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Air Tight PC-1 Coda and more options to upgrade my analog setup

There aren’t many reviews out there for the new Air Tight PC-1 Coda. I’m looking to upgrade my analog setup and it fits my budget and the overall reviews for the PC-1 are fantastic. Before anyone mentions it, yes I will be listening before I buy. I plan on listening to similar priced carts from Lyra, Kiseki, Koetsu, and more.

At the same time debating a phono preamp upgrade. Thinking about the Luxman EQ-500.

Current setup is Rega RP8 (waiting for the new P10 or P12), Ortofon Quintet Black cartridge, to Mytek Manhattan II w/ Phono stage, McIntosh C47, McIntosh MC452, B&W 802D3, with audioquest speaker cabling and ICs, and Nordost Frey 2 PCs. Room is quite well treated and rack is Symposium Osiris. Listening on vinyl is mainly 1955-1975, jazz, rock, and orchestral (Mahler, Strauss-not Beethoven or chamber). (Wider variety with Qobuz digital). Vinyl is all very high quality original or repressings.

Happy to hear any feedback on the setup. What am I looking for? A little more sparkle. Realism. Just more. Maybe a little more bass as well, as I’ve got the C47 set to push bass +3dB. (Tried a sub and it didn’t help in my space and prefer the overall sound of the floor standers by themselves). The system sounds amazing, I just want even more of this amazing. Thanks!
Ag insider logo xs@2xmayoradamwest
agrippa
160 posts
 
I'm not sure where this fear of fussiness comes from, or in what sense a Rega set-up is less fussy than many, many others.  Sure, you can certainly put together a vinyl rig which is very fussy indeed, but conversely there are any number of combinations which involve no more fuss than anything Rega.  Significantly less really, if you count the ability to easily change VTA towards the unfussiness score.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I second others comments about upgrading the turntable before going to a cartridge that is vastly more expensive than the table. More is fine. Three or four times more is overdoing things.

Also its unnecessary to spend what you're talking about on a phono stage. The Herron VTPH2A is close enough to state of the art a lot of us owners feel we are done. We might upgrade everything else, but not the phono stage. Pretty remarkable for around $3k.

Another one coincidentally for about the same $3k is a Swarm or DBA type subwoofer system. The one sub you tried failed because it was one sub. Four puts you in a whole new realm of immersive, articulate, extended, and seamlessly integrated bass. 

Of all the things you can do this is the one that if you do it you will be saying over and over again wish I'd done this sooner. If only I'd known I'd have done this long ago. Never knew what I was missing, wow. Etc.

Together you would still be under what you're talking for just that one cartridge. Bet you my next paycheck you would prefer what you have with the Herron and Swarm to spending 8 large on that cart.


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mayoradamwest OP
429 posts
 
Btw, I do appreciate all the discussion here. One thing I would note, is that while we all have preferences on table, and preconceptions, I don't want to let it slide that the Rega RP10 (and surely it's successor) is a Stereophile A component, and reviews for it are extremely positive. Just like I assume many of you may also have preconception about the phono stage in the Mytek, without having heard it.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
You can make a light tonearm work with any cartridge just by adding weight until you get the right resonance frequency. Having said that I think the Lyra is more appropriate for a Rega turntable as long as you have a descent phono stage. So now you are spending money on a cartridge, a turntable and a phono stage. The best way to approach this is to find a dealer that carries all three pieces and work out a package  
price. Sit back and save until you can afford all three.
jperry
2,446 posts
 
"You can make a light tonearm work with any cartridge just by adding weight until you get the right resonance frequency."

Making it "work" and making it sound good are not the same thing.

 "I don’t want to let it slide that the Rega RP10 (and surely it’s successor) is a Stereophile A component, and reviews for it are extremely positive."

That does not mean it will sound great, or will work well with any of the cartridges you have in mind. It will sound fine and function well with a Rega cartridge.
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