mcintosh MT10 turntable good or not.

01-17-08: Beerdraft
Thanks Swampwalker, I actally went crazy trying to get better sound now from the CD player and bought the classe cdp202 today. This table is both a blessing and a bad thing being it made me want a better cd player as I won't even listen to a disc right now. I just took back the player and ordered a new one so no disc til next week. Will just have to spin some records.
thanks

You'll drive yourself nuts, or broke, if you're trying to find a cd player that can match vinyl. Supposedly APL has a $30K cd player that can do it. I haven't heard any yet that can top vinyl. If anything I've downgraded my digital in the last couple of years, and put the extra money towards analog. Now I say that my digital is good enough for what I use it for. It's not the best out there, but I grew tired of chasing the elusive digital dream. Spending 2-4 times as much on digital may get me a better sounding player, but it still won't compete with analog.
Long Live Vinyl!

Cheers,
John

Point well, taken John and Piepiper, I know there are a lot of beautiful tables at the 8 and 9 grand price point and they sound good as they should. Any one of them would probably sound just as good if not better in my home but I've only heard a couple in the stores I've been to and none of them made me want to spend that kind of money, until I got it to my house which changed everything.
John, to your point, right now my TT is in the pent house loving life. My CD's are on the street just wanting to come in and I can't let them. I don't need to get absolute vinyl reproduction but if I could atleast get them in the same building, I'd be happy. I have lots more cd's than vinyl at this point and would love to get the sound better so I will enjoy them. Hopefully this cdp202 will be capable of doing that, if not I may just give up. At six grand plus, I'm not going any higher for a cd, I'll just stick with vinyl. Any thoughts on cables from the cd to pre?
thanks

01-17-08: Beerdraft
Thanks Swampwalker, I actally went crazy trying to get better sound now from the CD player and bought the classe cdp202 today. This table is both a blessing and a bad thing being it made me want a better cd player as I won't even listen to a disc right now.

Everybody's different, but in my case, when I got my turntable last March, it sounded so much better than the CDs I'd been spinning for the previous 20 years that I didn't even play a CD again (except to compare to the same recording on LP) for 10 months. In the meantime I acquired somewhere between 300 and 400 LPs.

I finally got an Oppo DV-980H, especially for its SACD ability, and I use it some for music and a lot for upconverting standard DVDs, but when I want to connect with the artist and the music, I go to the turntable.

Back in March, before deciding where to spend my money, I took an SACD and direct disc LP of the same recording to Seattle's highest high end shop and played it on a very mid 5-figures Linn rig. The LP made the SACD sound threadbare and hashy. I bought a turntable the next weekend.

Thats awsome Johnnyb53, where do you get your LP's? I tested a marantz SACD player as my dealer let me take it home and they gave me a handfull of SACD's to use as I didn't have any. It was nice but I'd much rather listen to the vinyl to as one of the disc they gave me I actually had the record and prefer it. So I took the sacd back. I will definately start spending my money mostly on records now. Currently buy from musicdirect and have only bought 180g and 200g. Also the XRCD IS a verygood sounding CD and I prefer it over SACD. I haven't heard the same two disc on both formats but the few xrcd's I have are great evne in my rotel player. We'll see in the new player when it gets in.

You beat me to it Beerdraft, I was just about to recommend the Marantz. That's what I'm now using, a SA-11S1 w/ Ultimate mod from Underwood/pcX. Out of curiosity, which Marantz did you listen to? Was it broken in? If not the Marantz, then possibly look for a used Audio Aero, they sound very good (for digital). However, I've read quite a few complaints about transport problems with AA units, so be careful.

Face it, it sounds as if you're ruined for digital now. It's hard to go back to the same old town after cruising through the Caribbean in a private yacht......

I doubt you will find any magic cable to cure what ails you. Though you may want to try some cables made with Gold conductors. Either from Jade Audio, Gabriel Gold or the KCI Silkworms. I prefer the Jade Audio, though others have their favorites too.

Cheers,
John