Where to go next with the turntable

I’ve seen the MoFi tables and love the way some of them look. Haven’t seen many reviews of them

Both the MoFi Studiodeck and Ultradeck were designed by Allen Perkins of Spiral Groove turntables fame. Reviews for the Ultradeck here, here , and here. The MoFi Masterdeck is new so reviews are scarce, but building upon the success of the Ultradeck I’d expect quality performance.

VPI - I too am not a fan of unipivots. I purchased a used VPI Avenger rim drive that came with 2 VPI unipivots arms (which I’ll get around selling), then subsequently purchased a 4point, s Schroeder CB-L, and a Schick tonearm.

The Ultradeck is ~3k, the Masterdeck is 6k. SME starts at 10k. What’s your budget?

As a general rule, high mass platters are known for having good bass. 

kennyc, 

Thanks. 
Unfortunately I read some owner's reviews also and there seems to be some QC problems with these tables. Most common complaint I saw was with the queuing lever, not letting the arm come down.  

@traudio ,

Which is not a whole lot. The lowest note on a 4 string bass guitar is 40 Hz. 

Play a 20 or 30 Hz test tone, turn the volume up and put your hand on the panel. You will feel it vibrating. That vibrating distorts everything else. If you only listen to string quartets at low volumes it does not matter. If you use a turntable even just the records themselves generate rumble exacerbating the problem. A flat response does not necessarily mean a detailed performance. A system can do a short sine sweep beautifully and sound terrible. You are familiar with MiniDSP. The SHD is $1500 with the UMIK 2 and it will do everything you need including a digital two way subwoofer crossover which will allow you to take the crossover point up, cleaning up the Maggies. MiniDSP also makes a stand along crossover.

If the Sota Sapphire is too big a bite I encourage you to look at the Thorens TD 1600.   

mijostyn

I use an Hegel H390 integrated amp. No way to use this DSP thing without changing my gear, or using my integrated as an amp only.
Sticking a $1300 digital pre-amp in front of my system, I'm afraid would degrade the sound in spite of improving the bass. 

Might look at the Thorens

This is tough.  I have owned Rega, Thorens, Linn, ProJect, AVM, VPI, Gold Note and SME tables.  My experience is that low mass tables like Rega are always going to leave a smidge to be desired in terms of bass.  Moving up may not give your more of what you are looking for.  

Linn certainly requires maintenance.  Thorens requires less tweaking but is not immune.  I feel the same way about VPI arms as you.  The least amount of maintenance I have seen on a table is SME.  They are very much set it and forget it.  You might find a Model 6 or 12 will be low maintenance and deliver what you want in terms of bottom end.  Big issue is the price as they are not inexpensive.  Depending on the arm these are $8k to $13.9K options.  

Gold Note and AVM are less expensive and higher mass alternatives.  They could be interesting choices.  

Full disclosure, I am a Thorens, Gold Note, AVM and SME dealer.