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Will I Hear A Difference?

Currently I’m using an Orbit U-Turn Turntable with an Ortofon Super OM20 Cartridge/stylus that I’ve had for approx 3 years. First utilizing it’s OM5 that it shipped with, then upped to an Super OM10, then about a year ago upped to the Super OM 20…Playback is through a Ifi Zen Phono Preamp running to a Carver Crimson 275 and playing out through Magnepan.7’s …Generally it sounds pretty good.

Recently while at a local hifi dealer I got to play around with an EAT B Sharp Turntable equipped with an Ortofon Blue on the same set of .7 Maggi’s I have and it sounded great. I loved the tonearm and the build quality.

My question is will I hear a enough difference to warrant spending the money for the upgrade. Mind you, I’ve become quite the power user at this point playing vinyl for pretty much most of my listening, often more than several hours a day. 

The Orbit has served me well but at this point I feel I’m ready for the upgrade, I know i’ll feel the build quality difference, just not sure if I’ll hear a diffrence.

Anybody have any thoughts or experiences with the EAT B Sharp they could share?

Thanks

 

flasd
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,996 posts
 

You are on the wrong track if you are listening to those telling you to upgrade the cartridge. Putting a $300 cart on a $300 TT running through a $200 phono pre is wrong headed. But it’s your $$$. Education costs $$$. $300 won’t buy much education in college. But you will learn. Then you will be back asking the same question in 3-6 months But that $300 will be gone. But it’s just $$$. Probably one of the hardest things to accomplish in life is to learn NOT to spend  ten cents trying to save a nickel.

flasd's avatar
flasd OP
89 posts
 

Thank you for that … I feel the same way

sandthemall
544 posts
 

Technics 1200GR

Hagerman Trumpet MC Phono Stage 

Audio Technica AT33SA

 

 

 

 

 

 

sandthemall
544 posts
 

As far as...will you hear a difference...

The phono signal can be 1000x smaller than a line level signal.

It does help to have the best TT, cartridge, headshell leads, interconnects, phono pre you can afford.

 

darrell21256
17 posts
 

flasd: To respond directly to your question about the EAT b-sharp, I will first say that all that glitters is not gold. I do NOT have first hand experience with the b but I DO have first hand experience with the C-Major. I hope that my experience is close enough to help. I'm sure by now you know the history of the EAT brand. In my estimation EAT turntables are Pro-Jects with a woman's touch, which ain't always a bad thing but here it is. It actually sounded pretty good and had decent reviews. Unfortunately that's where it ended. My first issue is that EAT's are not accurate. I constantly had to check and adjust the tracking, it simply would not stay where I set it. Also the C-Major has a wonky anti-skate adjustment which is a pain in the butt to adjust. The piano black surface is also a pain to keep clean. I was not a fan of the feet that came with table, I thought at this price point they could have been better.  Lastly, there is practically no customer service. Yes there is a U.S. distributer but good luck getting them to respond. Pro-Ject does not seem to treat them as family, if you catch my drift. When I had the table I used the Ortofon Quintet Blue which came with the table. I only kept the EAT for a matter of months, I hated it that much. I have since then moved to a different table. But let me comment from the perspective of an elder person that has been "re-introduced" to Analog. I recently changed my cartridge and it made a world of difference. Lets face it, the cartridge is where the rubber meets the road. IMHO, it is the most significant upgrade you can make and represents the greatest bang for the buck. Look, if you want a new TT then buy one but if you like or love the one you have have then be kind to it and get it a new cartridge. 

Bottom Line: I do not like EAT turntables. You can do better.

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