$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Mrkidknow,

>>Have you ever seen this list of recordings before?<<

Yes.

>>Arthur Salvatore can be pretty controversial…<<

Yes, that he is. You might want to contrast Arthur’s style with how Twl views the world.

Personally, I don’t subscribe to audio gurus or follow the Ten Commandments as prescribed by TAS, Stereophile, or others, although Twl and Dougdeacon are two people I listen to before making any audio buying decision. But the operative word here is, “listen,” and not follow blindly. We still must use our ears and our own experiences in choosing the components that will make up our system. It always surprises me how many people abdicate that responsibility to others, asking them to make all the decisions for them so they might have a SOTA system without having worked for it.

In some cases it’s not possible to hear a component befor buying it. In such cases, it makes sense to read the audio press and to gather the opinions of others. But even that entails homework. Before I posted my initial question on this bulletin board, I had already spent six months analyzing my needs and narrowing my choices. All I needed was a little help to get unstuck, and I got it with Twl and Dougdeacon’s assistance. Without having spent months wrestling with the issue of which turntable to buy, I would not have had the "ears to hear" the advice that has been so graciously given me.

The Denon/Koetsu combination was good enough to encourage me to pursue vinyl with invigorated enthusiasm so the combination must not have been that bad. If you read my last post on this subject, the one I addressed to Doug, you will see my views on the strengths and weaknesses of the system I had the pleasure of hearing. Was this system state of the art? No. Am I looking for the very best system that money can buy? Again, the answer is no. So, yes, the Denon sounded pretty good to me. It cost about $650 and is the current top-of-the line model from that company. But what you should be asking yourself is how good does your current turntable sound to you and how best can you improve it within an acceptable budget?

I have a slightly different question for the group, one that involves the analog front end, but has not been discussed until now -- preamps. I am talking about affordable phono stages, ones costing $2,000 or less. Does anyone have a favorite they would like to share?

I am currently looking at three models in addition to perhaps buying the phono stage for my current preamp, which, by the way, should be quite good:

1. GSP ERA Gold V with either the GSP Elevator or Bent Audio Mu step-us transformer.

2. K&K Audio SE Stereo Phono Kit.

3. Wright Sound Company WWP 200C with the WMT 100 Step-up Transformer.

So what do you all think? Comments? These preamps must be good enough for the Shelter 501 and ZYX Fuji.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.

Atar1, if you can stretch your budget a bit more, there currently is a used Aesthetix Rhea phono stage being offered for sale on Audiogon for $2700. At its $4000 retail price, the Rhea is a superb phono stage. If you can buy one used at a price you're willing to live with, it would be a great phono stage choice, and would exceed any of the other likely competitors. (Note: I don't know anything about this seller.)
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I'll second Rushton, I love my Rhea! Bought mine used on A'gon as well and at about the same price point.

Interesting results heard last night at a friend's.

We were playing with different phono stages and step up devices. I'll keep this short (it was not a controlled test, just 2 of us listening and saying "that sounds better/worse now").

Using a Denon low output moving coil (don't know model) putting out about .3mv.

UsinG a home built step up transformer that was B&S TC103 based - very clean and nice. But changing to an old battery powered step up made things more "real", with added air and clarity. Don't ask the manufacturer and model because they are long gone and never made it into any real mass production and distribution (too bad, it was real nice).

Then we switched from a Hagerman phono preamp to a AHT (solid state) and removed the step up's. Much clearer, better bass and air but a bit sterile.

Then we switched to a Loesch-Weisner tubed preamp & phono stage and tried the 2 step-up's again. Much better in both cases than the AHT (surprise), but again the battery powered step up was the ultimate winner.

I would bet that the results may be completely different with a different cartridge. Anyway, FWIW, I thought this may be interesting to you'all. It was real nice to have all of these goodies to play around with and informally check out against one another.

Bottom line - it all makes a difference - there is no "best", just what is more compatible with the rest.

Enjoy,
Bob