I agree with sd that it's a system and it's the balance of the components that makes it work.
I'm pretty inexperienced as far as audiophiles go...but I can tell you that the Clearaudio Aurm Beta sounded much better on my GyroSE/OL Silver than on my old AR/Linn. The Clearaudio sonically sounded much better on that AR than the Shure I had on before, BUT something wasn't "right" about the Clear on that table...like it was more than the table could handle, like putting a Ferrari engine in a plain Ford sedan--the performance was there but the match was all wrong. Funny enough, the Clearaudio was considered "too good" for the AR and "not up to par" on the Gyro. Not so sure I agree on the latter, but I do think that putting a very fancy MC on the Gyro would be worth it, if only I could afford it...reason is, the quality of the Gyro and the Silver are such that they could still work well with what a great cart would give them (as could my phono stage, pre, and power amps).
I guess what I did with the Gyro was get the best TT and arm I could afford right away, and got a less expensive "great bang for the buck" cart until I can afford a Koetsu or like brethren, knowing that carts come and go, I wanted to get a "keeper" TT and arm and worry about icing the cake later.
You know, I heard the very inexpensive Grado Black on a VPI mkIII through a very expensive Levinson/B&W 800 rig and it was wonderful...and the music was picked up by a, what, $40 cart. We could clearly see that a better cart would have improved everything, and clearly the rest of the rig warranted a finer cart, but what I'm saying is, it still worked well and was still pleasing, if you could get past the fact that it could have easily been even better with a fancy cart. Then I heard a Linn LP12/Akito/Linn MC (don't recall specifics) through a Conrad PV14/MV60SE/higher B&W CDM rig, which was, I think, pretty well-rounded and it was quite musical and enjoyable, the kind of rig where you forget the gear and dig the music. I think my TT setup sounds very nice and moving the cart up with just open things up more and get that special musicality going.
I'm rambling, but I guess what I'm saying is, I'd rather have a so-so cart on a great rig than a great cart on a crap rig, but neither is as good as a well-rounded system because you miss that musical synergy that makes things sort of seamlessly come together, if that makes any sense.
But, hey, I only know what I hear so I'll move over and let the experienced fellas get into it now :)
I'm pretty inexperienced as far as audiophiles go...but I can tell you that the Clearaudio Aurm Beta sounded much better on my GyroSE/OL Silver than on my old AR/Linn. The Clearaudio sonically sounded much better on that AR than the Shure I had on before, BUT something wasn't "right" about the Clear on that table...like it was more than the table could handle, like putting a Ferrari engine in a plain Ford sedan--the performance was there but the match was all wrong. Funny enough, the Clearaudio was considered "too good" for the AR and "not up to par" on the Gyro. Not so sure I agree on the latter, but I do think that putting a very fancy MC on the Gyro would be worth it, if only I could afford it...reason is, the quality of the Gyro and the Silver are such that they could still work well with what a great cart would give them (as could my phono stage, pre, and power amps).
I guess what I did with the Gyro was get the best TT and arm I could afford right away, and got a less expensive "great bang for the buck" cart until I can afford a Koetsu or like brethren, knowing that carts come and go, I wanted to get a "keeper" TT and arm and worry about icing the cake later.
You know, I heard the very inexpensive Grado Black on a VPI mkIII through a very expensive Levinson/B&W 800 rig and it was wonderful...and the music was picked up by a, what, $40 cart. We could clearly see that a better cart would have improved everything, and clearly the rest of the rig warranted a finer cart, but what I'm saying is, it still worked well and was still pleasing, if you could get past the fact that it could have easily been even better with a fancy cart. Then I heard a Linn LP12/Akito/Linn MC (don't recall specifics) through a Conrad PV14/MV60SE/higher B&W CDM rig, which was, I think, pretty well-rounded and it was quite musical and enjoyable, the kind of rig where you forget the gear and dig the music. I think my TT setup sounds very nice and moving the cart up with just open things up more and get that special musicality going.
I'm rambling, but I guess what I'm saying is, I'd rather have a so-so cart on a great rig than a great cart on a crap rig, but neither is as good as a well-rounded system because you miss that musical synergy that makes things sort of seamlessly come together, if that makes any sense.
But, hey, I only know what I hear so I'll move over and let the experienced fellas get into it now :)