A Thought Exercise: Consolidating Analog To One Table and Two Cartridges

I vote for single table with 2 arms on it, or 1 base with interchangeable arm wands:

most active cartridge on main arm, 2nd arm with removable headshell for favorite ’other’. any cartridge, including your visiting friends.

2nd arm, already correct for current VTA, tracking force, anti-skate.

Switch headshell, (overhang and null points done): adjust tracking force and anti-skate (easy, I use blank LP to watch anti-skate, quick and accurate).

The issue is VTA. My second arm has easy VTA. On the Fly isn’t the object, quick and easy arm height for any cartridge is the point.

In my case, I squeezed a 3rd arm on, with a MONO cartridge pre-mounted, ready to swap back and forth Stereo/Mono/Other cartridge ... i.e. Oscar Peterson, short pile of LP’s, oh, this one’s mono, ...

IMPLEMENTATION of multiple arms:

I chose a Vintage Fidelity Research SUT, FRT-4, this one is in nice shape

 

Notice: 3 front selectable inputs, one output remains into your Phono Stage.

Optional settings for various MC cartridges

PASS for MM or High Output MC cartridges skips the innards of the SUT.

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You can see my 3 arm table here (8th photo):

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/9511

Mine is a JVC plinth designed for 2 arms, CLP-2

main arm, long one (mine blackbird from russia 12.5", fixed cartridge, set screw arm height, with attached micrometer for fine adjustment

http://newartvinyl.ru/board/detali_proigryvatelja/tonarm_black_bird12_5_5pin/7-1-0-53

 

2nd arm: removable headshell, VTA on the Fly, so easy, Acos Lustre GST-801, advantage, reasonably small base. Unique Magnetic forces.

They make an older GST-1, also easy VTA, but it needs a special cutout.

sold, but shows it well

 

3rd arm, fixed cartridge (I squeezed a 3rd arm on for mono). Mission 774LC (jelco), short rear balance section and small base (skip the plate, simple small round plate) to just fit when dust cover is on..

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https://www.vinylengine.com/library/mission/774lc.shtml

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I recently added it up, total cost including 3 cartridges: $5,500. Lot of work putting it together piece by piece, and my cartridges are nice but not pricey: MC: AT33PTG/II MM: existing Shure body V15Vxmr with new Jico SAS on boron. several alternates on headshells, ready to go MONO: Grado; and I had VAS rebuild an AT33PTG MONO body with advanced stylus, that will occasionally go on rear removable headshell arm.

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Other options I have seen/personally setup for friends:

single base with changeable arm wands, cartridges pre-mounted, easy VTA

Technics EPA-B500 base, magnificent engineering

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/technics/epa-500.shtml

straight fixed cartridge arm wand

s arm, removable headshell

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Steve’s, at VAS VPI with uni-pivot base, several ’lift off’ arms with cartridges pre-mounted

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Luxman PD-444 Two arm Table. Simple looking, but some very nice engineering involved.

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saw micro seiki 3 arm TT

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and recently discovered they make a 4 arm version ....1500

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I had no idea where I was going when I started, but with help here, and a bit of research, I ended up with my frankentable!

 

 

Of course, other higher end solutions exist, mine is my typical bargain hunter solution.

I appreciate the responses, as having a group to exchange ideas with is a great resource to work through these kinds of questions. Having a larger body of experience to draw from in invaluable.

The core question is really this. Does next tier of tables offer tangible gains in performance? That is really what the question is, would you not say?

Oh in terms of casual vinyl playback, or playing other records when friends are over, well that is a non-issue. When I installed this preamp, and hardwired it to the router the internal DAC offers such a level of performance that I can easily enjoy it for casual listening. Truthfully, if I did not have analog gear already I would be hard pressed to justify it. I don’t need casual cartridges, or different presentations, that has limited appeal to me these days.

If a Raven, Triangle, or Kuzma does not offer tangible improvements then it does seem the best option is to keep the Cosmos Eclipse here Now this is the tricky part. Of all my analog combos I prefer the Verismo through the BMC phono stage. I like the Proteus through the Esoteric, but its not my favorite. The Schroder arm is 11 inches, so it will not fit on the SOTA. If I plan on moving the Verismo to the SOTA that is going to need a different arm. I believe 10.5 inches is the longest I can go, and arm weight is a factor due to the suspension of the SOTA.

A couple of the suggestions so far basically put forth the answer of keeping what i have here now. The Dynavector is a removable headshell arm, and it is where I can play the various Ortofon cartridges. The problem is I find I have no desire or appreciation in rotating through them. The Verismo outplays them, and when I sit down to listen to analog that is what I want to hear. Digital is fine when I am at the computer drinking coffee in the mornings or whatever other casual listening I do.

So far option #2 looks like a viable choice. Sell the Scheu, Dynavector, Schroder, and Ortofon cartridges/SUT. As far as arms for the SOTA I would thnik Reed, Graham, Triplanar, or Kuzma?

Regarding Option #1. With this there is no try and decide. I don't have the financial resources to bring in a $15K table to listen to and then decide if I want it or not. To go down this path it requires me to sell off the tables and associated gear I have to make this choice. Of course that takes time, and then who knows exactly what is available on Audiogon at that point. Its the unfortunate fact of being a a person of limited financial resources. 

As for TT's being noticeably improved.

As a guidance to the experiences that may be encountered.

Recently my Local HiFi Group got together to demonstrate Three Belt Drive TT's in use. One is a Second System TT (Heavily Modified LP12 ) and the others are both the main Vinyl Source (Schue with Origin Live modification and a Soulines Kubrick DCX).

This was a session I was not able to attend, but did receive a decent account of the assessments made.

The main vinyl source TT's (Schue > OL Illustrious Arm and Soulines > Reed Arm) are exchange TT's with exchange Tonearms being used in place of more expensive TT's.

The earlier evaluations given by the owners of the Schue/Soulines, was that the TT's were very capable and there was seemingly nothing detected as being amiss with the exchange models in use as a source.

On the day of the Comparison Demonstration, during the evaluations using the TT's different Arms and Cart's, there was not a unanimous agreement that one Model was the overall preferred.

The outcome was that there was differences noticed in how the Bass Frequencies were presented and how a particular Track, had shown differences in the Soundstage, where it has been able to expand beyond the Speakers.

With this as a evaluation it does seem that the TT and supporting ancillaries were capable of showing subtle differences, maybe even a noticeable difference, but not one that is detected to the point it is referred to as a game changer.

The real point of interest, is that the Schue and Soulines are claimed by their owners to present in a manner that is not disconcerting, when the recollection is made to how they compare to the superseded TT's that are approx' 5 x more to purchase. 

When a similar event occurred on the same system with a DD TT vs a few Belt Drive TT's of which one was the above LP12, all attendees present were very impressed with the DD demonstration, the attraction it had as an improved presentation was unanimous. 

The impact the Demo' had was the LP12 owner purchased a SP10R shortly after and another Belt Drive Owner bought a SP10 MkII to undergo similar modifications to the one that was demo'd, another member dug out a long-time stored SP10 MkII to get on board. The owner of the SME20/12 a little later on become motivated to make a change and went of in their new direction, having been of the opinion there was more to be attained through bringing in a different TT and Tonearm.

     

Primary Control Kinea. End game. I will be bringing one in later this year to demo.... STST meanwhile a stone cold bargain. But these are new not used per se.