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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
panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
542 posts
 

I'm all in for the VPI because of the adjustability of the arm and the upgrade path. The unipvot arm  takes some getting used to when handling, but the new VPIs all have gimballed arms, making that issue moot. I like my unipivot arm, and have no interest in swapping it out. But I understand those who feel differently. For certain , SQ is not the issue. 

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

My preferred stylus is Shibata and they don't make anything with this profile.

your assumption that what you hear is due to stylus profiles may be way off mark as there are many other variables at play. Excluding cartridges solely on the basis of stylus profile is a very simplistic approach which will deny you many excellent potential purchases.

xcool's avatar
xcool
273 posts
 

Hey OP,  one turntable for you to consider that's within your price range is the Mofi UltraDeck.

I purchased it last year to replace my Pro-ject Classic, and it was a great upgrade.  It is dead quiet, smooth sounding, and tracks very well.  It's got VTA and azimuth adjustments that you're looking for.

I have not owned that many turntables so it's hard for me to say how it measures up against other tables, but I think this is a great table at its price range.   I paired it with a Hana ML.  It sounds great and I'm very happy with it.

At first I wasn't sure about its look.  It actually looks better in person and I really dig the all black look.

Anyway, good luck with your search.

 

pgalvin
33 posts
 

I have the RP-8 and swapped to a Garrott Bros cartridge - tremendous sound!

cawleyrc's avatar
cawleyrc
6 posts
 

I had a associate at a HI-FI shop tell me when moving up you have to go BIG in order to hear a real difference in sound, otherwise you are just making a lateral move. He then played different systems. I went from a Pro-ject rpm 5 to MMF 9.3 - huge difference in sound... so much quieter.  I love it. Next is the cartridge upgrade maybe

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