Thinking of jumping to analog...which turntable?

I think the main question here is "how many records do you already own?"

If not many, I would seriously consider NOT getting into analog at all. It's wonderfull that there is so much used vinyl available at this time but a lot of it is worn and new lp's can be more expensive than CD.

A properly set up turntable can yield better sonics than CD, but at what cost? I personally found with my VPI HW19jr that my Jolida performed better over A WIDER VARIETY OF CD'S. This is not to say it didn't sound good, but in general the CD was easier and more listenable ie. less ticks, pops, and NO END OF RECORD MISTRACKING!!!!. I now own a TNT 6 and it IS better than my cd's but cost WAAAYYY more than my cd player.

I say this knowing full well that there will be some angry people, but I'm not bashing LP, I love it BUT if I didn't own any records or at least 200-300 I wouldn't be buying a tt.

(this is gonna hurt....)

But you can make the search for records a mission. Used record stores, record conventions, online catalogs. I don't know how many records I rescued from garage sales and used record stores. Problem is you need a record cleaning machine to do it right... But analog sounds so much better than digital I think it's worth it!

Dear Bezenchuck: +++++ " I think the main question here is "how many records do you already own?"

If not many, I would seriously consider NOT getting into analog at all. It's wonderfull that there is so much used vinyl available at this time but a lot of it is worn and new lp's can be more expensive than CD. " +++++

I agree with Alun.

+++++ " A properly set up turntable can yield better sonics than CD, but at what cost? I personally found with my VPI HW19jr that my Jolida performed better over A WIDER VARIETY OF CD'S. " +++++

Here I agree too. The actual digital technology is really good on CD reproduction especially the upsampling one. For you really can beat your CD rig you need to do a " good " invest on your analog rig and I mean: TT, Tonearm, cartridge, phono preamp and cables ( at least ).

For the kind of audio system you own ( ¡ congratulations !, very nice. ) I think that you have to invest whatever is need it about if you really want it to " live " the analog heaven.

My advise:

TT: Acoustic Signature Final Tool ( www.acoustic-signature.com )

Tonearm: SME IV/V or Moerch DP-6

Cartridges: Sumiko Celebration, Dynavector XV-1 or Shelther 90X.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Raul, you really like that Celebration a lot! How would you compare it to the Dynavector in terms of tracking ability!
Sorry to sidetrack this thread for just a bit. It's also nice to hear from an audiophile who has my same opinion on getting into new vinyl...

Hi Alun: My experience with both cartridges told me that both are good trackers: I never had any tracking problem with either. But remember that in the tracking problems not only the cartridge can be the " guilty ": tonearm, VTF, anti-skating, VTA/SRA, etc... intervene on that issue.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.