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Turntable cost:benefit

I read the new Garrard 301 review in the current "Stereophile" with great interest, especially as my father owned one which he jettisoned decades ago...most unfortunately. Anyway, appealing as the re-issue is, the cost is punitive, as noted by the author.

With that preamble, I'm interested in forum members' thoughts on the cost:benefit ratio of a high priced turntable for a modest vinyl collection. In my case, that's around 800 LPs. Another reason I'm curious is that I have a friend who simply "decided to get into vinyl" and bought a ~$15k turntable plus a comparably priced tonearm + cartridge. He owned zero vinyl at the time of the purchase. Now I think he has about 20 "audiophile" pressings to enjoy on that TT.

To answer my own question, I can't justify a turntable at that price level for my own vinyl collection. Actually, I can't really summon up a compelling argument for such a purchase. Plus, I'm quite content with my  VPI HW-19 Mk 2 (though a better cartridge would be attractive).

Assuming disposable funds are not the absolute deciding factor and other components in your system are good enough to support a high end TT, what size record collection do readers think justifies a turntable costing over some arbitrary (say around $3000 for the purposes of argument) threshold? Is that even a consideration?
kacomess
terry9
2,342 posts
 
If you actually listen to 800 lp's, I say that you can justify any amount of money. The issues are what you can afford and what you want to spend (I think that these two are different).

I have a few thousand lp's and I concentrate on bang for buck. Consider the best bargain in high end: the Trans-Fi Terminator air bearing tonearm. I use one on my conventional belt drive TT, and another one on my more exotic air bearing TT. My opinion is that until you have heard an air bearing TT, you haven't really heard vinyl.
halcro's avatar
halcro
2,664 posts
 
So the only sensible cost/benefit ratio should be found in a well considered balance of the quality of the source material and the playback equipment. 
THIS......

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I'm afraid that a person who advice you to use any cartridge with Elliptical stylus like your Sumiko for 1500 hrs know nothing about stylus life span and the difference between stylus profiles such as Elliptical (one of the cheapest and simplest) and advanced profiles like MicroRidge and related. Only Micro Ridge can be used for 1500 hrs while the Elliptical profile will be dead after say 500 hrs top ! 

If it easy to check. Just learn a bit about life span of the styli, it depends on diamond profile. 

If you're using your Sumiko for more than 500 hrs you will damage your records soon or already damaged it. How come anyone can expect 1500 hrs from an Elliptical profile? Even Shibata can't be used for such a long time. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Kac, cost benefit ratio was what I was taking about. You want the most performance for your money and don't feel like spending $60K on a phono set up like most of us. So, you look for the point of diminishing returns. Somewhere between $10K and $15k (I am talking about turntable, tonearm and cartridge) there is a steep cliff in performance for dollar. The equipment I suggested is right at that point not only in performance but usability. You can put this turntable on a flimsy  card table and it will work fine. You can get it with a dust cover which for me is a critical issue. Put a conductive sweep arm on it and you have a record playing system of the highest caliber. 
As far as records are concern 800 is quite a lot as the vast majority of music listeners have none. Be it records, files or CDs having a lot of music is fun. Listening to the same music over and over again is boring. When you have a big collection there are always records that you have not listened to for a while and especially if your system has evolved it is always fun to listen to older records and discover that they are actually better than you remember. 
edgewear
543 posts
 
With vinyl records you have the same diminishing returns. Hyper capitalism has spoiled the record collectors market as well and first pressings are now trophies for the rich: $1000+ for ’original’ blue notes anyone?

But when you do a little homework you will discover that the sound quality on those records is determined by the metal work (lacquers and stampers), which was often the same with second and third pressings. This means you can get more or less the same sound quality for a fraction of the price of an ’original’. This applies to just about every record label worth collecting.

So in my opinion this is what the smart audiophile record collector with limited funds should do: buy a turntable in the ’sweet spot’ of the price range (around $10-12k for a complete record player is about right, considerably less if you dare to go used) and play 2nd or 3rd pressings from the analog age, manufactured a few years after the first pressing. Obviously these are always previously owned, so condition is everything and access to a good record vacuum cleaner is a necessity. And don’t waste your time and money on modern 'audiophile' reissues.....


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