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Which belt-driven table to play Rock vinyl?

YATTANT - Yet Another Turntable Adviced Needed Thread!

Ok,

I'm ready to take the plunge and get my first high end table. I'll start auditioning tables next month and I'm putting together the "hit list" now. I'm looking for a belt-driven, high mass turntable for playing about 99% Rock music ( 1960s - today, but mostly 1970s/1990s).

Things I don't want:
  • an overly "fiddly" table ala VPI or the Schiit Sol
  • a factory packaged table/arm (and sometimes cartridge too) combo.

Brands I'm NOT interested in*:
EAT / MusicHall / Project / Rega / Techniques / VPI

Things I want/need in a table
  • Accurate 33 1/3 & 45 rpm platter speeds. Fine adjustments a plus.
  • Reliable and built to last
  • Table must be made within the last 5 years by a company that's still open and servicing customers.
  • Low maintenance after a professional setup
  • Low background noise - I like to make vinyl rips
  • Wide/3D Natural soundstage that's realistic and musical.
  • A wee bit of drive/PRAT would be ok as well. Not too much.
  • Ideally flat response ( no EQ tweaking gimmicks, etc) and little to no coloration by the table/arm/cartidge
  • Detailed but not sterile/clinical. I want detail retrieval, but being a tad forgiving on less well mastered LP's would be a plus.

Budget... Mentally I pieced this together
  • around $1500 for a tonearm ( I had Audiomods series 6 / Jelco 850 in mind based on descriptions alone )
  • around $750 for a cartridge ( I'm eyeballing the Nagaoka MP 500 based on descriptions alone )
  • around $3000 for the table

So that's a bit over $5k. I figure I could get a nice setup for that price. I am interested in new gear or, ideally, dealer demos of recent/current models to stretch a bit higher. Please toss me your suggestions.

Last thing: If it helps.. These brands seemed interesting in my googling around the net*:
Acoustic Signature / Clear Audio / Feickert Analog / Gold Note / JA Michell / Nottingham Analog / Origin Live / Scheu Analog / Sota
( Other brands meeting my criteria are welcome )


* brands listed alphabetically before someone asks

PS Let's hope I got all of those terms correct.

bigslacker
blueranger's avatar
blueranger
719 posts
 
My Acoustic Signiture was reviewed in Stereo Times and Stereophile. A muscular sounding turntable is what Stereophile said. Here is a link
http://stereotimes.com/turn041101.shtml
bigslacker's avatar
bigslacker OP
41 posts
 
Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I was out of town for a few days and could not reply to say "thanks".

firberger's avatar
firberger
118 posts
 
I recently upgraded as well. Similar thoughts to your described needs  and also in the same budget. I do listen to a lot of Jazz Fusion as well as Classic Rock . However,  there is no heavy metal or rap in my collection.
I really wanted to go VPI as it made in the USA, love Matt and the company but in the above $2500 range they did seem like too much fiddling was going to be required. I wanted to set it and forget it . The Acoustic Signature WOW XXL with the TA-1000 tone arm  was available and at a discount. Rock solid engineering and 10 year warranty on the motor.  They were cosmetically changed with very minor adjustments for  2020 for the next 5+ years of the latest production run.  It was easy to set up and after 6 months no adjustments have been needed. I had to upgrade the DIN cable and matched it with a Black Cube se 2 Pre.  Major upgrade in sound and clarity over my prior set-up.....as it should at 5X the cost.
mschott's avatar
mschott
137 posts
 
What kind of fiddling? With my Scout II, set up cartridge, level and go. No fiddling. 
helomech
1,844 posts
 
I recently upgraded as well. Similar thoughts to your described needs and also in the same budget. I do listen to a lot of Jazz Fusion as well as Classic Rock . However, there is no heavy metal or rap in my collection.
I really wanted to go VPI as it made in the USA, love Matt and the company but in the above $2500 range they did seem like too much fiddling was going to be required. I wanted to set it and forget it . The Acoustic Signature WOW XXL with the TA-1000 tone arm was available and at a discount. Rock solid engineering and 10 year warranty on the motor. They were cosmetically changed with very minor adjustments for 2020 for the next 5+ years of the latest production run. It was easy to set up and after 6 months no adjustments have been needed. I had to upgrade the DIN cable and matched it with a Black Cube se 2 Pre. Major upgrade in sound and clarity over my prior set-up.....as it should at 5X the cost.
I have the Wow XL and TA-700 arm. It is much easier to set up than the VPI Classic 1. Also better built and better sounding. Can’t beat its adjustable pitch, which I wouldn’t want to live without in a belt-drive table. Really no need to go direct-drive when you can have the speed stability of which the Wow is capable.

My only gripe with the AS arms are finicky tracking force adjustments, similar to the VPI arms. It’d be nice if there was something similar to the Soundsmith Counterintuitive for the AS arms.


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