Turntable help for a Newbie


The time has come to re-enter the world of vinyl. The last table I purchased was back in 1984! my Bang and Olufsen 8002. Shortly after the purchase, I also acquired my first CD player a Sony CDP101 ? I believe. As a result of the overall convenience of This new format, the turntable soon became forgotten and boxed up never to see the light of day again.(pity) Oh well, It's time to take one giant step backwards to where all this love of music first started VINYL. So, my question to the more savvy of the bunch is I have a Budget of $5000.00(used)I'll need a set & forget product as I'm not mechanically inclined nor do I wish to be. Although sound is the primary concern, eye candy is also equally important (Fat Bob, Avid, Clearaudio) you're thoughts, and guidance will be of much help in making my decisions. Thanks in advance, Craig p.s. Lastly My Jadis pre amp (JP80mc) has a phono stage.

mang53
Almost forgot, since you are getting back into vinyl. I recommend that you get a record cleaning machine. As I went from the Technics and Dual world to higher-end LP systems 18 years ago I bought a NittyGritty RCM based on advice of my dealer. Whoa! It makes an amazing difference. Its not really much extra hassle because you don't need to clean an LP for every play if you put the LP back into one of those decent aftermarket ricepaper (whatever) innersleeves immediately after cleaning/play rather than the original paper sleeve.
Hi Txp1,
Thanks for the kind words.

I've never heard a Sota. I've never heard anything but good about them either. I'll confess we fell for the eye candy appeal of the Teres 265, but we're quite satisfied musically too.

We recently upgraded from our Twl-modded OL Silver to a TriPlanar. That was a huge step, price-wise and performance-wise. The OL's are excellent arms and stupendous value for the money. Twl was and is our fearless leader of course. His HIFI Mod thread was the most brilliant and influential analog discussion I've ever seen. The little $900 Silver, when so modded, actually outperforms four of the most expensive pivoting arms in the world for leading edge transient response. IOW, these arms rock, and Twl reported the Encounter did about the same when he A/B'd one against his modded Silver, and the Encounter was clearer/cleaner. Nice move you made.
Dougdeacon,

Its always nice to hear that others concur with an audio purchase decision!

The Encounter has reignited my love of vinyl. Just today I purchased a demo Plinius Jarrah phono stage (here on A'gon) because I've been listening with the built-in phono section in my Plinius 9200. The built-in on the 9200 is quite good for a built-in section on an integrated amp but not really optimized for MC cartridges (amongst other things such as budgetary tradeoffs).

After your Triplanar burns-in, an interesting post would be your comparison of it to the modified OL Silver. I'm interested in what areas a top, expensive arm betters a top, intermediate priced arm. I've never heard one that high-end except for a very short time at a dealer.

Its great that you enjoy your Teres so much. It seems that everyone on A'gon or AA who owns them, loves 'em.
I hope to hear one someday but there's very few audiophiles where I live.
Terry
Terry,
Almost everyone loves their Teres but of course there are exceptions. One guy here preferred the sound of his Michell for example. There's no perfect component, but Teres does seem to offer exceptional performance for the price.

There's some discussion of arms on my system thread. Check it out and add any questions you want.

Paul and I have heard our Shelter 901 mounted on:
- our Twl-modded Silver
- Cello's Graham 2.2
- Chris Brady's Schroeder Reference
- Cello's Basis Vector (actually Cello's 901 on this one)
- our Tri-Planar (broken in B4 we received it, dealer demo)
Hearing the same cart on five different arms gives us a reasonably good feel for each one.

Doug
Doug pretty much sums up my opinion, and since this time he remebered the sale page, I'll let him slide! I heard a similar Sota setup briefly, and while it did sound very good, I (personally) like the Teres better. And so much better looking.

Of course, IMHO.

PS, Mang53, if you are anywhere near Eastern North Carolina, email me and you can come and listen to mine.