bpolettIf you look at my virtual system you will see a bunch of pictures of a Brand New VPI Prime and a VPI Aries 3D Special Edition (#47 of 100). Dumped them both and moved on.
That said it wasn’t either of the tables fault. I had a real esoteric Haniwa cart that needed a 0.8 ohm setting for phono and that caused cable and phonostage issues so I dumped it.
The Aries 3D I had 2 bad carts in a row so I dumped that one also. I heard a Rega P6 w/Apheta 1 and thought it was great and better than the VPI’s. We all like different things I guess.
Also, I wanted a Herron VTPH-2a phono but there are none used and a decent wait for a new one. I got an amazing deal in my set up.
I bought my Sutherland Duo, 2 Audience Au24se 1.0M AC cables (it takes 2 ac cables) and Audioquest Fire RCA 1.0M Interconnect, Audioquest Niagara 1000 Conditioner and matching Audioquest Tornado 1.0M AC cable all for right around the price of a new Herron VTPH-2a .
The Audioquest Fire all by itself is a $3,000 cable.
Not sure I will like the AQ 1000 but we shall see. Might just use if for my phonostage. Plugging into the wall destroys every conditioner on the planet, Trust me when I tell you I did well with this set up. The loss or gain in audio is not in the sale its in the buy. That said I wanted a Rega. If I like it I will get the better Rega cart and then upgrade to the new P10 when it comes out. I like Rega, Granted I have never owned one before so we shall see. Maybe I won’t like it but I hope I do.
My buddy owns the Herron VTPH-2a and he said it is fantastic. It is a great preamp but he also said it is overrated. He loves it but he has others he loves also but he said all the fan boys of this pre is over the top.
It is a really good phono but nothing is that good. His words. I am sure I will try one at some point. I have seen them around $2200 to $2600 used so if I like my Rega I will take a stab at a used one if one pops up.
I mean if you buy one of these used I am sure you will get all your money back so its free to try because they are so well liked. I will def grab one down to road to see what everyone loves so much about it.
I gave up on tube line stages long ago but he said this phono is nothing like those tube lines so i would like to try one. I hate the bobble head VPI arm but to be fair they did fix that with their new double mod.