Most bang for the buck Table and Arm combo?


Finaces give me serious thoughts about letting my VPI Aries Extended w/12.5 arm go but wondering if I will really miss it if say I go with one of the new VPI Scout models or a Rega 25.If I were starting out now I would have looked probably for a Nottingham Spacedeck or if one came up a Final Tool so latter I could go multi-arm.But a dealer said I was trippin' to let what I have go and he sells both VPI and Nottingham and said the latter was a toy compared with the former.So sell a $5500 table for $3000 (It's mint)and try and find a Spacedeck for $1500-2000?Seems not worth the $1K+.A Rega 25?The rest of my gear is in flux but I have a good tube (Kora Eclipse) and I think I am going to dump my Mesa Baron for less costly SS (I have an old PS 100 Delta kicking around).Speakers are Odeon semi horns but this could change.Any thoughts here?
Thanks
Chazzbo
chazzbo
If you sell the VPI for $3k, and buy another new TT for $2k, that only gives you $1k cash for your financial problem, and you take a $2k bath on the turnaround. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

If you want to get some more cash to work with, and still have a good TT, then buy a used Linn or Oracle for about $800 including arm. That way, you get $2200 to work with for your finances. Buying another new TT for $2k just guarantees you another loss, when you come to sell it. Used prices for TT's, as you know, generally are around 60% of new, or even less than that. Buy a good used one that already has the depreciation absorbed by someone else. It's bad enough to have to take a loss on your VPI, but you should at least get as much cash to work with, as you lost on the sale. And, believe it or not, a good used Linn or Oracle is not far behind your VPI. You won't feel like you are listening to an entry level model.
Twl makes a good point. Either hang onto the vpi, or sell it and buy a $900 used p25 w/rb 600. Excellent players.

One additional thing to consider is that shipping a turntable is very tricky. Turntables don't travel well, so you need to factor the possible annoyance/financial issue of repair into the equation. The destination buyer will also have to re-assemble the table.