Analogue front end. You want more weight, scale and dynamics.Where do you start upgrading?


Is it the table, arm or cartridge, or perhaps phono stage? Assuming you have no clear weak links. Maybe even motor controller ?

inna

So much depends on getting the parts to work together to achieve the whole that you want.  Lewm is correct that it is a personal trial process.  I don't think you can do a whole lot to add weight, scale and dynamics by choices made with source components; that is mainly a product of room acoustics, choice of speaker and then choice of amplifier that is compatible with the speaker choice (ultimately, I find very large horn systems with low-powered tube amps are best at what you are prioritizing).

But, of course, the right choice of source components can help, or at least not detract, from what you are after.  I would look first at the choice of cartridge.  With the passing of Koetsu, it is a bit harder to find cartridges with an extraordinary sense of weight and scale that still have decent dynamics.  But, assuming you find that, it is critical to find a compatible tonearm.  With the Koetsu, that arm turned out to be one that is of somewhat higher mass than typical arms.  Compatible arm/cartridge is a big deal for what you are after.

Generalities about turntable types are hard to make because it is somewhat hard to reliably characterize the sound of different types, and tables differ in performance based on such external factors as the support they are on, how much the table is being relied upon to provide isolation from the environment (e.g., footfall problems), etc.  

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't weight, scale and dynamics all part of the phono-pre, pre-amp and power amp? Do your other sources give you the sound you are looking for?

On my system, all the sources sound about the same, in a blind test not sure I could 100% tell the different sources apart.

Looked up that suggested cable, it's $3k, it better make a huge difference, it cost more than my entire TT.  IMHO, cables are a tweak, not a drastic shift like chaining components.

To get what you are looking for, would it not be only better spent, getting a new phono-pre, cartridge, or even a EQ to put in the chain? 

Big +1’s to @lewm and ​​​​@tomic601 here. Throwing more and more money to "upgrade" into increasingly exotic components isn’t the panacea you think it is.

No, the source contributes greatly, mswale.

As an example, if I replace my Nottingham Spacedeck with Nottingham Dais or Anna Log, or even with one step up Hyperspace, besides possibly other improvements I will get more of what we are talking about. With everything else remaining the same.

You start with basic things, and that is turntable itself, not an arm, not a cartridge, not a phono stage. Turntable and electricity.

As for preamp/amp and speakers, that’s another subject.

I don't think you can aurally separate a turntable from the tonearm/cartridge, or at least very few of us can, because you would have to take the same tonearm and cartridge en bloc and move them from turntable A to turntable B, and back to A, in order to get a bead on what is the specific contribution of the turntable. And of course the downstream components have to remain constant.