So ultimately I went big and switched to a Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable with Kuzma 4-Point arm. Currently demoing a My Sonic Lab Hyper Eminent cartridge, but have a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum and a Soundsmith Hyperion on the way for demoing and will ultimately settle on one - can’t afford to keep two at that price level.
At first I had a pucker factor spending that kind of dough but I find myself listening to music for hours almost every night instead of just occasionally, The Blackbird’s speed is dead-on-balls accurate and for a belt-drive has great torque (due to two motors.) Hard to describe the improvement in sound quality because I made so many changes to my entire system (phono pre, amp, cables) as well as the using a different tonearm and cartridge. Needless to say the changes overall were not subtle.
At first I had a pucker factor spending that kind of dough but I find myself listening to music for hours almost every night instead of just occasionally, The Blackbird’s speed is dead-on-balls accurate and for a belt-drive has great torque (due to two motors.) Hard to describe the improvement in sound quality because I made so many changes to my entire system (phono pre, amp, cables) as well as the using a different tonearm and cartridge. Needless to say the changes overall were not subtle.