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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 vikkysingh

vikkysingh
154 posts
 
I'm soret of new to the vinyl game (three years) but I think you shoudl start woith a new cart first. Nothign wrong with shure, but I think he Xerxes is a solid table and it's probably time for a new cart anyways. I recently purchased a Scout from VPI. Eventually I'll upgrade to an Aries, but for now the Scout is fine. In terms of your musical tastes I think the Aries/Scout and Clearaudio woudl be the clearest choices in terms of neutrality and tone. The Nottingham was more musical and had a fatter darker sound but I prefeed the VPI for my analog tastes. I commend you on your system choice though, I have an all Blue Circle system myself! One of these days I'll pick up a BC23, but for now the Black cube is doing quite well. Try a new cart and maybe you'l luck out and be happy~
-Vik
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