I think if you want the Linn sensibility without the trouble, sell it all and get a Well Tempered Simplex. I'm a long time Linn owner who lost their local set up guy and finally dumped my LP12 and haven't looked back once. The WT sound great with Dyna, Lyra, etc. I'm using an EMT TSD-15 and I love the sound. I thinks it's probably more musically pleasing than my old LP12/Lyra Delos.
Decisions, decisions....
I'm one of the Naim fold, getting back into vinyl in a more serious way. I currently have a Moth (i.e., Rega P2) with a rewired, re-weighted RB-300 , currently using a Shure V15vxmr that to my ears sounds pretty darn good. Recently I have acquired three other things, all needing to be set up and give a listen. 1-an older Sota Sapphire with the Sumiko arm, 2-a Rega P7, and 3-a Linn LP12. I'm a bit ocd-hence the case of GAS. A musician to boot. So what cartridges would you folks out there recommend? I'm set up to go either MM or MC, and I have a couple of the Shures-one NIB. Like I said, the Sota has the Sumiko arm; the Linn is pre-Cirkus, Akito, Valhalla, Trampolin; the Rega, of course has the 700. I am eager to try the MC route-trying to keep cartridge costs under $2k each (or about that)-which brings up another obvious question, does a Lyra Delos, or a Koetsu Black, etc, outclass the tables I own? And the cartridge doesn't have to be that expensive if there are options that would get me "there" for less. Would I be better off selling the lot and getting a single, more expensive deck? I like the idea of checking different things out, but I suppose I could do without that. One caveat-I haven't heard the VPI Classic, but I must say that the other VPI's, though they sound good, seem a bit overly analytical for my taste. That said, please share your thoughts.
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