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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
armyslowrdr's avatar
armyslowrdr
24 posts
 

Oh and congrats on wanting to move away from Rega.  It is like strava to the cycling world----  common.  Go for the less common---  EAt or SOTA would fit the bill.  And VPI somewhat.

vdotman's avatar
vdotman
145 posts
 

I had the Rega Planar P6 with the Ania MC cartridge that never came to life creating an emotional connection for me in my system. I sold it and bought a VPI Scout with an Ortofon 2M Blue. Sounded okay but again, it never blossomed in my system. So I sold the VPI and bought a Mofi Studiodeck with their standard MM cartridge, and voila, the magic was there! I can’t explain why the least expensive of the three had the optimum synergy with my preamp and the rest of the system. I just know what I hear. The other two just sounded constrained by comparison. Lesson learned, it’s not necessarily a function of how much you spend. Sometimes less is more.

audition__audio
1,500 posts
 

I have never heard a Rega that I liked. I think that similarly priced Project tables sounded better. I really havent liked the limited number of Rega cartridges that I have heard.

yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,707 posts
 

I told ya, at that price you can’t beat that Technics. Set it forget it and enjoy it!

miyu
16 posts
 

OP, sounds like you made up your mind on the TT, congratulations.  Can't emphasize enough the importance of eventually upgrading your phono preamp.  After doing a lot of auditioning, I continue to be completely blown away by the PS Audio Stellar Phono Stage.  I don't know if $2500 is in your budget but it is an unbelievable deal compared to the competition.  I'm not saying there isn't better (there undoubtedly is) but nothing touches it anywhere near its price point. 

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