2. analog
  3. 193852-87347

Back in the vinyl saddle again.

Since my divorce 8 years ago, I have not used my turntable and have been spinning CD's, followed by streaming. As a result, I decided to sell the turntable, along with the roughly 1,000 albums I still had.

To that end I set up the turntable so I could demo it for potential buyers.

Unfortunately, once I played first record, I was hooked again. Now I am mired in another rabbit hole and I am in need of some advice and recommendations.

Current setup is a VPI Scoutmaster (circa 2006) w/JMW 9 arm and a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood MM cartridge. The cartridge is probably overdue for either replacement or retipping. Related equipment are a Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL phono stage, Musical Fidelity M6si integrated, ATC SCM19 speakers and a REL bass array.

My questions are:

1. Should I keep the VPI or sell it and use the money to buy something newer? If I decide to buy, can you recommend any possible replacement? Budget, perhaps $2,000 CDN ($1,500 USD). 

2. If I keep the VPI, can someone please tell me the real effective mass of the JMW 9 (2006 version) I have? I have read it is anywhere between 7.7 and 10.2. Which doesn't really help.

3. Likewise, if I replace the Virtuoso Wood cartridge, what is a good replacement? Either MM or MC. I am considering a Dynavector XX2 MkII if it is a good match for the JMW9. Also, what do you think about buying used cartridges? Is it an option?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

tony1954

Showing 3 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,502 posts
 

OP,

 

For exploration... great. Have fun.

These days at most budget levels you can achieve parity between digital and analog for around the same investment. In the lower tiers it might require say a 20% to 50% increase in the digital side. So say $3K for analog $5K for digital because at these levels the amount of design effort and part choices to avoid the digital pitfall of cheap solid state cannot be easily avoided (but very dependent on your ability to choose components). But the level where there is a difference is dropping rapidly. Only a few years ago analog was much cheaper up to say $25K or so and vinyl ruled at the top and bottom... vinyl is getting squeezed out completely. Probably even now, with real careful research you can probably achieve parity in the $2K... I just haven’t tried recently.

I just brought this up, because of my own inclination to make my system to sound as good as possible and not divert funds on side projects. But, that’s me.

ghdprentice
7,502 posts
 

OP,

I am trying to be helpful here... I promise. You said, "But, it’s not about improving my streaming setup. It’s about reacquainting myself with analog." It sounds like you are implying there is a unique sound there.  If you mean the nostalgia... no problem.. great. I get it. But if you are talking about sonics.. .then, today, you can get digital that sounds like analog and analog that sounds like digital. It is all in the choice of equipment. So, if the pursuit is the best sound, then investing in only one technology will net you the best possible sound. While for decades it was thought that analog had its own sound... it was really more that solid state and digital had such great flaws that analog was preferred musically. That has gone away over the last ten years or so.

ghdprentice
7,502 posts
 

Or you could improve your digital end so it sounds as good or better than your analog. That is not that difficult to do at most investment levels these days. 

Or upgrade your phono stage as opposed to upgrading the table. You could retip the cartridge. All this would improve the sound. 

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