2. analog
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Upgrade My Turntable - How Much Do I Need to Spend?

I have recently fallen in love with listening to vinyl on my turntable.  In recent years, I have spent most of my listening time with digital music stored on my server (flac files recorded from CD's), but recently I discovered the beauty of placing an album on the turntable and listening to the entire album.  It's been a wonderful find for me.

My 2-channel room features:

  • McIntosh C260 Tube Preamp
  • McIntosh MC452 Solid State Amp
  • Martin Logan Montis speakers
  • Various upgraded cables and wires
  • Acoustically treated listening room
  • Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC turntable
  • Ortofon Blue Cartridge

My question is:  how big of a step up do I need to make with my turntable to take full advantage of the other components in my system?  I do not intend to do further upgrades with my speakers or amp system, but I would like to step up my game from the introductory level turntable that I bought years ago.  

I've been doing lots of reading and studying, but I would love to hear advice from some of the analog experts on this forum.  (Please don't flame my current system - there are reasons I love my McIntosh and those components are not going anywhere!)  Should I make a move to a $4000 turntable?  Or????  I would love to find a lightly used Rega RP10, and call my search over - but what do others think?

One thing that I believe I value is a simple setup.  I have read horror stories about how much time and frustration can go into getting a turntable setup and then constantly having to tinker for optimal performance.  I don't see myself enjoying that part of the process.

Thanks!

hikerneil
lewm
13,110 posts
 

The answer is that when you sum the two channels in phase you cancel signals due to vertical deflection of the cantilever. So Elliot was in error to claim such noise is doubled.

hsounds
153 posts
 

I like Stereo5 recommendation because it is a great tt plus, you have a removable headshell to change out cartridges in the future. 
you have a good tt. I might recommend you upgrade the cartridge to a Hana SL or a cartridge HANA ML. They both come on a high output in case you only have a moving magnet input. Next is the phono stage. There are some killer phono stages out there especially in the used market. Vinyl lovers are nuts. We always want better and better. The one I use now is the Hegel V10. Down the road I will get the ARC Ref 2se. I love a tube phono stage. 
if you can wait a little bit you are going to start seeing Rega P10 tt on the market because the new $12 NAIA  has just hit the US. First hand I know this will be much better than the P10. Also, Ortofon just came out with cartridges that fit Rega without using shims. Most important is the setup of the cartridge. Especially when it comes to Zenith,Azimuth, and Anti-Skate. It is worth it to have it set up professionally. Once you get those three correct it is easy to dial in your turntable to your system and ears yourself. Buy a River Stone VTF scale from Amazon to take care of that yourself. 

yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,701 posts
 

You don’t need to spend 4 grand. My friend has the Technics SL-1200 GR and it is an outstanding table for about 2 grand. It also comes in black ( SL-1210 GR). It is a definite upgrade to the table that you are now using!

 

goodlistening64
98 posts
 

@lewm 

Mijostyn is correct. The volume is not doubled as you stated.

the combined volume will be 21 dB down or double the power, not double the volume. 

FYI- check your work before posting something that is incorrect. 

grislybutter
3,117 posts
 

my greatest improvement was a phono preamp, $600 from Simaudio. So I don't think you need to spend x and  2x or whatever algorithm on TT vs. cartridge vs. phono stage, but do consider a phono stage for sure.

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