio snob.  

I am going to upgrade my turntable and spend some good money. I read good things about Technics turntables but for some reason I can't take them seriously. From a few feet away, a $4000 Technics plus rig looks like a $400 Technics rig. They look cheesy to me. Low tech 1980's stuff.

I am plunking down some serious money on my next table, but I can't even consider Technics because of the looks. 

I think that I need help!

pilrem

I'm with you there. They look like a good DJ table but they just don't light my fuse. I don't know if they can play with the big boys or not but my TT has to be good sounding and aesthetically pleasing.

Simple reality, form factor matters. It just does. So not a snob, you just don’t get a “wow” from that setup. No worries. Buy what you like both aesthetically and sonically.

+++ VPI for performance, customer service, aesthetics (cutting edge looks but not ‘over the top’) and made in the U.S.A. I had a HW19MkIII for 20 trouble free years until upgrading to a Classic 3 SE 8 years ago and so far so good, no issues and not expecting any.

VPI is garbage. Any company who would make a turntable with a unipivot arm is in trouble. Any turntable company who would do so without antiskating makes garbage. After they realized their mistake they added it but it was too late, the damage was done. Their more expensive tables are Clearaudio copies and poor designs wasting money on filigree instead of performance.

You want to go with Sota, Basis, SME or Avid. Dohmann if you have the bucks.