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Relative Spending on Turntables and Cartridges

It seems conventional, at least at the low to mid-range of equipment, to spend much more for a turntable than for the cartridge. I'm wondering about the logic behind that. It seems to me that, once you've spent enough for a well-made turntable that with a good motor, sufficient weight and torque, and a solid tonearm that a cartridge upgrade is, relatively speaking, more valuable than a turntable upgrade. For example, I have a Rega P3 that typically comes with (in the package version) and Elys II cartridge. On mine, I know use a Rega Ania cartridge, which, as upgraded by SoundSmith, costs a bit more than the turntable. But the audible return on that investment has been enormous. I also have a Pioneer PLX-1000, which I initially used with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge. I've since upgraded, first, to a Hana EL, and subsequently to an Ortofon Quintet Bronze. Each upgrade improved sound quality (frequency response, transparency, detail, sound stage, etc.) dramatically. Perhaps I'm not getting everything out of the Bronze or the Ania that I would hear if I used them on higher-level turntables. But in terms of bang-for-the-buck, I've reached the conclusion that it is smarter to budget 50% each for cartridge and turntable than the prevailing norm of 75% for the turntable and only 25% for the cartridge (at least once your total budget reaches around $1000. Your thoughts?
dancole
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
But if you've got a budget of, say $1200, then you might be better off (in terms of your audio experience) spending $600 to $700 on the table and $500 to $600 on the cartridge than $1000 on the table and $200 on the cartridge (depending, of course, on table and cartridge you are getting for that money).

Sometimes you can buy a $3000 turntable for half price.

You can also find a good deal on cartridges if you want to pay less than retail prices.  

I don't understand how can you merit quality in numbers and where did you get your numbers from ? 

Consider used market and your numbers will be irrelevant. 

How can you be sure that more expensive is better for your ears ? For some people cheaper cartridges are better, I can argue about it too, but remember Denon 103 and its fan club ? It's $350 cartridge. I am not a fan of Denon 103, but you know how many people prefer that oldies over some very expensive cartridges? 

Once you have a good turntable like Denon DP-80 whichis th best buy in my opinion (for example) you don't have to change it each time you're buying expensive cartridge, there is no correlation between DP-80 price and any cartridge you can buy. Tonearm mucst be matched to your cartridge, not a turntable drive. 





jperry
2,450 posts
 
There is some good advice here, and your observations about a better cartridge sounding better in your turntables is correct.

I only want to point out, that until you have have heard the same cartridge in an excellent well matched tonearm, you won't really know the capabilities of the cartridge, or understand the limitations of your current tonearm.

I know this through personal experience having owned a Rega 250, Rega 600, and Origin Live OL-1 (Rega based tonearm). The comparison to a Basis Vector 3 tonearm was an amazing and revelatory experience.

Best of luck in your audio journey.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
He knows he's not getting the most out of the cartridge. He said he wasn't concerned with that in the OP. His question is, is it smarter to budget more like 50/50 cartridge/table vs the conventional 25/75? 

He thinks that's true, and its hard to argue, at least in the here and now. Also making it hard, his only experience is changing to a better cartridge. We all know how great that is. But he has no idea how much better it is putting that same cartridge on a better table and arm. At the price point he's talking, neither do I. Probably hardly anyone knows for sure. Its a pretty fair guess though that there's at least one arm out there that costs about what he spent on a cartridge and is so much better he would prefer the old cartridge on the new arm over the new cartridge on the old table. 

That really is his question. At least the way I understand it. And I am pretty sure I know which way he will answer it- but only after he has moved it over and heard it on a better table. Its just too hard to imagine how much better an arm- just the arm all by itself- can make a cartridge. Until you hear it for yourself.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,927 posts
 
IF you have a great relationship with your dealer, this is a very easy thing to test out in the real world.... throw a 3x cartridge from the same brand ( in this case an Ortofon) on your REGA and see what it can do...,
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,556 posts
 
+1, @mijostyn and @jperry.

As others have pointed out, it would be wise to max out your budget for a turntable. IME, the upgrade path for cart and phono becomes much easier once you have a solid foundation i.e. Turntable. 

I am in the process of setting up my analog and I went 70/30 between my TT and Cart. 
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