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If you had $12k / £10k to upgrade your analogue front-end...

Hi all,

I am upgrading my system in my listening room bit-by-bit. This room is for focused listening of music only. No movies. In the future I will be looking looking to upgrade my analogue front-end and am thinking of a budget of around $12k / £10k for a turntable, tonearm, cart and phono stage/pre-amp. I listen to all sorts of music from electronic, bass-heavy vinyl, jazz, hip-hop, rock (new and old), ambient (Cinematic Orchestra, Nils Frahm etc...) and lots of soul/funk type tracks. So quite varied.

If you had $12k/£10k to spend, what combination of turntable, tonearm, cart and phone stage/pre-amp would you go for? I'm looking for suggestions to help with my research. I'm unsure what the balance should be between them. For example, should I go for a Rega Planar 10 with Aphelion 2 cart (£6,840) and give myself just over £3k to spend on a phono stage. Or spend less on the cart (Rega Planar 10 with Apheta 3 is £4,950) and get a more expensive phono stage.

Turntable brands I've been thinking of are Rega, Clearaudio, Technics, VPI, AVID, Thorens, Michell Engineering, VPI, SME etc... but don't really know where to start.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

cainullah
cainullah OP
29 posts
 

@terry9 DIY terrifies the life out of me. I wouldn't have a clue where to start!

dctom
105 posts
 

The technics SL1200G is excellent for the price. I managed a comparison with a Rega 10, I preferred the direct drive.

I did have a very expensive Vinyl set up with a Kuzma XL dc and 4pt arm which I had to sell due to moving house. The Technics matches the Kuzma in many ways maybe not quite as expansive or powerful but more accurate tonally and that is with a lesser cartridge.

Having owned a range of phono stages (ypsilon, AR, BAT etc) I believe the phono is as important as the TT.

I have heard good things about the Dias.

Isolation of the TT is very important.

However I would not bother with vinyl if starting out now as my digital sounds so good.

terry9
2,253 posts
 

Fair enough Cainullah. Just a thought.

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,400 posts
 

Just read a Stereophile review of the 1200G (prompted by dctom's post) and saw mention of an aftermarket mat that I was not aware of.

Changing the mat would be a good place to start with the OP's current setup.

I have (Thorens TD125 MkII/SME 3009 II non-improved) an OEM rubber mat, a 100% wool mat and a DIY cork spot-mat all of which change the sound in my system.

I generally prefer the spot-mat, but the wool mat works well with brighter sounding LP's.

The one mentioned in the review is a spot-mat design.

 

DeKay

plinko
254 posts
 

I think you would do quite well with a P8 or P10 and a phono stage in your stated price range (perhaps consider used for the phono stage for even more value). I listened to several tables costing much more (high mass) than my P10/Aphelion 2.  I was left unimpressed and so I didn’t “upgrade”.

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