In that case then Origin Live Sovereign turntable, Enterprise arm, and Soundsmith SG1. I have the Sovereign/Enterprise. Mine with Koetsu Black Goldline and Herron VTPH2A. If you had been here for Chuxpona, seen the way a room full of audiophiles were leaning forward intently listening for like two solid hours, of way way WAY more music than talking, you would know why.
With your budget you could easily have this rig. With the SG1 you eliminate the need for a phono stage, getting in effect a SOTA phono stage thrown in with the cart. Which you also order an extra user-replaceable stylus or two, another big advantage with SG.
Do a search, you will find the SG1 compared with top flight carts costing much more. All those carts in order to compete with SG1 require a $10k and up phono stage, and not exactly cheap interconnect and power cord. Reference quality, value price.
I would highly recommend searching around and reading all you can find about these, both Origin Live and the Strain Gauge. Then I would call and talk with Mark Baker. This is what I did before ordering my Sovereign. Always do this as my final step, talk to the owner/designer. Mark almost had me switching my order to a Resolution with Agile arm. Because he was saying the Resolution comes very close to Sovereign for a lot less.
Strong words. Listening to my Sovereign last night I can understand where they come from.
With your budget you could easily have this rig. With the SG1 you eliminate the need for a phono stage, getting in effect a SOTA phono stage thrown in with the cart. Which you also order an extra user-replaceable stylus or two, another big advantage with SG.
Do a search, you will find the SG1 compared with top flight carts costing much more. All those carts in order to compete with SG1 require a $10k and up phono stage, and not exactly cheap interconnect and power cord. Reference quality, value price.
I would highly recommend searching around and reading all you can find about these, both Origin Live and the Strain Gauge. Then I would call and talk with Mark Baker. This is what I did before ordering my Sovereign. Always do this as my final step, talk to the owner/designer. Mark almost had me switching my order to a Resolution with Agile arm. Because he was saying the Resolution comes very close to Sovereign for a lot less.
“In fact, this arm-table combination is one of the finest performers I’ve heard at any price… But regardless of price, this is one of the truly special products I’ve reviewed in the past eighteen years.” Michael Fremer, Editor
Strong words. Listening to my Sovereign last night I can understand where they come from.
