Refurbish or Buy New Turntable


I have a question to put out to the forum. I have a Oracle Delphi mark ll turntable with an early Graham arm (Excalibur) and a Monster Apha Genesis cartridge (very low output mc .29mv). It has been in storage and I am ready to spin my vinyl once again. The table needs a belt and perhaps some suspension springs. My BAT VK 31SE preamp does not have enough gain to handle this cartridge and I was thinking of getting a higher output mc or a mm depending on compliance with the Graham arm.

My budget for the project is $ 1600 to $ 2000. In your opinion
will this old combination hold up against the new inexpensive table/arm combinations of today? Should I move on and look at Rega or the like combos?

Thanks in advance for any help!
ck

Showing 2 responses by jfrech

Hi, yes, The other posters hit it though. A good high(er) output cartridge and you should be good to go !
Hi, you will still need a phono pre amp to go with your vk31se, even with a higher output cartrige. Please factor that into your budget.

I have not heard the oracle's next to the newer tables. But I guess for your budget reasons, refurbing what you have makes a lot of sense. Then maybe a new cartridge and a phono stage.

A lot of old cartridges have issues in their suspensions, and need to be rebuilt or replaced.

Good luck!