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Turntable advice

Hey there, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a turntable and cart. I was looking at the rega p6 but the lack of vta and azimuth adjustment turned me off, I mainly listen to hip hop/ soul/ funk/ jazz and blues for the cart reference. Im looking to spend around 2-3500 with the cart price included if possible but could stretch a bit if need be. Mainly my concerns are ease of cartridge adjustment and alignment  or a clear path for adjustment if something has a known quirk. I still haven’t decided on a phono or amp either if anyone has any advice there. Budget for those is around 1500 give or take for both. 
 

i appreciate any advice in advance ! 

waroftheants

Showing 2 responses by waroftheants

waroftheants OP
2 posts
 

So my budget for the table is 2-3500 preferably with the cart price included. I don’t have phono Stage or (headphone) amp yet (I plan to listen on headphones for a bunch of reasons.) my main concern other than sound and stability ( I will have it placed on a piece of furniture on a wood floor) is ease of cartridge alignment and adjustments (the p6 and it’s vta and azimuth inability to adjust kinda turns me off from it for that much money) I have another 1500 or so set aside for the phono stage and headphone amp so all told like 5k for the phono, headphone amp, TT, and cart and probably another 5-800 for headphones. I own some records and would like to expand my collection. Digital Is my only really listening venue atm because of having no analog gear and I mainly stream on tidal on earbuds or in the car. It dosent really need to fit into my turntable equation because it will be in a seperate room from my pc. I appreciate the help so far  ! 

waroftheants OP
2 posts
 

The main concerns I have regarding adjustment and ease there of basically boil down to how manageable it is to adjust and align the cart without excessive expensive tools to best reproduce the recording with good tracking and minimal excessive wear to records. I’d also prefer if most of the adjustments with the included / purchased headshell and within the whole table were sufficient to fulfill the requirements above without excessive shimming. 
 

The 1200gr looked appealing but I had read somewhere about some issues regarding vta with some carts/ headshells and needing to find a mat that helps the cart be leveled out but that could have been user error on the posters part. 
 

some models I considered 

clearaudio concept with satisfy arm 

1200gr 

Mofi ultra deck +m 

well tempered labs Amadeus jr ( pushing the upper end of my budget with 5-700 dollar cart) 

Eat C major  ( pushing the upper end of my budget with a 5-700 dollar cart)

vpi scout 21 ( super pushing the budget with 5-700 dollar cart)

 

also ease of alignment for me is a weird sticking point due to some records being brand new ( for use with the more expensive cart above) and then I’d like to use a cheaper cart for sampling older more worn/etc records to not put excessive wear/grime on the higher end cart ( higher end relatively speaking within my budget I realize 5-700 probably isn’t a lot for a cart in most peoples eyes)  

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