Need some turntable guidance

I'm not into vintage for the sake of vintage, most of my stuff was fairly current when I bought it (been doing this a long time). I wouldn't be looking to ditch the VPI for older DD or idler wheel tables.

chakster:
Thanks for the info.

You're welcome. Let me assure you that any of those vintage turntables I have mentioned are much better than VPI or any modern belt-drive at this price. Technics SP 10 mkII, Luxman PD-444, Denon DP-80... those turntables are all HIGH-END direct drive and you will never find anything equal today in terms of price/performance. Garrard will cost more without being any better. 

When I mention any vintage gear (turntable or cartridges) in my posts i'm referring to the best turntables and best cartridges at certain price category TODAY (imo). Not because they are good looking or vintage, but only because they are better. 

You don't have to buy the latest gear when it comes to analog.
But you have to buy the latest gear when it comes to digital.

  

ctor

Yes, a Y connector works, and I have used them many times successfully over the years, even though purists make faces like they just smelled dog poop. I never have, or would mess with your impedance idea but you are more advanced than me.

You may be right, because playing the Grado 'dual mono' cartridge output thru both channels thru a pair of speakers does sometimes give a subtle illusion of location, not frequent, but it does occur, not disturbing, just huh? when you notice it, then you forget it, and just listen. Mono well recorded can be excellent and thoroughly involving.

My single mono amp hesitation is playing from only one speaker that is presumably near a corner of the room normally for stereo imaging and located precisely for room frequency balance. Mono Jazz LP's is frequent for me, a few of us in listening positions for imaging, i.e. Oscar Peterson, play this Stereo LP, then that Mono LP, back to Miles Davis Stereo, ... which is my frequent habit, and why I am truly enjoying the two arm large plinth solution.

When they knew Stereo LP was coming, before 1958 (tape went stereo in 1956), the big studios sent two separate teams, their accomplished mono recording team, get a session done, then a separate recording team of new Stereo whiz kids, repeat the whole process, costly for sure.

I read that Rudy Van Gelder observed this, couldn't afford double ..., so he decided to record in Stereo, and mix mono from that, and have the Stereo masters for the future. Clever Indeed.

chakster,

I'm listening to Eric Clapton Steppin' Out on Decca FFSS using my Denon DP-1250 with a Magnepan Unitrac 1 tonearm and a Grado Reference Platinum cartridge as I type this. I'm waiting on getting my spindle rewired from ET and some new belts for the VPI. It's a very satisfying combination, I'll grant you. The arm and table are certainly vintage though the cartridge is from the mid 90's.

On it's best day, with as perfect a setup I can muster, it never came close to what the VPI/ET2 could do with the same phono cartridge. IMHO and obviously your mileage does vary.

Thanks. That sounds easy enough that maybe even I can do it.

Your gear is mostly still extremely nice by today’s standards. You obviously put a lot of thought into system building. After checking into the condition of your styli (potentially upgrading to a new MC cartridge), I’d look hard at the PS Audio phono preamp - a $1K preamp from so many years ago should have numerous options today for significant improvement. It could absolutely be the weak link of your system.

I don’t know much about the TNT turntables and their versions. My dealer had one as his personal table for a while before upgrading to a Clearaudio innovation Master, and it seemed quite nice. I seem to recall reading some posts about such-and-such version / configuration being much better than this-or-that, so significant research is warranted before making any moves there. With VPI, newer does not necessarily mean better, so definitely proceed with caution. The ET 2.5 arm is quite nice, fortunately you don’t have to suffer with a VPI unipivot :) And I think Supexes were the basis for Koetsu cartridges so if in good running condition should be quite nice too?