Reed 2G vs 3P…..Opinion please!

Your choice of wood will have more effect on sonics than would the difference between those two designs. I’d decide what features are most important to you, and then choose accordingly. Or according to cost.

Lew is probably correct. I prefer the design of the 2g best. It has all the correct geometry and a stiffer bearing arrangement. You select the arm wand based on the effective mass your cartridge wants to see

@lewm @mijostyn

Thank you for chiming in…I am leaning towards 2G as well along with extra Headshell with Azimuth Adjustment. The arm length is 10.5” with Cocobolo wood - 14gm in mass weight.

As far Cart choices, I am considering; Fuuga, Hana Umami, Stein Aventurine 6 and Etsuro Urushi Bordeaux.

I have no idea about those cartridges except to say that whoever named them is a marketing genius of sorts.  The syllables alone are worth thousands.

Dear @lalitk  : I don't know the Etsuro Urishi but I know of the Etsuro Gold and the Umami Red ( both made it by Excel. ) and if I was you the Umami is really fine not only in its price range but even way higher price ranges. I never listened in my system the Fuuga only in a distributor room and ver heard the Stein.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

For carts also consider Aidas CU. I went from a Hana ML to Aidas and was blown away, and retipping can be done relatively inexpensively and quickly.
 

I too am interested in the Bordeaux but it’s another $3K

@rauliruegas

I am very familiar with Hana Umami Red. I enjoyed it very much with my SME 15AV TT. It’s one of those cart’s that I am very comfortable using as a base line while I tinker with other carts.

@macg19 

Thanks for your recommendation, I will check it out. 

Update: Reed 3P tonearm ordered. I am grateful to @fsonicsmith and @gestalt for their invaluable feedback and consultation. The arm is likely to be paired with Miyabi Labs Fuuga MC cart and Konus Audio’s Vinyle 3000MC phono. 

Killer setup @lalitk!

@gestalt 

I am pretty confident and looking forward to seeing this through! 

I love checking out high-end phono stages. I never heard of the Konus Audio Vinyl 3000MC phono so I went to their website to check it out. They claim a "cost no object...state of the art design" yet don’t mention much about the design element other than dual mono and current amplification. What does the circuit look like? How about the back? Can you adjust the load? What's the output?

The only picture is the front and it looks like a cheap plastic box.

The feet are made with acorn bolts - delivering state of the art resonance control.

Cost no object design for sure!

Can you adjust the load? What's the output?

Hi, with a current amplification phono you don't need to adjust the load, and the output is a function of the cartridge's internal impedance. This is a pretty handy property in practice.

The only picture is the front and it looks like a cheap plastic box.

Good news: the chassis is metal, not plastic. Nice paint too.

The feet are made with acorn bolts - delivering state of the art resonance control.

Interestingly, Konus Audio electronics are some of the least external vibration sensitive components I've heard. The internal circuits are all suspended inside the chassis and don't require external resonance control - first party or aftermarket.

Cost no object design for sure!

You might find this review interesting. Roy Gregory compares the Vinyle 3000 MC favorably against the CH Precision P1 + X1 power supply. Worth keeping in mind the Vinyle is $6,595 and I believe the CH P1+X1 is a little south of $50k.

https://gy8.eu/review/the-konus-audio-vinyle-3000-mc-phono-stage/

Hope that helps. It sounds like current amplification phonos may be new to you; hit me up if you'd like to hear one for yourself.

@gestalt

Colin, Thank you for de-mystifying the virtues of amazing Konus phono for our readers. When I heard this phono in your amazing system and again at AXPONA 2023, I knew this would be the phono to own. I prefer a no frill, plug n play phono that’s immune to any MC cart and sounds crazy good for the money. And this is certainly one of those phono’s and since I can’t decide between orange and black, let’s get a extra top cover in black so I can change it on fly to contrast with SRA isolation platform underneath my GT2 😉