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Should I get a new cart, TT or phono stage?

At some point i want to replace all three but I'm wondering what will make the biggest improvement first.

I have an old Denon DP-45F with a recently purchased Ortofon 2M Red going into a Pro-Ject Phono Box II which then goes into a Simaudio i1 integrated.

What would you upgrade first. Some things i was thinking of were a Rega P3, Clearaudio Emotion, Simaudio LP3 or used LP 5.3, or a ortofon 2M Black.

If I made any upgrade i would likely be stuck with the remaining components for some time before I made the next upgrade.
Thanks
djn04

Showing 5 responses by djn04

djn04 OP
13 posts
 
Johnny

That's the tough part for me I don't know what I'm not hearing. I'm just looking to make improvements.

The turntable sits on vibracones and it has built in interconnects. The cart was installed by a dealer and I assumed it was done properly. The turntable is level and I don't think I'm getting any feedback.

Overall I pretty amazed at how good the denon/ortofon sounds, but I'm wondering if an upgrade of either will make a noticeable difference.
djn04 OP
13 posts
 
Thanks. Will both the Rega and the Clearaudio play nice with the Ortofon 2M red?
djn04 OP
13 posts
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I had no idea the Denon was that well regarded.

One thought I had was to replace the stylus on the 2m red. I read somewhere that all 2m have the same body. Is that true? If so could I put a 2m black stylus into my 2m red body?

I think I'll upgrade the phono pre first and go from there.
djn04 OP
13 posts
 
So I've taken the advice of many here and bought a Era Gold here on A'gon. I'll report back when I get it and I can A/B with the pro-ject.
djn04 OP
13 posts
 
So I had the Era Gold in the set up for a few days and it does make a noticeable difference over the Pro-ject. I'm very pleased with the set up as of now. I'll probably enjoy it for a while then look to making an upgrade in the TT.
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