$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

IMO the cartridge is very important, but you can't maximize performance of a cartridge without a solid foundation (table & arm) as a starting point.

I've really enjoyed this thread & everyone's opinion's.

Raul,

Whether you're correct or others are correct, it feels like you're speaking from an ideal sense, not a practical sense. I see a real life issue I don't think you can solve with your reasoning; I don't think your logic can work for folks woking on a budget up to $5K (and probably a much higher budget). A huge percentage of the folks here are on a budget & are trying to achieve the best possible music from a table, arm, cartridge, preamp, rack, interconnects, cleaining machine, and accessories, within a reasonable budget. It's tough to apply your "logic/argument" in this thread, I wouldn't have a chance do it within my budget.

Raul,

In the conversation that's been taking place during the coarse of this thread, you've been asked to defend your position but you've chosen not to. You've given us a bunch of subjective bla, bla, bla...

BTW, If you like the Linbrooks, you'd really appreciate my Woodmere's.

Raul,

TWL has taken many hours of his time defending his position, but you can't find the time to REALLY defend yours.

Furthermore, you're requesting more time from TWL when you haven't created a solid argument on your end. Look, if your going to take a position atleast defend it!

Furthermore, you say "four of 20+ persons are really experts on the subject, when I say experts is because they have a high resolution audio system and they have " live experience " ( that's mean: in their own audio system at home ) in the subject ( at least )." What's this subjective B.S.? Bla, Bla, Bla.

The only thing you've proven up to this point is that you have a week defense for your position. Please, write something meaningful where I can learn something.....

Artar 1,

Congratulations on your decision, I agree others here - you will have a very satisfying analog front end!

Raul,

I'd be glad to comment on the $5K budget. Here is the original post I made:

"Raul

Whether you're correct or others are correct, it feels like you're speaking from an ideal sense, not a practical sense. I see a real life issue I don't think you can solve with your reasoning; I don't think your logic can work for folks woking on a budget up to $5K (and probably a much higher budget). A huge percentage of the folks here are on a budget & are trying to achieve the best possible music from a table, arm, cartridge, preamp, rack, interconnects, cleaining machine, and accessories, within a reasonable budget. It's tough to apply your "logic/argument" in this thread, I wouldn't have a chance do it within my budget."

You gave your responses as:

"Dear Dsiggia:".... see a real life issue I don't think you can solve with your reasoning; I don't think your logic can work for folks working on a budget up to $5K...".

Here are some examples of analog rig ( around $5K ) that you can blend according with what you want to hear:

Cartridges: Van den Hul: MC ONE SPECIAL,
Ortofon....: Kontrapunkt b.
Allaerts...: MC1ECO
Benz Micro.: M2
Clearaudio.: Victory
Lyra.......: Argo
Sumiko.....: Celebration
Transfiguration: Spirit MK3
Dynavector.: D172 MKII.

Tonearms: MOERCH: DP 6 or UP 4 ( both has interchangeable arm wands with different effective mass, so you can blend with any of those cartridges. )

Turntables: Transrotor: Atlantis.
Acoustic Signature: Final Tool.
Avid: Volvere.
Nottinngham: Space.
Roksan: Xerxes.
Thorens: 850 BC.
Wilson benesch: Circle.
Basis: 2001 Signature.
VPI: Scoutmaster.

Any of these combinations beats your analog system for a wide margin ( btw, hands down many of the anolog systems of the persons on this thread. ). Try it.
Regards and always enjoy the music.
Raul."

My response is:
You failed to see the $5K wasn't just the table, arm, cartridge. What happened to the phono preamp, cleaning machine, accessories, etc? It didn't seem worth it at the time to respond - you blew the budget. Enough is enough....

Artar, thanks for the kind system compliment. I think you'll be ecstatic with your front end. I will also add that you can place a want ad on the Gon for a OL Silver Mk I (easier to add the TWL mod) & purchase this arm used for about $600-$650, another significant decrease in cost. You won't lose a penny if you decide to re-sell this arm.

I may have missed it earlier in the thread, but what's your budget for a phono preamp? What are you considering?

Artar,

You've got some really nice choices for phono pre's. I've got a Supratek Cortese on the way, if it works out in my system I'll sell my SF & Tom Evans. I'm not saying it would be best for you, but you could consider a Supratek preamp with a phono section included.

I hope I'm not out of line in re-hashing the OL Silver. If you did purchase a used Silver at about $600-$650 you would save about $900 over a new Encounter. If the OL Silver doesn't do the job, you could easily upgrade to the Encounter without losing a dime.

Artar,

I expect the Cortese to arrive at the end of next week. Not that the SF is a slouch, but I'm expecting a sustantial increase in performance over the SF. If it doesn't work out I'll keep the SF, we'll see.

As far as the SF & Tom Evans, I'm sorry if you got the impression I was trying to sell them to you, just mapping out my plan.

Hi Artar. Welcome back to the thread and congrats on your top notch purchase - ya done well! Did you start & finish with this combination? What cartridge did you choose?

Oakiris, I own a Teres 160, modded OL Silver with a 103r & TWL is spot on with his recommendation. If you're ok with a used OL Silver, you could place a want ad & save about $300 off list price. Try to find an OL Silver MkI because it's easier to mod than the MkII. Have you thought about a phono stage for a 103r yet? I hear an EAR 834 is very good for the price & you can find these used on the gon for about $750+. I have used a Tom Evans - Microgroove setup at .2mV & 1000 ohms that was ok for the cost. You can find one of these for about $500 used on the gon; one is currently listed .2mV & 100 ohms which could be a better fit then 1000 ohms for the 103r.

Good Luck