Shindo and synergistic components

The Shindo SPU is $3250 and a rebuild from an existing SPU-A s $2850.

The Shindo SPU uses a standard Ortofon mount so any arm with an Ortofon bayonet should be able to mount the cartridge. You must bear in mind that the SPU-A mount is shorter than the SPU-G. You may have to modify the arm mounting to get the right overhang on mnay set-ups.

Also, Shindo is probably going to stop selling complete Shindo SPUs without a Shindo 301 table. The SPU-A bodies are getting scarce. Ortofon will stop making SPU-A pretty soon. I have my order in for the last run. You can however acquire a SPU-A body and have Shindo rebuild them into a Shindo SPU.

I started this post b/c I was looking for a higher powered amp than Shindo makes. As Rchau correctly pointed out, the new Corton Charlemagne 80 (75wpc) solves the problem.

I bought the Masseto and the Corton Charlemagne 80! Delivery in a few weeks. I do believe in synergy, so it was only to address the "power" issue that I sought alternatives. I decided against the Shindo/Garrard 301 - and went with a Raven AC. I will have two arms set up on that in time - one more modern (Phantom etc.), one with a more "Shindo-esque" feel to it (Mersault, EMT 997), both with appropriate carts.

Cheers and thanks for the discussion.

That's awesome Hatari. I hear the Masseto is incredible. Maybe one day i will upgrade my Aurieges. Let us know the new amp sounds. .

Congratulations on your purchase.

I've heard the Masseto and its awesome. Let us know how it goes when you receive your stuff from Ken. I'm always interested in the choice of tubes Ken uses for each piece.

The EMT 997 arm is pretty good. It has the advantage that you can use a larger variety of cartridges than the Shindo arm that needs a SPU A. For a more Shindo feel, you could mount a Shindo SPU in the G body.

Congrats Hatari. You made great choices. Did you order the Masseto with a mono switch? dual MC inputs? if you still have the MM input, i strongly recommend trying the A23 step up (matched to your cart, of course). it really makes a big difference, IMO.