With all due respect to the esteemed members of this forum and their previous recommendations, I’ll throw out the SOTA line of turntables. They did a demo at one of the audio shows (Cap Audio, I believe), where they placed their turntable on top of a quality subwoofer and played it. It was remarkable how stable and solid it performed. It appears that they provide a choice of tonearms, cartridges, and accessories so it’s pretty customizable. They are a beast of a turntable. Not too sure about the balanced aspect, but I’m sure they’d be happy to talk to you about it.
I want to upgrade my Turntable to something heavier
I am about to retire from work. I would like to upgrade my turntable before I do this. I have a Pro-Ject, which I like a lot, but I have two big dogs. I have been considering something 1) heavier and 2) balanced. I have SourcePoint 10 Speakers driven by a PS Audio Stellar Amp. The Stelkar also offers Balanced inputs.
I am leaning towards the Pro-Ject X8 as being a good price with room for a better cartridge. I have considered VPI, but I don't care about upgrading. Once I am retired, this is it. Ideas or Suggestions?
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I had a huge St. Bernard, he could shake the floor, just walking, oh the clump (and noise) when he got up and down. Big dogs aren’t interested in the stereo, just don’t put their food and water bowls in the same room. I agree, wall shelf if you can find a location, and up at comfortable height, I had my Thorens TD 124 TT in a cabinet, on a shelf, arm easy to see when lowering, stylus easy to see and clean. My current setup is a nice working height, but that height was better. IF I had a wall shelf, I would still be playing that old gem, loved it. With a wall shelf, heavy weight might work against you. I would still have some isolation solution. @78sman mentioned one of these if you don’t do a wall shelf, but it might be over budget.
I always want a dust cover, it would need to be huge, it’s not for me.
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@audphile1 is the only person who seems to have come up with a sensible approach. Let's recap. What is the problem? The dogs are big and cause the turntable to mistrack. The floors are spongy. A new turntable, any new turntable, does not really address the problem. Isolating the turntable effectively would do that. There are two options: Stiffen the floor, or use a wall mount shelf for the turntable (there are commercially available brackets for this purpose). Everything else is not relevant until this core problem is addressed. |
OP Once you have solved vibration, (I favor wall shelf for you, and me if I could find a place) you want a more revealing cartridge. My history is MM, finally MC (lomc with SUT to MM phono in my preamp), back to Vintage Used MM (for cantilevers unobtainable new today, and lighter tracking). What phono stage do you have, or considering? |
I highly recommend this moderately priced ($329) MM cartridge, it has a Boron rod cantilever, replaceable MicroLine stylus, 3.7 mv output signal strength. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-magnet/at-vm745xml Their LOMC with boron rod cantilever and MicroLine stylus costs $649. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at-oc9xml I have not heard it, however I have heard and liked many AT, including the prior AT33PTG/II version of this one which is getting up there in price these days ($899) https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at33xmlb One advantage of buying AT MC is their exchange program https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/styli-accessories/a-t-moving-coil-exchange-program I sent mine in, they sold me a new one for just under half-price, if you think long, that actually lowers the cost of the 1st and 2nd one by 25% each, i.e. $675. each Soundsmith has a re-build service https://sound-smith.com/services/phono-cartridge-repair-restoration-tip-repair Many here, including me, have Steve and Ray Leung re-build our MC cartridges OTHERS____? ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// Who will Mount; Align; Calibrate the Cartridge? One advantage of MM is you can buy a TT with a Pre-Mounted Cartridge, and simply replace the stylus, preserving alignment of the cartridge body. That limits your cartridge choices to what is offered, one whereby the stylus can be upgraded, I recommend the step up from Elliptical to an advanced stylus shape: any variation of Line Contact: Line Contact / Linear Contact / Special Line Contact / Fine Line ............................ and I favor Boron Rod cantilevers over aluminum if boron fits the budget. If not, I prefer the advanced stylus on aluminum, rather than dropping down to elliptical. Elliptical can sound great, as can aluminum, however there are good reasons to move up. https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/audiophile-insights/analog-insights/phono-cartridge-stylus-shapes/ https://sound-smith.com/articles/how-choose-cartridge
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