Clearaudio Innovation: Help with setup in Philly


Hi everyone. I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question; if not, please tell me and I'll post this elsewhere.

I recently acquired a used Innovation turntable with a Helius Omega armboard. I separately purchased a Helius Omega Standard arm. I'll be using it with an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge. None of the pieces are set up, i.e., the arm is not on the armboard, the armboard is not on the turntable, the cartridge is not installed.

By way of background, my only turntable to date has been the Clearaudio Concept, which has been a great table in its own right. One of the reasons that I bought the Concept in the first place is that much of the setup is done for you and it's pretty much ready to play out of the box. That's clearly not the case with the Innovation.

After some research, I have decided that setting up the Innovation myself is going to be beyond my meager skills (also, I don't have the tools and don't want to buy them). There is a dealer in the Philly area (about 45 minutes away) who says they will do the setup for me for a $75-100 fee. I'm more than happy to take it there and pay a fee to have it done correctly. But it was also suggested that I check here first to see if there are any Audiogon members with experience in setting up turntables (specifically, Clearaudio turntables and Helius tonearms) who'd be willing to come to my place to set it up for a comparable fee. If not, no worries, I'll just take it to the dealer. But I'd prefer not to have to transport it if I don't have to: among other reasons, parts of it are quite fragile and I also imagine that the inevitable slight jostling that will occur on the drive back home and then carrying it all downstairs will throw off some of the settings made by the dealer. Also, I'd like to give a qualified Audiogon member a shot at earning the extra $.

Thanks!

William
chipcarterdc
William,
My urging suggestion to you is to try as hard as you can to set it up YOURSELF for $0. There are number of important advantages: 1. you set it up in your own space with no need to transport turntable back-fourth; 2. It's free and it's fun; 3. You'll get to know how to set it up yourself to your personal taste and set it up again if you have to(how would you replace the cartridge?);
http://www.turntablebasics.com have plenty of information and accesories to help you set up your analogue rig
Thanks for your response. But while you make good points, I'm really not looking to set this up myself. My query here is to see if anyone is interested in being paid to set it up for me, rather than discussing whether it's better for me to do it myself.

Thanks!
Steve Monte of Quest for Sound is in Bensalem Pa and will be able to help. He did a Rega for me then I upgraded to a VPI classic with the Ortofon black 2m.