Tonearm Suggestions For Technics Sp15 Under 5k

@chakster thanks for your time and help.

Im surprised your keeping your luxmans in place of your top technics.

I prefer sp15 over 10mk2 because of the pitch control. Dont get why technics engineers couldnt add that basic feature in that special table. Yet sp10 and the mk3 had it. Baffles me. Pitch control is essential on any table i dont care what anyone says

Why @bpoletti are you attacking his credibility. He has given me unbiased advice based on his hearing of many high end setups.

What are your suggestions and what have you owned and compared over the years?

I already have idler drives that play 4speeds just looking for a direct and belt drive that plays 3 speeds with 78rpm being essential and pitch control is a must

@chakster im going to start looking for a victor 7045.
Have you ever critically listened to 7045 and directly assessed it against a Sme 3009/3012, Ortofon, Saecs, Technics 100, 250, 500, Stax, Jelcos, Regas, Ats, Fidelity Research, etc?
What were your sonic conclusions?

Luxman PD-444 is better than Technics Sp-10mkII, main reason is the aluminum plinth which is not removable. Those Luxmans cost is at least 2-3 times higher than SP10mkII. As you can see i use two tonearms on each of my PD-444, it’s important for me as i’m still searching for "my sound". Some short 9 inch arms are impossible to mount on Technics because it has square metal cabinet. Luxman is like Victor TTs, there is more room around the platter.

I’m sure the price for Sp-10mkII will drop sooner or later, new Technics turntable will change the market for used old Technics. I think i made a smart move by selling it before it’s too late.

I don’t need the arms with knife edge bearings, so i never tried SME or Saec, and to be honest i don’t even want to try them. They are available everyday everywere.

I replaced my Lustre GST-901 with Fidelity-Research FR-64fx for FR-7f cartridge and i love it, absolutely amazing combination. My Lustre has been rewired with Discovery wire, but i like FR better with stock wire. I’m not crazy about the wires as many older guys on this forum and i don’t care about silver "bullets". I’m trying to be more practical. I’m sure the good tonearm must be good in stock condition, of course i use new external wires.

I prefer Victor over the Lustre for practical reason, it’s pretty easy to swap cartridges and set up everything quickly. But My Grace F14, Victor X-1, X-1II, Audio-Technics AT-ML170 impressed me pretty much on Victor UA-7045 tonearm. The armrest on Victor is the best which is helping to keep the cart safe. Really nice arm, designed by smart people, and you don’t loose much cash with it. I like SONY PUA-7 for the same reasons, also very well designed arm.

I like EPA-100 and EPA-100 mkII, but they are much more expensive tonearms. Having EPA-100 mkII i don’t need Rega, Stax, Micro Seiki or AT arms, i’m sure they are not in the same category, but this is my intuitive feelings only (except Micro MAX237 which is just too expensive).

Schick tonearm is like the old Ortofon, but with better german bearings, all new Ortofon made by Jelco. I’ve seen/heard Jelco on Technics SL1210mk2, but for MM cartridges i don’t think Jelco is better, the effective mass is heavier. I don’t like the mainstream products, i don’t believe in today’s mainstream, all my cartridges are from the 70s and 80s (different era). New tonearms mostly designed for modern cartridges, high compliance carts are out fashioned today, so why do i need a modern arm, i can’t buy many of them as the good ones cost many thousands. I bought Reed 3p "12 as a demo much cheaper, it’s innovative design, the price for new one is about 5k Euro.

I will not give you a sonic conclusions, sorry, i’m not reviewer and it is very subjective, also system (cartridge) dependant.

And BTW you can not ask about every tonearm on the forum, just buy some of them, try them, make your own conclusions. For the same reason i ended up with 5 tonearms, sold some, bought some, always like that.