SP10 MK3 recommendation

Congrats! on your table purchase.

Gotta love Vac, what phono are you using?
I have owned a few separates and found I liked this or that but still enjoyed the the Vac, I just received my Burmester 100 phono so it will be interesting.

I own the same pre with phono built-in paired up with Vac 450 Statement mono's, absolutely marvelous! :)

I also have a 12" Reed arm, have it paired up with a MSL Ultra BC cart and just love it, have owned several other arms and carts. It was a toss up compared to a Olympos and Ref Schroeder arm set-up. I found listening they both have more similarities than differences but for what ever reason it may be I seem to favour arms with wooden wands, just sound more natural "realistic" to me without giving up anything.

I have only heard good things about the Atlas and look forward to hearing one in my system.

Both carts you mention are superb but it's gonna really be hard, your system being different and what you like.

Best if you can go and hear some set-ups and see what peaks your interest but still in the end will be a crap shoot when it comes down to the actual set-up in your own.

My 2-cents worth anyways

Happy New Year! to all

I have a 10.5-inch Reed 2A mounted on my Mk3, and it is the best of my many tt/tonearm combinations. But really this has been said many times here, the tonearm should "match" the cartridge, first and foremost. True, the tt will impart its own set of colorations but in my experience, those are rather independent of the tonearm chosen. You cannot use a 9-inch Triplanar on the Mk3 without re-plinthing the motor separate from its square escutcheon-like chassis, simply because the offset of the Triplanar base from its bearings gets in the way physically. Same would hold true for a 9-inch Reed or possibly the Talea. (Talea is a shade longer than 9-inch I think, so might work.) 10.5-inch and 12-inch tonearms can easily be mounted so just choose one that is a good match for your cartridge. Then fugeddaboudit.

Ralph, Can 9-inch Triplanars be "upgraded" to the 12-inch version?

Dev,
I'm just using the built in phono with the VAC right now. I have a friend near by that wants to hear the SP10 when I get it set up. He has an Alnic H3000 that I'm pretty sure I can get him to bring over.

Both Albert and Steve Dobbins use the Allnic. Steve told me he went through something like 18 Phono stages in two years before settling on it. Albert said the only thing that bested the Allnic was the Ypsilon. On those two recommendations I will probably go that direction

If the arm board can accommodate your 10.5" Reed why not try it first with both carts and see if you like it? Are you going to mount the arm yourself? If so and you don't have the Feickert spindle to pivot point tool I would pick one up. It will make it much easier and more precise.

So I probably will go with my 10.5" Reed to start with. I wish I could try both but I don't see how that would be possible with out buying them both. Between the Atlas and Supreme which do you think would have better synergy with the Reed and in the context of the rest of my system? I suppose I'm probably safer going with the Supreme, but if the Reed is a warm enough arm then the Atlas would probably work great too. Still scratching my head....Oh well!