Is the magic in shindo or verity?

Hello,

Source is KING. Your comparing two systems one was CD sourced the other was sourced by one of the best tables in the world. The energy or "life" as you mention is what the Garrard 301 brings to the table, IMO. Your hearing a table that will hold proper speed.

The first time you hear a Garrard it is an ear opening experience, it is hard to love a belt driven table again.
Even one as creative as yours ; 0 )

Go back to that same place and hook the Garrard up to the Magico set up, I expect you will be again dazzled.

The Shindo, Verity, Magcio and Zanden are great stuff, but
the Garrard is very very special.

Um I wouldn't exactly call the second system "inexpensive" either. It sounds like great, musical gear well selected and well setup.

short answer..the verity. whats not great in merlinville?

I don't want to sound biased, but my system resembled what I heard in the show room, if only I had a bigger room!
I am not making any changes any time soon, but I was wondering if the shindo would blend well in my system?
I don't want to even think about the gerrard, but now I may start wondering. Thanks for the informative responses
What about that shindo stand alone phono stage????? Where is it?

The Shindo stand alone phonostage is a custom product that can be ordered. It does not appear on the standard list of products. All of Shindo's stuff is already pseduo-custom and there are a lot of special products that Shindo can make if you ask.

The stand alone is a custom unit so it does not have a separate name. It is currently being built into the Auriges chassis. The unit can be ordered with lots of options. The one I heard had two different EQ curves for 78's as well as the standard RIAA curve.

I heard the unit in comparison to the Shindo Massetto, the one I believe you listened to. I give a slight edge to the stand alone unit over the one in the Massetto whereas I prefer the phono in my Vosne-Romannee. The differences were pretty subtle. All three units have that Shindo sound.

The Garrads are wonderful tables. Bear in mind that the full Shindo 301 table is heavily modified from a stock Garrard. The entire bearing assembly, spindle shaft, and platter are replaced.

I find that the Shindo gear integrates into many systems. It may not work in every case but it usually does. The place to start if you want to go this route is with the preamp. There is a special synergy in an all-Shindo system. I started out two years ago with a Shindo preamp and have since replaced everything top to bottom with an all-Shindo system sans speakers. I'm contemplating a custom Shindo speaker built around an Altec 604 to complete my system.