Does a record player make that much of a difference??

hi Josh,

there are levels of performance for turntable packages like you have, and also for the individual parts of the whole system; platter/plinths, arms, cartridges, phono cables, and even phono cables. there are not strict dollar values to these steps, as price and performance are not exactly linear, and also vintage choices blur the performance ranks further.

in a very general sense, if your package is around $2000, then the next general level might be a total of $4000-$5000. at that level you would find a more solid sound, lower noise, and more musical nuance.

but the biggest part of vinyl sound is the pressings. with turntables the media has a much larger part of what you hear than the hardware. you do need to get to a certain point where you get ’over the hump’ with hardware first, and maybe your current level is not quite there yet. but it’s better in the long run to focus on the best pressings, than on hardware. your collection should drive the hardware investment, not the other way around.

maybe look at the spinner + arm as the next big step for you. so not just the platter.

 

It really depends on the specific turntables in question, and how resolving the whole system is.  It shouldn't be as dramatic as a cartridge or speaker change, but TT differences can certainly be audible.  Whether those difference are better or not will be a matter of preference.  

I am a big fan of interchangeable headshells, to change my half dozen cartridges, to put a friend’s headshell/cartridge they may bring to hear their cartridge in my system, and in comparison to one of mine or another of theirs.

Spinner: I go for direct drive, heavy platter, to maintain speed and weight related to low frequencies.

Arm, I want very easy arm height adjustment, (various cartridges are different heights) like my Acos-Lustre GST801,

or my friends long and short Micro Seiki 505s.

Another friend has Technics wonderful epa-500 Base

 

here’s the full kit

Best bass I ever had was a Thorens TD124,

very heavy platter, very fine machining of bearing, combined with an SME tonearm; and Shure’s V15Vxmr Micro-Ridge with their no longer made beryllium cantilever. The stiffer the cantilever, the better the bass. The speed on the TD124 was a top controlled idler wheel, and a shield that moved, contrilling a magnetic force. Wait for it to warm up first, then, if a party, and more people changed the room temperature, re-adjust with built in strobe.

The bearing of the TD124 is very susceptible to vertical movement which is why I traded mine for ............

Next is the issue of a long arm, (check specs, some say 12" but may be 11-1/2" effective.

Next is two tonearms, say a MM on one, a MC on the other; or a Stereo on one, a Mono cartridge mounted/aligned ready to switch stereo to mono lp in a second.

I went nuts, too much time on my hands during covid, and ended uo with 3 arms

I can place all 3 arms while playing, no effective drag, and simply pick an arm/cartridge on my SUT with 3 inputs. You need to adjust volume when comparing.

..............................

Solidity, heavy platter, features make a big difference, that long arm is 12-1/2" effective. I wish it had a removable headshell.

The turntable, arm, cartridge and phono stage, all make very large differences.

My general rule of thumb is the phono stage investment should be around the same as the Turntable and arm. These support getting the very best out of whatever cartridge you choose.

 

I was shocked over the decades as I kept upgrading my phono stage until it finally stopped giving disproportional benefits.