turntables for dartzeel phono preamp...

I got a shure m97xe. It is well-received by absolute sound and some technic owners have had success with it. Beside, it was the best cartridge that the turntable retailer which was a dj store had. I know that there are way better cartridges out there but I am not ready to throw a lot of money at the problem until I optimize what I got now!

I am hoping that the break-in period for the turntable and cartridge will help things. I will also try to get someone to come over and optimize the tonearm setting.

James,I have had 4 different generation Sota Cosmos tables.I've never had the "slightest" drift in speed,and believe "this" is one advantage of the design.Accurate to the 'nth degree!!
Sorry to hear about your problems here.Possibly a worn belt?Maybe the table is not perfectly level?Who knows?I'd certainly call Sota because that should not be a concern.

As to the little "pitch nob"...earlier tables had a small(so what?)nob,recessed in the back "well",where the air hose and ground was.Once again I've never experienced anything "loose" here,and never any "play".Actually,I always thought it had a high quality feel to it,during rotation.
The very latest Cosmos(which I now have)has an upgraded nob(I don't know why,as the old one did just fine)which reminds me of the nobs found on the better microscopes!It is a bit larger,and more refined looking too.
Really a nice touch,but I could care less,as I've never experienced any pitch,speed problems.

Good luck

Sirspeedy,

Perhaps I had a lemon. I certainly had problems from the very beginning. Is there a newer version now after the mk4? I went from a mk3 to a mk4 and didn't see any change, nor could I hear any change as well. I guess upgrades are done all the time, nice to hear especially for owners who want to keep upgrading their tables.

Enjoy

Radioheadokplayer,

Yes, take small steps and work with what you have. The Technics has been a 'project' for me in incremental steps. When I made the decision to go with the Technics, I wanted a 'platform' in which to learn the details of turntable setup and modifications. In other words, I wanted to 'learn how to fish' instead of asking for a free meal.

Turntable setup is a lost art form, and I think dealers are scrambling now since interest has come back for turntables.

Now with the Technics and KAB Electro-Acoustics, you can learn and build a very fine turntable for a fraction of where the high end turntable market starts. Some things you should consider:

1. External Power supply from KAB Electro-Acoustics
2. Good isolation/dampening (footer replacement and more)
3. Good record mat for the platter

I have the tonearm dampener coming soon, so I'll report on that.