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Turntable advice / opinion on setup / sound.

Hello all you analog experts. I am seeking some advice, opinions and direction to try, based on my tastes and setup. 

I’m not loving my current TT sound but there are variables that could cause this. For reference, my favorite TT I ever owned was the ClearAudio Champion Level 2 (wish I never sold it) because it was warm and had a huge stage. 

  1. I listen to every style of music, smooth jazz to hard metal. 
  2. I have to turn the volume way up to get the get the level I like which at times has hiss and a tiny bit of hum. Compared to digital sources which have none of these issues. 
  3. I find this setup to lack huge stage and warmth. 

My current system is:

  1. Rega Planar 8 w/ Alpheta 2 MC cart.  
  2. Cambridge Audio -> Alva Duo Phono Pre amp
  3. Mark Levinson -> No 585 Amp. 
  4. Martin Logan 15a Renaissance -> 8FT apart/ 3ft off the front wall and 3 FT from each side wall. I sit 9FT away from the speakers.  

The turntables I am considering are:

1) Musical Fidelity -> M8XTT

What cart would you use?

2) Michell Audio -> Gyro SE Turntable

3) Clear Audio Champion Level 2

Thank you all in advance for any guidance and opinions you can offer. 

necrosuit
necrosuit OP
17 posts
 

Morning folks,

been working on the setup and got my first listen. Let me just say…..Holy Sh**!!! What an incredible difference! It’s like a whole new system. The stage, warmth and detail is unreal. I’m hearing guitar tones / notes never heard on some records and the realism on drum strokes is Beyond excellent . I used the print out protractor from Arc and all is aligned (at least to my eyes). I also used a digital scale and the weight set to 1.79G. Anti skate is 1.75(ish). So far I am beyond pleased with all your recommendations and help. 😎💯

elliottbnewcombjr
7,742 posts
 

Congrats, I'd like to hear it!

lewm
14,671 posts
 

Bill, for me the great Rega unknown is not only about the cartridge but also does the underlying hypothesis about low mass uber alles hold up in practice.

billstevenson
1,186 posts
 

Lewm, it seems that it does.  I only have experienced one P8, which was positive.  Mikey Fremer has much to say all positive if you go to Analog Planet.  All the reviews for all models for a long time have been positive.  I would like to experience a P10 or a Naia and if the right deal comes along, I would definitely consider buying one to replace my HW19.  But I am not going to pay retail for the privilege so who knows?

drbond
484 posts
 

@necrosuit 

I owned a Rega P3 and P8:  they were decent turntables.  When I switched from a Rega cartridge to a different brand was the single best upgrade.  I tried Linn Krystal and then a (heavy) Koetsu Rosewood, and despite the Koetsu being to high, not using any shims, etc, it still sounded much better than the higher end Rega cartridges.  The Rega TT's are very sensitive to what they are sitting on, too much so, in my opinion; try different sound isolation devices under the feet.  Enjoy your TT, but also realize that the step you just took upgrading your cartridge is just a small step up in the analog world, and when you’re ready, you’ll be very impressed by higher grade TT, and phono stages.  

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