What Turntable to buy under $600 ?

I had a P3 as my first 'phile table, and was pleased even before I knew it was fast. I did buy a used Sota Sapphire and was pleasantly suprised at all the new detail I could extract from a disc. The tonearm is a Rega 250, I got tired of the spring stories and turning the VTF dial to 3 as mentioned here on the 'Gon to eliminate the spring factor. (I just wanted to measure accuratley with a digital scale, by moving the counterweight with nothing else in the equation) The Sota is a good table in the used market, and are studier than the Rega if you happen to bump it. The Rega tonearms are a great buy with all the aftermarket endstubs and counterweights on Ebay and the like. Currently I use a ZYX Yatra on my Rega 250 and have tried a Shelter 901 too, both have made great music on this tonearm. A great tonearm if you don't want to break the bank. The 250 does not have the spring, but has plastic for the endstub and counterweight. I believe there is someone on Ebay that has both machined from copper for $60, not bad considering the Heavyweight and Kerry Audio F2 are both $100 and up.

So much ignorance running rampant!!!

Stan. Ouch on your remarks of the Koetsu. I really enjoy mine. :-)

I agree fully on the RB tone arms. I have owned a couple over the years in various states of modification and they are no more than junk once a certain level of performance is required.

You mention carts like Zyx but my experience is that even lesser carts like Dynavector 10x5 and Denon DL103 are wasted on an RB. I have run a DL103 on a modified RB250, SME3009 and Scheu Classic. It was evident that the sonics the RB produced was not even close to what the others were capable of.

I think when used on a noisy table like one of the old idler wheel decks or a direct drive an RB will probably work well as its shortcomings will be masked by the noise of deck.

Regards
Paul

Johnnantias. RB250 & Rb300 cannot track Koetsus. I have tried and it sounds like sh*t. I guess it may have sound nice to some, but I am sad to say those individuals would be better off with something from Best Buy. Having run the same cart (Koetsu Rosewood) on arms like an Ittok, Morch, Sheu and SME it is clear that an RB is not suited for quality carts.

I previously said an RB is a good budget arm, but in reality even that is not true. Having compared a modified RB250 against arms that are availably for very cheap like an SME3009 and Mayware Formula 4 the RB is only a good buy for a person with no setup skills.

Lastly, I am not a snob. I spend many hours listening to and a large chunk of my disposable income on music. I could not care less what brand of equipment I use; in fact all my amplification devices (phono, pre, power) are home built. Like most audiophiles I simply want the best possible music reproduction for my money. An RB250/300 fails miserably at that.

Regards
Paul

Yeah, a Moth table. Go to BritAudio.com and get one of his modded Moth tables. You will get unquestionable service and help. And a great table. I'm not affiliated - just one suggestion.