Revamp Garrard 301, keep Oracle V or move along?

first, you can't go wrong whichever. the Oracle V is quite a good tt. your 301 is quite the beauty too. nice job on the plinth. it does not get much better than the Io Sig.

if i were you i would find another arm board for your Garrard and mount the SME V on it with the Koetsu RSP. this should tell you quite a bit about which tt rocks your world better. my opinion is that your Rega arm is holding back the 301.

personally; i have a Garrard 301 with custom Steve Dobbins (about 90 pound constrained layer) plinth, a Triplaner, the Kokomo bearing upgrade, and i use the Loricraft PSU 301 AR power supply. i did have the Koetsu RSP on it until recently. it was a killer combination! my opinion is that the Oracle V would not be in the same league with a fully optimized 301.....but i'm guessing a little......i do think your Quads would sing with the energy from a fully tweaked 301.

my only concern would be the combination of the Koetsu RSP, the SME V and the Garrard. all three tend to have a bit of mid-bass fullness (the Garrard more a general roundness--particularly from what i hear about the grease model of the 301) and the combo might be too much of a good thing. i think the SME/RSP combo works with the leanness of the Oracle V. the neutrality of the Triplaner was the balance in my system.

synergy is always key to musical magic.

i know you asked questions i'm not answering but the first thing is to settle on which tt to focus on; then you get into where that goes.

Thanks Mike,

I was hoping you might chime in. You certainly have a admirable main system that I have envied for some time.With the addition of the Garrard and Technics you have a perspective that most of us will never get close to. I understand what you're saying about synergy. The Oracle/Sme/RSP combo was put together with the consideration of flattening our the potential bloat of the sme.

I can certainly afford to try say, a Triplanar on the Garrard and go from there. I have a lightly used Helikon that migh work with the combo. I must get from you contact infromation for Steve Dobbins...his work is gorgeous. Have you though of any 12" arms?

Thanks,

Nkj.

Nkj, thanks for the kind comments.

Steve's e-mail address is vetterone@msn.com.

i have not yet had a 12" arm in my system. Steve is nearing completion of my Technics SP-10 Mk3 plinth and i'm leaning toward the 12" SME 312s for it initially (Albert Porter's feedback has been influential also).

the Triplaner i think is 10.5 inches.

the more i read about the pro's and con's of 12" arms the less i'm feeling a need to go that way.

i will have room for 4 arms and cartridges plus the Rockport. sorry to say my budget won't allow for all the cartridges and arms i would like......for quite awhile (i would love to add an Aesthetix phono stage too when budget permits).

Well I have the ESLs and an Art Audio Vinyl One phono stage and I'm using a LP12 which I just dropped a Roksan Nima on and it's awesome... so I'd suggest to you an LP12 with and a Naim Aro arm (the Nima is a low cost knock off of the Aro,) they are even producing an Aro Keel now. I know many people who use this combo and feel the LP12/Aro and ESls are incredible together.

Nkj, I would not downplay the quality of your Oracle, it is a very good deck and competes with the best out there.

In my system the Oracle is just as nice my Micro-Seiki RX-5000 (comparable with the Raven), albeit each deck has its own sonic signature. The RX is very dynamic, but can be a little strident, the Oracle is extremely musical - cadence is very integrated and of course it is totally immune to external vibration. I don't know why this deck remains under the radar? Enthusiasts that come over to listen are always so surprised at well my Oracle / Dynavector / ZYX combo sounds - and they can compare directly with my RX-5000.

The SME ams complement the deck nicely as well. I also have the IO-Sig and am very happy with this combo. I also have an SP-10 Mk2, Lenco 75 in heavy plinths for comparison and the Oracle is better for me.

The SME V is a good arm and effective with most carts. I did move up to the Dynavector 507 Mk2 on the Oracle and it has more "soul" than the SME and just about compatible with most carts old and new - fabulous with my ZYX UNIverse. The constraint with the Oracle is that only 9" arms are compatible with the mounting and you can't really use very vintage arms with heavy stabilizers .