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Forum admiration and requested guidance

My day starts by reading the top post on this site while drinking my morning coffee. I have been a audio enthusiast since the early 1970’s, with my mother playing Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Supremes on vinyl every Saturday morning while growing up.

I’ve always had an analog system to play, and cherish my vinyl collection. It started with my first purchase in 1975 with Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy and expanded over the years.
Advance 47 years later and I’m finally in a point of my life to splurge. My wife and I put three children thru college and she has given the approval to spend a little money for my love of the audio hobby.

Today I have the following system and looking for advice on going up the ladder of sound quality improvement.

- VPI Scout with JMW 9” arm and Hana SL cartridge 
- Elac PPA-2 phono preamp
- Vincent SA-32 preamp
- Parasound A23
- Q Aqoustics 3050i

some of the biggest improvements since building this system have been in the interconnects. I went with the Mogami 2549 interconnects and Canare 4S11 speaker cables. These really opened up the soundstage and appealed to my ears.

My music room is modest at 10 x 18 with 9 foot ceilings. Please don’t advise to enjoy and buy more vinyl. I truly look up to your advise and suggestions on next steps to improve. My budget today is $10k, with an additional $10k in mid 2022.

Thank in advance to feedback from this outstanding group.

128x128vette5451
audionoobie's avatar
audionoobie
354 posts
 
I agree with spending most or all of this years budget on speakers. I recently stepped up to a brand new pair of Vandersteen Treo CT’s, which when I first got into this hobby around 4 years ago, was much more than I thought I ever wanted to spend. But it’s really paid off. The joy I get from them is immeasurable and they are sounding better every day. 
Seize the day my friend.  
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
VPI Scout with JMW 9” arm and Hana SL cartridge

Anyone who’s serious about vinyl must have several different cartridges.
Your Hana is an MC with aluminum cantilever and Shibata stylus, you can always find a better cartridge, especially if you did not try many (yet). Cartridge is the most important component in an analog chain and this is where you can hear the most noticeable changes in sound that primarily depend on a cartridge.

Cartridge design is very important, if you will look at some other cartridges you will see the obvious difference in Cantilever and Stylus tip, not to mention some other types of cartridges like Moving Iron or Moving Magnet.

Your Shibata stylus will be worn out after 1500 hrs, so you will have to change your MC cartridge anyway.

With MM or MI you can change the stylus yourself and keep using your cartridge forever.

My advice is to buy a different cartridge, not a LOMC.
It will not cost you much, probably $1k for something (MM or MI) much better than your Hana MC.

The upgrade will be in Cantilever (stiffness and weight) and in Stylus Profile (accuracy and life span), an MM cartridge is easier to drive by any phono stage and the output is high.

I use all types of cartridges (MM, MI, MF, LOMC, HOMC) check in my system. 

ericsch
750 posts
 
@chakster
What modern MM cartridges under $1000, if any, do you recommend?
vette5451's avatar
vette5451 OP
56 posts
 
@chakster 

thank you for the advise pertaining to cartridges. I have used several different types and brands throughout the years. Prior to the Hana I had a Nagaoka MP-300 and various Ortofon and Grado cartilages. To my ears the Hana sounds best, although I am curious to advance up the cartridge chain.

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@chakster
What modern MM cartridges under $1000, if any, do you recommend?


@ericsch
This one is interesting if you ask for latest innovative design, but only if you can pay €12 000 , there is another model if you can pay more :)


I prefer NOS cartridges from the past, they are new, but they are old. 
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