The best TT system for under 30K

FM Acoustics phono.... hmmmm interesting....I’ll wait to get more info on high end tube phono first, if no luck FM Acoustic will be on my list. 

Dear @uwiikz : in the orther thread you posted:

"   I have to admit that I miss a bit of tube sweetness particularly on mid. "

well, yes because you are accustom to. That was my mind too when I switch ( after 10 year I have tube electronics. ) to SS and over time I learned that I was not wrong when I decided to go for SS that by a wide margin puts you or any music lover ( not hardware lovers as the tube audiophiles. ) nearer to the recording, it  is way faitfully to that where tubes just can't do it at the same quality levels.

SS electronics in top good designs comes with very wide frequency response at around 1Mhz+ and for very good reasons, are really low noise units and comes with extremely low distortions of any kind. It's a new world just you need time to take in count about, you can't do it in just one week and certainly not in a system that is not the definitive one where almost " day by day " is changing. 

When any one want to evaluates the SS against tube kind of sound always wants that the SS electronics comes with at least a little signature of the tube sound they are accustom too and this kind of attitude is totally wrong because both electronic alternatives are way way different ( like digital vs analog. ) and today SS are way superior just because is way better electronic alternative.

If you attend to a MUSIC live event ( example only. ) where you are seated at near field position and listen to  put attention that that MUSIC performance at real SPL is: agressive, brigthness, extremely fast transients, full of power, extreme dynamics, transparent with natural color, very well balanced , even some times a horn we can listen its hardness, timing and full of emotions.

Then compare it against a home audio system that the best can shows is to puts us nearer to the recording and SS outperforms easily any tube electronics and believe me I'm not biased through one way or the other I'm biased with the MUSIC and how should be sound/performs at home and nothing else.

FM Acoustics is a name I 'm in love for many many years. As a fact when we were in the design and build of our phonolinepreamp the targets I defined were that our unit could outperform any phonolinepreamp in the market or at least been a serious challenge for any units including FM Acoustics that I tested several times thank's to the dealer here that was my friend ( today he is not dedicated to sale audio any more. ) and I tested several other brands in my system and in other top systems with top analog rigs.

You asked: FM Acoustics or Accuphase? I have not to think about to give you the answer: FM Acoustics with out any doubt.

M. Huber designer and owner of FM just play in a diferent " league ". No single electronic design can beats FM ones, coul be a reference for any audio electronics designers.

In the other side and talking about the crossover several gentlemans think that active electronics is a better option than a passive one and in some ways could be true but depends of the passive design ( that must be extremely " simple " ) and the passive selection parts in the design ( this issue is critical. ).

Now, I did what I dit it at the input of my ampliers do that my monobloks are coupled at the input by one capacitor  and thank's to that and after found out how to keep the amp boards diagrams finally I did it just changing that input cap for another cap with a way  smaller  capacitance value followed by changing a resistor for different value that already been in that board. So, I'm lucky enough to do it but before that I did it through extrenal active crossover as Bryston, Threshold, the one in the Velodynes and other options.

So, in reality I don't did it " nothing " but  improved the quality level performance of the monobloks it self with that cap/resistor of very high quality compared with the stock ones ! ! along the desired crossover frequency.

I don't know which could be the kind of passive design your " man " can do it but yes it's an option and you can try it but you need a way for compare against other alternative and the only one could be the one that comes in the subwoofer crossover.

Perhaps the best and only alternative to active crossover than the Bryston is this:

https://www.fmacoustics.com/products/electronic-crossovers/fm-330-series/

R.

If you want the best of the best here you should go, really a " piece " of phono stage:

https://www.fmacoustics.com/products/phono-linearizers/fm-223/

R.

Dear @uwiikz : A mix up from my parte about my " passive " crossover filter inside my amps.

It’s wrong, it’s not passive but an active one. Its operation is inside the input active amp circuits that as all designs use some passive parts and here was my mix up.

As I posted before almost all prefers to go with active crossover designs, me too.

It does not matters which subwoofers you decide to buy my advise is that you put the audio signal in the K300 through the Bryston external active crossover or the one you like it.


On the phono stage here what Valin "  the analog man/reviewer " in TAS think about FM Acoustics:


https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/fm-acoustics-resolution-series-fm-155-mkiir-preamp-fm-122-...


R.

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions. I will be away from the forum and won’t respond for a while. My dad just had a emergency heart bypass surgery and I have to help my mom takes care of him.