What to expect in a TT upgrade?

I have owned a WTT Classic (round motor and black damped platter)for 10 years. Your cartridge is a "good value" but hardly the last statement in sound reproduction. I have used Benz Ruby 2s for all ten years and I use a Signal Guard (sadly out of business)as the isolation platform with Purest Audio Museus Interconnects and a Hovland HP100 MC Preamp. If correctly set up, and you are correct, set-up is tedious because of the viscous fluid in the arm well, the results can be near state of the art. You must use a digital scale and have endless patience over the course of a couple of days to get all settings right while letting the fluid settle between each adjustment. A footnote here, I am finally purchasing another TT/Arm for a lot more money. Some of my friends think I am crazy when they hear my current rig. That's how good the WTT is.

Hello, What Cartridge were you using originally? You fail to mention this? This may have been the culprit, as well as incorrect set-up?

Going with a better, more sophisticated Turntable won't necessarily mean easier set-up, but usually better Arms have better features, and that's probably what you pay for in part when you buy better Arms. Things like VTA on the Fly.

Stillthough, with any Pivotal Tonearm, the same pricipals apply regardless, and they are proper Cartridge Alignment, (Overhang, Zenith, Azimuth)

Then VTA, and VTF. If you don't have good tools to aid you, I'd suggest getting them. These tools (protractor, VTF Scale, Test Record) are never a use one-time deal, and then put them away forever. They always are needed to have around.

This table, while I don't know a heck of a lot about it, was said to be a very decent table.

Your money might be most wisely spent on a great Cartridge first, that will be compatible with your new Phono Stage, and work well with your Arm. The Shelter 501 might be fine, and an improvement from where you are at right now, but you might gain even further performance going above this?

The good Cartridge won't be a waste of money, provided it will be compatible to the Tonearm's Mass-Compliance, and be a good match with your Pre-Amp. If you should then decide to upgrade Table-Arm, the Cartridge will be on hand to be retro-fitted. Mark

hi,

Can you all really hear a substantial difference between a $1000.00 and a $10,000 TT/Cart system. Are we listening to the music or the equipment? Granted there may be some differences in the sound but are these differences better or just different?

I have a Denon 103R cart with the Denon DPM 500M Table and it sounds great to me with my Thiel 2.4 spaeakers and Cary amps. I feel no need to spend more, I guess I'm lucky.

good listening

Larry

01-31-08: Larry510 said:
"Can you all really hear a substantial difference between a $1000.00 and a $10,000 TT/Cart system. Are we listening to the music or the equipment? Granted there may be some differences in the sound but are these differences better or just different?"

I don't know how we got on $10k TT systems, but yes, the difference is very clear. Going to just $3000 gains you a ton in resolution.

There are good reasons to limit oneself to $1000; however, the next step up yields pretty substantial gains in quality. I think there is a point of diminishing returns that steepens at the $3000 to $5000 range, but you still continue to gain.

Of course, this is all dependent on proper setup and the total system interface is relevant. But, done right, you do gain substantially at higher price points. The OP gave us a target range and I think he's the only one in position to judge if it's "worth it" to him.

Dave

IME, it's more like the Law of Increasing Returns. As the system gets better the differences become more and more apparent. ...and they are very musically significant, assuming the "improvement" is truly an improvement and that your discernment is up to the task.

It takes a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience, engineering, time and consequent expense to "get it ALL REALLY right." Assuming you want tonal neutrality, frequency extension, coherence, ultimate transparency, full scale volume and effortless dynamics, you better believe that SOME systems in the $200k+ range are virtual miracle workers. You may call the differences between a system like that and a cherry picked $20k system subtle but they are profound.