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SME 20/3 or Oracle Delphi VI or Garrard 301

I am just about to buy a new table. I have happily owned an original oracle Delphi for 30 years! Choices are the new 20/3, Oracle Delphi VI or possibly a rebuilt Garrard 301. They all run about the same money.
The reviews and comments out there lead me to believe I will be better off using a non SME arm on the 20/3...I will probably go with a Graham Phantom. (I like the removable arm tube concept too) For now I will use my SME IV.
keep reading the SME detractors claim that the tables are lifeless. Not something you can accuse a Delphi of for sure. The HiFi News reviews of both tables are nothing short of glowing. As far as I can tell the Oracle is possibly more nimble and musical(?) while the SME is more "solid".
Your thoughts are welcom
mauidj
lewm
12,461 posts
 
I have not the foggiest idea for what Albert charges if you buy from him a restored Mk3 in a custom plinth. Probably "a lot". But there is more than one way to arrive at your desired endpoint, if that is what you desire. (Meaning you can watch eBay, etc, until you find your own Mk3, have Bill Thalmann work on it, source a plinth on your own, etc.) In taking the worry out of it, Albert is performing a service and understandably wants to be compensated. But please don't refer to it as an "old table". It would be good as new, and nothing new is built like that. Nothing below around $100K, that is.
inna
7,132 posts
 
So now we know that this properly restored and modified Technics is the best turntable in existence, at least for around $100K. This is most likely the biggest bullshit I've ever heard here.
Mauidj, I suggest you just buy the SME you were thinking about and forget about what might or might not be better than it. You can easily drive youself crazy with this stuff.
And don't trust other people's ears; they are always different and often worse than yours.
mauidj OP
127 posts
 
Inna.
Yep that had me scratching my head too. $100k! Is any turntable worth that much money? Let me see...new Porsche 911....or record player without arm or cartridge...decisions decision!
No worries.....Not going to trust others ears but was looking for a general consensus on basic sound, build etc.
Which I believe I now have.
Actually it's no different to what I concluded before I started my thread just from reading the reviews.
Now it's just down to deciding the most important aspects of the "sound" that I and my system will be happiest with.
In any case I'm pretty sure I won't be unhappy with either of my main contenders.
I'm being offered both at great discounts so if I really don't like it I should be able to sell on without loss.
inna
7,132 posts
 
Right. Also, though not often mentioned and hard to guess, but there should be a kind of match between your analog front end and the rest of the system. You have Krell and B&W ? I would speculate that SME would give you more resolution and dynamics and Oracle a little more of musicality. Assuming the same cartridge of course.
Tell us when you finally get something how it sounds.
For $100k I would get a piece of an island not table or Porsche.
lewm
12,461 posts
 
Dear Inna,
Keep your shirt on. What I said was with regard to quality of construction. Period. I do not now, nor have I ever said it was "the best" turntable in existence for under $100K. I have not even had mine long enough to form an opinion, except to say it is very good. Why does this innocent discussion make you so angry that you feel the need to use words like "bullshit"?

I only make judgements based on what I hear in my house on my system, and only after many weeks or months of listening. Therefore I will never be in a position to say that anything is the best anything. Please do not take this as an apology, by the way.
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