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I want to move from Rega Planar 6 help me to pick a new turntable

Hi Folks,

About couple of years ago I got Rega Planar 6. Now since I got more experience with turntables and know what I want from it I am looking for a new one. 

There is nothing wrong with Rega Planar 6. In fact I enjoy it and if asked I would recommend it to other people. As long as they don't care about VTA and Azimuth. And this is the main reason I want a different table. I somewhat agree that VTA is not a huge deal and on Rega you can get a spacers, not too convenient, but not too bad either. But Azimuth for me is crucial. My experience with lots of different cartridges - most of them don't have stylus perfectly perpendicular to the surface.

I don't necessarily looking to upgrade to something much better. I want a turntable that has adjustable Azimuth. I may consider an upgrade but want to stay below 3k.

Also I don't want anything with suspension, my floors are too resonant and believe me my kids could jump upstairs so hard I sometimes have recessed ceiling lights falling off :) And for some reason I don't care about ProJect.

There is also a limiting factor of availability. Because of COVID production stopped and wait times are months in some cases.

So far I have identified the following options (based on my preferences and availability).

Technics SL-1200GR - $1.7k
VPI Prime Scout - $1.9k
EAT B-Sharp - $2k
VPI - Scout 21  - $2.8k
Music Hall - MMF-9.3 Turntable - $2.7k
EAT C-Major - $3k 

The only table outside of my price range that I might consider is Technics SL-1200G for which I've heard extremely good reviews.

The rest of the system
Cartridge - temporarily DL-103. (before I had Ortofon Quintet Black S and Audio-Technica ART9XA)
Phono stage - Parasound zphono xrm
Amp - PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium
Speakers - Martin Logan Motion 60XTi 


Thanks,
Alex 

adrobitko
adrobitko OP
23 posts
 

@mattmiller the new cartridge is the next step. In fact it all started with my cartridges adventure.

For quite awhile I had Ortofon Quintet Black S. I actually enjoyed it a lot. It actually handled surface noise better than most of cartridges I've heard, had very detailed sound at the same time. All of that ended after about 200 hours when cantilever just broke off.

I put my DL-103 and while it did not performed as good, it still was quite enjoyable.

Then I finally decided to get a better cartridge, about 3 weeks ago I've got ART9XA, which I actually enjoyed a lot. It had wider soundstage than Quintet and was as detailed as it was. I liked it a lot. But after 10 hours, one channel stopped working. I measured it and it had infinite resistance compared to the other one. I sent it back and soon will get the refund.

I put my DL-103, as mentioned before and started to think what cartridge to get. This is when I realized, to optimally set it up I want to have adjustable azimuth.

Phono upgrade is in the plans as well.

adrobitko OP
23 posts
 

In fact I had Rega Aria v3. But during the move to a new house there was an accident that destroyed my $10k work computer, $3k guitar, some other staff and Aria too. Fortunately insurance covered all of that, but I still have not got a new preamp. But I compared parasound to Rega and it did not sound significantly worse. It actually sounds really good for a $500 preamp.

adrobitko OP
23 posts
 

I was actually thinking of upgrading amp and maybe speakers, until I’ve done my taxes and the check I own to IRS crossed all my plans for the upgrades :)

shriber
8 posts
 

the Rega P6 is amazing and I think better than most of the turntable mentioned on your wish list. 

sandthemall
544 posts
 

It is said that, out of the box, the 1200GR is 85% of the sound quality of the 1200G. As a 1200G owner, I can say that it is my last turntable. Out of all the tables you mentioned, I would say get the 1200GR. It is not apparent until tou take possession of a Technics, just how well executed this product is.

It will play just as well in 40 years as it does out of the box. 

 

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