Best Turntable at $1,500? Please Advise.

Well, since you're now talking new preamps, if you were willing to stretch your budget, check out the BAT VK-3i which can be had with an internal phono stage. I have one and am beyond happy with it. Gets you tubes, true balanced design, phono and even remote control that doesn't degrade the sound in a single component. Have seen them in the $1500 to $1800 range, but believe you would be happy with this investment for a long time. BTW, am using a Wilson-Benesch Full Circle for analog, which is very attractive (like sculpture that plays music) and does an awesome job. Picked it up used for $1500, so it's not out of the realm.

re: tubed preamps, my melos music director (picked up used for $1800) is outstanding! no fono-stage, but my pentagon ps-3 ($1900 new, picked up for $600), is also outstanding. a solid-state piece, but still wonderful when run thru a tubed pre.

i also recently had in my system a couple other nice tube preamps - the cary slp98 - really nice, but not in the same league as the melos; the magnum-version of the rogue 99 - nice, but too coloured & lacking frequency extension in my system (might have been an impedence mismatch; rogue sez output impedence is 100 ohms, but my testing indicates its more like 2400 ohms). i tried an ar sp9 mkll several years ago, & it was awful in mny system; the solid-state electrocompaniet ec-1a crushed it.

as far as what percentage to spend on what piece of equipment, i'd suggest looking for a great deal on a used 'table w/an arm. it may or may not already come w/a cartridge. depending on how much ya have left, then decide on the fonstage &/or a tubed pre w/or w/o fono-stage. (the other adwantage of a tubed preamp is yule find your cd's are suddenly listenable!) ;~) if yer scared of a used cartridge, the needle doctor always has the ortofon mc-25fl on sale, from $450 to $225. this is an outstanding performer, but it's lo-output, so ya have to have a quality fono-stage. one thing i found w/my melos preamp, tho, is it has so much gain, i had to cut my fono-preamp back to its lowest setting, even w/the low ~0.25mv output of this cartridge. i wouldn't shy away from a used cartridge, tho - i recently bought on this website, a lyra clavis, re-built by vdh, for <$500. the rebuild service alone is $600, on a retail $1700 cartridge. there's always good cartridge deals on this site.

good luck, doug

Speaking of Cartridges, What is a good $300-600 (new or used) cartridge for the rega 600 tonearm ? My super elyse cartridge sounds great, but I might want to upgrade after it wears out. Rumor has it, these have a 2000 hour life or so. I understand that you cannot retip a rega cart, so I might want to go to a higher end model that you can retip. Rega's apparently have no VTA, so you need to buy a compatible cartridge.

There are many great possibilities but I would look for a used VPI HW -19 mk III or IV with a rega 300 or JMW tonearm. All are still in production, the VPI is a straight forward non tweaky and very stable design. The company offers upgrades, is easy to reach on the phone and helpful.

If you decide to buy new, check out the Basis 1400 which is in your price range. Basis has modified the big problem with the RB 300 arm (which is no VTA adjustment) through a modified design. This is a problem that I can't believe is overlooked so often in discussions about this arm. The RB300 arm comes with their table. Another point about Basis, their budget 1400 table comes with the same Swiss sourced high end motor and assembly as their mega-bucks tables. Another turntable that I have heard is promising is the newest Sumiko (prototype was called the 6.0 or 6.9 I'm not sure what the new designation is, I can check with dealer friends if you're interested). This retails for $1,000 new, including arm. I have heard reports that this is very, very good for the money. This is marketed by Sumiko and is manufactured in Eastern Eurpope. Both of these are visually striking as well being made of clear acylic material. I'm fond of the older tables myself and regret selling my Sota. If I were to shop in your price range I would consider both used and newer tables. Like almost everything in audio, there are moderately priced products today that outperform high end products of the past. That said, turntables have a more distinct and obvious sound of their own than almost any other component except speakers imo. For a budget cartridge I still like the Blue Point Special (unless I had LOTS more money to spend). There are cartridges that are exponentially better, but also very expensive. I think that the "middle ground" for cartridges is difficult right now -- lower priced products like the Blue Points (and other similarly priced products -- take your pick) make money based on quantity while design, manufacturing, marketing costs for the very expensive products are recouped by virtue of big ticket prices. Although it is great to see renewed interest in turntables, I think it is very difficult for cartridge manufacturers to successfully address the middle ground due to the numbers game. I'm seriously considering a great deal that was offered on a TNT with JMW Millenium arm even though there are other areas in my system that I had planned to upgrade first. I really miss my LP sound. good luck. (P.S. plan on getting a record cleaning machine. I rarely see these used but there are lower priced models that get the job done reasonably well.)