1200GR upgrade tonearm or table?


My vinyl rig sounds so freakin’ good it should be illegal. The last item on my list is the tonearm. I’m running a Phasemation PP-500 with their top headshell. I’ve been told it works fine with the Technics tonearms but something better and heavier will make it even better. I’m thinking Glanz or Soraine.

for $3k-ish I don’t think I can upgrade the table but the arm is doable.

Thoughts?

gochurchgo

@noromance  yes sir. I got the EA-350 a couple months before the external SUTS (the EA-350 has the T-320 SUTS built in) and the T-1000 SUTS was a giant upgrade. More open, more detail, more everything. Personally, if one is using PM Carts, the SUTS are the real upgrade. Wish I had known that haha.

So if you are already using a "heavy" headshell and if you had to add a heavier counterweight to balance it (which also adds to the effective mass of the tonearm) then what leads you to believe you need an entirely new tonearm to get the most out of the cartridge? IMO, you might achieve a small audible improvement (and anyway, you will tell yourself that the new tonearm is an improvement, because you spent money on it), but you might be better off spending the bucks elsewhere.

@lewm  do not disagree with you. I’m foggy on the tonearm aspect of things I fully admit.

@OP - the GR2. I suspect that there will be a similar update to the 1200G, in time.

I have been demo'd the EA 350 in the Company of other Phonostages and especially one Phonostage that has been able to go all the way to final demos at a Phon' Bake Off. , where it was compared to a £10K Phon'.

The EA 350 is a very decent Phon', the Search to better it to discover a much improved performance will also require that a rather large budget will need to be readily available. The $10K and upwards range of Phon's that are in the  market place might find something to convince a change could bring more. I would sugesst between 10-20K not much differentiation will be found in SS Phon's.