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Breakdown of Turntable Performance

Over the years I've read numerous reviews of turntables, arms, platters, and plinths.  I always wondered how much these individual components contributed to the overall sound.  Here's my take:
Cartridge - 80%
Arm - 10%
Platter - 5%
Plinth - 5%
128x128jmarini2
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
This is like the "which organ is the most important in the body" question. The a..hole almost won. 😀
audiogent's avatar
audiogent
11 posts
 
Any views on Yamaha PX2, Yamaha PX3, Technics SL-M3, Aiwa PL-3000 ?. 
audiogent's avatar
audiogent
11 posts
 
I have all of them. I like Aiwa PL-3000 . It can scan any track in any order. Very rare turntable.
mchay
2 posts
 
As said somewhere above, the function of the motor and platter is to rotate the record at a constant rate, inaudibly. Other "contributions" (e.g., resonance) from platter, motor, and plinth could be viewed as defects rather than assets so ideally should be zero. The same is true of turntable support.  Once that is accomplished the rest is up to the tonearm and cartridge, correct compliance matching, and setup.  And of course the condition of the record.
spindoctor0470's avatar
spindoctor0470
17 posts
 

Many years ago I attended a demonstration by Linn. They had two Identical Linn Sondeks, one fitted with their previous top tonearm the Ittok. The second sondek was fitted with the more expensive Ekos tonearm. to emphasise the tonearm's contribution relative to the cartridge, the Sondek/Ittok was fitted with their top mc, the 'Troika'. The Sondek/Ekos was fitted with their budget K9 mm. The cost of the Ittok/Troika and Ekos/K9 were similar so it wasn't a question of spending more money but simply what priority to give to the arm or pickup. Anyway, the majority consensus was the the Ekos fitted with the cheap K9 was sonically the winner! The Ittok/Troika was a tad more 'polished' in the treble and a bit more extended in the bass. The Ekos/K9 was superior in sound-staging, Imaging, dynamics, etc etc.







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