Rome wasn’t built in a day. I did find that the Steelhead, despite its enormous flexibility and some serious tube rolling, was holding my system back. But by that time, i had the good-better turntable(s) in place.
You’ll get there. @mulveling ’s comments re arm for Koetsu are well taken. I’ve just entered Koetsu land and am delighted!
I also kept talking about adding a second arm but deferred it, since i thought- well, I’ll spend the money on the best cartridge I can find for my taste and system and why have more money tied up in a second arm, cartridge, etc. (I don’t really do much with mono, certainly not enough to justify a separate arm and with the XL, a separate tower, which itself isn’t so cheap). But, I finally bit the bullet -again, nothing ’instant’ about any of this- and will have the flexibility to experiment with different cartridges (and possibly arms- a vintage arm would be nice too).
Look at it this way- take your time, don’t buy into the hype, see if you can get some ’face time’ with some of these turntables- it really is impossible to assess different turntables, arms and cartridges in a dealer or show context-- a subject that was addressed in another thread--and then jump.
I guess my only point of emphasis is that a turntable that has good isolation as part of the package, not just some rubber feet or whatever, may allow you to avoid the not inconsiderable cost of things like HRS, Minus K or some other flavor of fancy isolation. (I like Stillpoints and use em, but those add up too, all money that could be spent on the best table, arm and cartridge combination you can put together, and not necessarily the most expensive or bling-y-est).
Remember, this is supposed to be FUN!
:)
