i would rather have great vintage original pressings and a modest cartridge than a great cartridge and new pressings.
+1 there’s your answer
I only have 1 expensive record. It is Steely Dan Aja (Cisco) and came from discogs. They were asking 850 for an unopened copy, but I got a used copy, I think they labeled it mint with near mint cover, for 400. I really did it as an experiment to see if there was anything to quality in different pressings. It really is different. I can turn it up as loud as I want with no fatigue at all. And it is super quiet. Sometimes I do visit the hot Stamper site out of curiosity. Just the other day I saw a Led Zeppelin copy there for $2500! I won’t be getting one. |
I own probably a dozen reissues and over 1000 original vintage LPs from the 60s and 70s. To my ear the originals sound so much better than the re-issues but that’s just me. Having said that because this post is about cartridges I recently upgraded to an Ortofon 2M Bronze, and I am shaking my head at the amount of detail coming off of these old LPs. Background instruments, and singers and other detail I never knew existed. I’m not sure what would be gained by having anything better on my vintage Thorens, TD 145 and that cartridge was a bit less than 500 bucks. I would have to think the law of diminishing returns sets in fairly quickly as the cost starts to rise over this level. |
Given the level you have, experimenting with another cart and tubed phonostage will give another view of a "convincing presentation" The Parasound you use is known as a "cant go wrong’ SS unit. You might find the tubed flavor more pleasant. I use an old VPI Classic 1 also. It has many technical "flaws’ on paper, but set up properly, it can deliver the goods, relative to the sum of system. "I only have 1 expensive record. It is Steely Dan Aja (Cisco) and came from discogs" A $10.00 1977 AA-1006 or AB 1006 period pressing will easily sound convincing as any pricey "super reissue." Of course, this is subjective. The hard part is finding one unmolested. I am fortunate to have a neighborhood store with cheap "stampers’ I have mentioned before, Mr. Hot Stamper used to send his scouts to this store for those $3-500 "white hot stamper’ candidates. Now and then, I believe I find the very copy of what he describes in his super embellished write ups on them. Difference being, I paid somewhere between $1-20 bucks Steely Dan – Aja (1977, Santa Maria Pressing, Gatefold, Vinyl) - Discogs Steely Dan – Aja (1977, Terre Haute Pressing, Vinyl) - Discogs Cables and other audiophool stuff will only drain your wallet faster.
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