Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other

@dover

Thanks, yes I’m really enjoying the Ypsilon Hyperions and the pre-amplifier!

Now, I’m looking at an analog / vinyl update, although the Rega P8 does sound quite good, although it does need some "tweeks" to help it: some (temporary) isolation footers (in the form of a hockey puck stacked on a practice puck) and an LP spindle weight help alot with the excess reverberation that I hear through the Rega P8, and really does improve the sound quality: perhaps Rega should institute something like this?

Yes, I’m leaning towards SME now. Since I’m enjoying the Rega with those tweeks, I’m not in a hurry, but I will be interested to hear the difference between the two. It looks like I’ll go ahead with the Ortofon Verismo cartridge with whichever SME I end up with. . .

Thanks.

@drbond , There is another thread on the new Transrotor tonearm. It is a beautiful arm and will fit just about any turntable. I think putting it on an Oracle Delphi would make a stunning high performance combination every bit as good as a 20/2 but with looks. Check it out!

@edgewear , The Mutech is a very interesting cartridge and it looks like a reasonable value but, I would tend to lean towards a My Sonic cartridge like the Ultra Eminent EX or the Signature Platinum. All three are suitable for a transimpedance phono stage. For those who are not aware, the Channel D Line C has been upgraded to the 3.0 series in both performance and price. A loaded one is around $7000. It can include a second MC input either voltage or transimpedance and a MM input for a total of three inputs. It also can include a calibrated RIAA circuit (ultra high precision) and an RIAA bypass for computer corrected RIAA.  It has an 16 Hz subsonic filter, a stereo/mono switch and a polarity inversion switch. With a cartridge like the Ultra Eminent EX it has 80 dB of gain!

@lewm - you certainly are not a cheapskate with all those cartridges. I assume you have several turntables as well. 

I like to think of myself as more "value conscious" than a cheapskate as 99% of people who are non-audiophiles would think I am crazy to have a low 5 figure total stereo investment and equal on the software (records) side.

I might have thought I was crazy if I was looking at me now when I was starting out the audio quest back when I was in college.

Everything is relative, and I guess if $70K is monopoly money to someone, that expenditure on a phono stage is reasonable with a total stereo (bad) investment of $400K or more, especially if it is a vinyl only source system like I have. For some reason, $400K for an entire system is not as shocking to me as $70K for a phono stage or $10K for a power cable.

Dear @dover ​@drbond  : In that SME review comparison exiast a very important difference that's that the 15A comes with the inferior 309 tonearm but my advise to the OP is to buy the 15 with the V tonearm.

drbond, you still have a very good alternative through Rega with a departure design from the 8 that's the RP10 with better tonearm too.

Even that could be not the best reference when MF made the SAT DD 100K TT he compared its quality performance against what he listened through his review with the RP 10 and this could be important to you.

In the other side, you can always go for the FMA 123 that still is a superlative unit and less expensive than the 223.

R.