Substantial Upgrade


Longtime lurker, first-time poster:  My wife and I got into vinyl about five years ago and have been steadily collecting records ever since.  We love spinning records, and listen to a lot of jazz, pop, and classical music.  We started modestly with an AT LP120, and are lucky to have a friend who just happened to have a pair of Totem Rainmakers sitting in his garage collecting dust, which he gave to us, along with a TSC sub and all cables.  We have decided it is time to invest in our own system.

I've done a lot of research and read numerous threads on this topic here and elsewhere, and we've narrowed our choices down to two tables: the Rega P6 (in the $1500 price range) or the Feickert Volare (in the $3500 bracket).  Either table I'll be getting the Hana ML.  For phonostage, we've narrowed down to the MoFi UltraPhono or the Sutherland KC Vibe mk ii.  I'm hoping I can solicit opinions here on these choices and, in particular, whether the Feickert is going to make a difference for our use case.  Finally, I recognize that the speakers might be outclassed by these upgrades, but we are separately planning to move in the next year and I want to wait and see where our new listening room is going to be before investing in new speakers.    

Thanks in advance. 
bruinuclafan

Showing 3 responses by jjss49

why those 2 tables and 2 phono stages chosen among so many others? on what criteria?

what is rest of your system? what preamp and amp driving the totems?

better to ask the question you have XXX to spend for phono front end, what are recommendations...
op

my 2 cents

i would choose the rega and save the $, pass on the feickert

with your sprout and totems the rega will be just fine and the extra $ on the feikert has dubious benefit... rega’s are plug and play, sound great... just set up the cart once properly and no more worries

re phono stages, those you have identifed are fine but i would suggest a lehmann audio black cube, stunningly neutral quiet dynamic sound at a very modest price



@madavid0

I’m not really sure what the point of telling me turntables are a scam when I just posted about upgrading from an Audio Technica to a Rega P6 and Sutherland KC Vibe mkii and noticed a substantial difference in the sound. I think most people are aware of the law of diminishing returns, but that is not my situation. Is your comment in reference to something specific?

op

i wouldn’t get sucked into troll warfare... just look up this person’s prior posts - all heat and anger, rarely any useful light shed

just enjoy your new rig and the music it plays, ignore the noise