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Does a record player make that much of a difference??

Question for all you Audionerds - in your experience, how much of a difference does one record player make over the next compared with the differences that a cartridge, phone pre-amp, and separate head amp make in the signal chain?

Reason I ask: I just upgraded from a MM cart to a MC cart (Dynavector 20x2-low output). Huge difference - the Dynavector sounds much more alive and detailed compared with the MM. I find my current record player (a Marantz TT16) to be a real pain to work with - I have to manually move the belt on the motor hub to change speeds, and the arm is not very adjustable or easy to do so. But, aside from that, it's not terrible. How much of a difference can I really expect if I upgrade to a better record spinner vs the change I heard from upgrading to a better cart? 

My next acquisition is a separate head amp to feed the phono stage.

Thanks for all your insights!

Josh

joshindc

Showing 1 response by mikelavigne

mikelavigne
2,151 posts
 

hi Josh,

there are levels of performance for turntable packages like you have, and also for the individual parts of the whole system; platter/plinths, arms, cartridges, phono cables, and even phono cables. there are not strict dollar values to these steps, as price and performance are not exactly linear, and also vintage choices blur the performance ranks further.

in a very general sense, if your package is around $2000, then the next general level might be a total of $4000-$5000. at that level you would find a more solid sound, lower noise, and more musical nuance.

but the biggest part of vinyl sound is the pressings. with turntables the media has a much larger part of what you hear than the hardware. you do need to get to a certain point where you get ’over the hump’ with hardware first, and maybe your current level is not quite there yet. but it’s better in the long run to focus on the best pressings, than on hardware. your collection should drive the hardware investment, not the other way around.

maybe look at the spinner + arm as the next big step for you. so not just the platter.

 

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