Who will survive? One last table til I die.

FWIW, I finally got the VPI TNT HRX with the JMW 12.5 arm.

Congrad`s on the HRX a very fine peice of equ. I`m glad you reported back to us with your purchase.How`s the ZYX mate with it. I`m still holding out for a Simon Yorke. David

Nice table, suttlaw. Congrats! BTW, how do you like your Airy 2? What types of music do you listen to>

Congrats also.

Have you heard the Airy3 yet? There's quite a difference from the already wonderful Airy2.

I haven't heard the Airy 3 yet (didn't know there was an Airy 3 and what are the differences?). I haven't even heard the Airy 2 broken in yet, and I am still living with ongoing changes in the cartridge. In a couple more weeks, the cantilever and suspension will probably have had enough playtime for me to start the fine tuning of the LP system. Then I can comment more accurately on the Airy2 and how it mates with the JMW. Right now I can say it has a wide and deep soundstage, great imaging, incredible low level detail retrieval, good transients, good tone. My bass and impact seem a little lacking, but I think that is cartridge setup and speaker positioning changeable, so...

I should also admit that I committed the cardinal sin of critical component listening: I changed more than one piece of equipment at the same time. In fact, I changed four. I had just installed the Airy2 1000RS cartridge, and played about three records total, when I got a great deal on a VPI TNT HRX. The HRX comes with arm already installed, the JMW 12.5. This arm has a terminal box and does not take din/rca phono cable like all of my previous arms did, so I had to get another interconnect to use as the phono cable. The original owner of the HRX was using a Cardas Golden Reference IC, so I just bought his.

Thus, in a matter of weeks, I changed cartridge, arm, table, and cable, going from the Cosmos/SMEIV/Koetsu/Cardas('96) to the HRX/JMW/Airy/GoldenRef. Given those changes and the set up and break in period I'm still going through, I'm not really sure what I'm hearing yet. And other than the cartridges, the system parts are not interchangeable and can't be switched back and forth to isolate the specific changes caused by each piece.

Another bit of the puzzle, the support for the turntable, is also in transition. Previously I had the Cosmos on a seismic sink on a wall stand. The HRX seemed too large and too heavy for that, but I was assured the wall stand could hold up to 500 lbs. I still needed a platform large enough to place the HRX on, though, and finally got a Black Diamond Racing The Source shelf (32x20). Once I reinforce the connection to the wall, I will put the tunrtable on the Source shelf, the shelf on BDR cones, and the cones on the wood platform of the wall stand. Sometime after Thanksgiving I hope to have a better idea of the actual sound of the new equipment. Then I can start adding the BMI power cords I have burning in the basement.

I'm now soliciting opinions on Airy set up tips, phono stage (now internal CAT III), phono cable (now Cardas Golden Reference).