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Up grade to a new turntable

Hello FriendsI wish to upgrade my turntable!!My music taste, is 70.s rock, blues, jazz rock, new wave, male vocals etc!!Here in Australia, there only a few turntables available!!, at my price, as I'm on a pension!!, I have mad a list!!1. Well Tempered Labs, reference, with a reference, arm, this is used in mint condition, that has been set up by the importer!! , but at a price $4,000!!, but with a Dynavector 20 xx high output, I'm using  low output, at the moment, on my "Once Analog" turntable!!, so I don't now how it would sound, would the higher output, sound harsh, on my phono stage, in MC, or should I switch to MM??
2.VPI prime scout, at around $5,000!!3. Kuzma Stabi, with basic arm, or if I have the money, a upgrade arm??4. Scu audio, premier, with same arm??Hoping someone can help me, with advice??Many ThanksDavid SpryAustralia
daveyonthecoast
sgreg1
612 posts
 
Check out this company. They build turntables that are not run of the mill and priced for what you get.
https://sotaturntables.com/
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Davey, I know Donna at Sota personally. Check out their web site. The Sapphire is their best value. If you like I'd be happy to ask if she will ship to Australia. 
rsf507
2,400 posts
 
Another vote for the Kuzma GREAT table and arm. Built to last and sounds wonderful.
pengun
79 posts
 
Turntables matter less than most people think. Once you have a fairly good one, it all comes down to the Cartridge and Phono Section.
That is important, and the reason after much research, that I have bought a SUT from Bob at Bob's Devices and am almost finished building a Sunvalley SV-EQ1616D tube phono section for the SUT to use. Just the SUT into my modest Musical Fidelity Phono Section is a large step up.
lewm
13,518 posts
 
Yet another vote for the Kuzma, among those on your list. I did have extensive experience with the Well Tempered Reference and its tonearm, when it was owned by a close friend who developed dementia in his last years. Thus I was doing the work for him in terms of mounting and aligning cartridges, plus he and I would often get together at his home for listening sessions during which I was even setting LPs on the platter for him. His system was very fine. I would summarize my critique of the WT as follows: Although it does nothing to irritate, it does tend to sound "over-damped", with the result that nearly all LPs sound the same, on the sweet and mellow side without high end extension or great bass definition. As I intimated, I heard it with more than one cartridge, so the colorations were not per se due to the cartridge. Plus, he owned 6000 LPs, so we heard it with a wide variety of labels and musical genres. Let me qualify my remarks by noting that I have never heard the Amadeus, which seems to please many WT fans and may be a big improvement on the Reference. I am not casting aspersions on all WT products, in other words.
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