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Help me pick a phono, pre and cart

Hi all,
My WF spending restraints are going away so I’m going to upgrade my system.
I primarily play CD, but also have an MMF-5 with Glass platter, Golding GX1022 cart going through a Clear Audio Nano to Ayre Ax-7e to Sig 2 Ce’s.

This year I’m going to Quatro CT’s and upgrading my vinyl pre and source side. Next year I’m upgrading my main pre and power amp.

I’m looking for help in picking a phono player pre and cart. My musical taste is pretty wide: female vocals, rock, blues, jazz; not much classical on vinyl. Think Amy Winehouse/Cold Specks/Pixies/Weezer/Jeff Beck/Johnny Winter/Winton Marsalis and Maynard Ferguson for you other old timers. LOL
My budget is about $8-10k

Right now my main thoughts are VPI Prime Scout or Prime with Grado Statement series cart, and an Ayre Px-5e pre.
In addition to specific item recommendations, I’m very interested in how to split the budget item wise. In other words more or less on player vs cart vs pre, I.e. Scout with Statement2 or Prime with Reference2 for example. Or go higher than 20-30% on the pre?
I lean towards spending the most on what’s least upgradeable - sorry if that’s too general or obvious.
Thanks much
Jim

jetson

Showing 2 responses by toddc2

toddc2
19 posts
 
The VPI feet do not seem to be very good. Many people prefer to place VPI tables on Stillpoint cones or Bear Claws and remove the VPI feet.

True enough! I replaced the rubber inserts on my Classic 3 with Symposium inserts and added a Symposium Segue ISO platform for it to sit on. One of the best upgrades for the dollar I've ever made.
toddc2
19 posts
 
@jetson 

I swapped out a few phono preamps recently: Zesto Andros to ARC PH6 to Whest PS.30RDT SE+ (the Whest was the keeper for me). These phonos all sounded vastly different and in my case I liked the clarity and lower noise of the Whest. One thing I learned was I needed a little more gain from my phono preamp than the KAB calculator recommended. Buying a phono with several gain settings to match the rest of your system might be a good idea with at least of couple of settings > 60 dB.
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