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Calling all "Vinyl Heads"

As 2003 approaches, I realize that it's time that I upgraded my turntable. Presently I have a 10 year old Roksan Xerxes with an RB300 arm and a relatively inexpensive Shure MM cartridge (I am the original owner) and I am wondering which upgrade path to take.
I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has purchased or serioiusly researched a turntable in the $2000 - 3000 range fairly recently to hear about the relative merits of the equipment available in or near the price range.

I realize that I do have a few options in terms of keeping my own turntable and upgrading the arm and/or cartridge, and would also like to hear opinions on that topic. So far, the tables that have piqued my interest are Teres, Nottingham, Clearaudio, new Roksan, and Audiomeca. Of additional interest is any info regarding cabling issues with various tonearms - captive cable, din plugs, junction boxes, etc.

In terms of musical interest and sound preference, I like a neutral and realistic reproduction, and listen to a wide variety of music - literally anything except opera and thrash metal. The rest of my system consists of:

Blue Circle BC23 phono stage
Blue Circle BC3000 preamp
Blue Circle AG8000 poweramp
Martin Logan CLS IIz speakers

Thanks in advance for any input!
esoxhntr

Showing 1 response by theo

theo's avatar
theo
2,725 posts
 
Ok, here is the curve to all this. Buy a Linn Sondek LP12
start out with a base table to get into it and over the next few years go for the upgrades. Keep your RB300 to start then upgrade it later. I recommend the Incognito harness for the RB300 it is a very good upgrade available from Lauerman Audio (the importer of Rega) for approx 250.00. But a turntable is an evolution in ownership. And the Linn is a great table with many upgrades available.
The beauty is, you can forever tweek and and enhance the sound as your listening fatigues over the years. You can actually start out with a used one and completely re-build it through the years. A very good source of information is a dealer in Ft Collins Colo at audioalternative.com, he has and does rebuild these tables by the numbers.
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