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A tale of two turntables

Hi All, I am upgrading from Vintage TT and I have good opportunities for either a pro-ject carbon debut with upgraded acrylic platter and a new ortofon blue cart OR a Rega P6 with a new Exact cart and the beefier power supply. Amplification is Mc MA5200 and speakers are various including Sonus Faber Cremona, Tannoy Precision 6.2LEs and B&W CDM7SEs. 
The Rega is about twice the price of the PCD. Can you give me some thoughts on your experiences that may be relevant or specific feedback on these models that will help in decision making? Thank you. 
astorey
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,252 posts
 
I really like the Rega arm. It is almost everything a good arm should be and you can adjust it for any cartridge. If I might make a suggestion. Two amazing cartridges for the money are the Audio Technica VM750SH and the Goldring 1042. They are excellent moving magnet cartridges that punch way above their price point. You really have to spend more than $2000 to get a moving coil cartridge that sounds better. 
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,017 posts
 
Why would he get tired of the pro-ject? I don’t get it...I’ve owned the classic sb for going on 3 years and I’ve yet to tire of it. Running the Hana el. Great sounding/looking table. It looks a lot better than the technics, and has better isolation. If I was to somehow get tired of it, I own 6 turntables, so I’d swap another in. That’s the beauty of not putting all eggs in one basket, variety! In my current stable are Thorens (2), lenco, music hall, and pro-ject (2). Also 10 different cartridges 🤪
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,252 posts
 
@audioguy85, there is nothing wrong with the Pro-Jects at their price points until you get to the more expensive ones. Once you get to $3500 there is no excuse for a turntable not being appropriately suspended and isolated as there are turntables in that price range that are. I am not a big Hana fan. I think at their price points you can get better performance out of a moving magnet cartridge.
astorey OP
29 posts
 
Thanks for the great feedback. Sounds like either would be an improvement but the Rega May me keep satisfied longer. Never tried MC But I do have a nice phono preamp that would work. And I will check out the guillotine effect to see how much that bothers me. I always take my cover off for listening as well. I don’t have Technics TTs available in my area or price range right now but I have only heard good things about them. Onward to the upgrade!
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
2,880 posts
 
If you are going to compare Pro-ject to Rega, look further up in the Pro-ject line. As for @mijostyn's comments, my Xtension 10 is a solid piece of gear that uses opposing magnet footers to isolate the (very heavy) table and magnets to assist the (very heavy) platter on the bearing. A lot of engineering on this table.

Oz



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