@audioguy 85
Thank You for offering the OP your experience with similar equipment.
Your experinces gathered and your unyielding commitment to maintaining very similar Devices as owned by the OP is hopefully received by the OP, as reassuring, and encouraging a time out and furthering a investigation before Spending in a Substantial Manner.
Your added Ancillaries to use in conjunction with the TT are of Interest, and your sure footedness about the suggestion to consider these as methods has got my attention.
Your type of report is one I would use to help others make a decision about the choices they have for their own Vinyl Chain.
Nearly all the usual contributors to Analogue and Vinyl replays, have not offered the support you have come through with.
The OP has asked,
"If I wanted to take the next step, in Analog playback , at what level and price should I be looking at".
The usual contributors have overlooked the information where the OP has informed that they are informing of a re-start to Vinyl Replay, that is at present being enjoyed.
The Posts speedily entered the suggestions that 10K is a required sum.
Where no consideration has been shown to the OP’s experience, or how they have the TT Set Up in the Home System.
Lets assume the most ludicrous, that the OP is very fit and agile, and the TT is sitting on the floor made up of very bouncy floor boards.
All the encouragement so far is suggesting that the 10K TT Set Up is brought home and placed in the environment that the TT in use at present is set up in.
Your Post definitely covers important points for the OP to consider. I am feeling very sure that your additional methods that incorporate the ancillaries being reffered to, will produce a change that can be referred to as the ’Next Step’.
There has not been a request by the OP, to ask how to attain a level of Vinyl Performance in a System that gives the very best value for a 10K Budget.
The OP has been encouraged from the earlist Posts to think in this way.
My curiosity about your chosen methods can hopefully be answered, if the following could be replied to:
Did you bring the TT to the Home System with these added measures waiting to be used with immediacy ?
Are these thought through changes to use as New Measures, and were added incrementally to work in conjunction with the Purchased TT over time ?
What is your assessment of the impact of the added Ancillaries on the Performance of the entirity of the Vinyl Chain within your system ?
As a Ball Park Figure how much did these additional measures cost to put in place ?
More Importantly if you were to make a change to the TT Model that is in use, from your experiences gathered, how much do you think you would need to spend on a TT that will surpass your TT Set Up in use at present ?
Again if you did discover a different Model of TT that was totally to your liking, and was to bring it into the System for a Trial, how many of the added ancillaries would remain in use, being seen as Critical to producing the Best Interfaces for the Vinyl Chain in your system ?