So I have had the table up and running for a few days on a trial set up.
For the moment I have an Ortofon MC200 installed as its my cheapest cartridge, and this was put on just to make sure everything works properly. Cartridge alignment is easy to do on this one and that is one of the reasons I chose it for initial install, but its amazing how quiet in the groove it is and how well it tracks. Now the MC200 is a vintage cartridge and it has its own character and limitations, but all in all it sounds quite respectable. Funny thing is if you read about its design philosophy there are many aspects about it that have carried over to current Ortofon cartridges, and in some ways this is the great great ancestor to the A90. One liability to the MC 200 is the output voltage is wickedly low at .09 mV, so perhaps I will source a SUT for it at some time in the future. My next step is to install and align the Ikeda 9 Kawami cartridge, but that process is tedious as its so difficult to see the diamond since it is a direct scanning design. I do have the high mass OEM headshell available, so that is what the Ikeda will go on, as I recall that head shell weighs 15 grams. But since I have a removable head shell, I can see myself experimenting with a couple of other cartridges for this table.
I have owned a few tables over the years, and the Scheu and Dynavector are as colorless and transparent as I have experienced. While there may be performance gains to be had by the ultra high end tables, I would suspect my system and room are not at the level of refinement to take advantage of those tables. I believe this is about as high as I can hope to climb, and I am fine with that cause the sound is very very nice. Electronics are a Halcro DM8 pre amp, AVM Audio AMP Essential mono-blocks, Esoteric E-03 phono stage, and JBL 4365 speakers. So I modest system. My other two tables are a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse with a SME V and Transfiguration Audio Proteus and a Well Tempered Reference with ZYX 4D. The Scheu is every bit as enjoyable to listen to as the SOTA, and truth be told I could be happy with any one of these tables.
Looking forward to many an evening of listening with this table, it is worth every dollar I spent and more. Paid 3800 for the table including shipping and 1100 for the arm, and I can't think of anything I would rather have for under 5K.
I have owned a few tables over the years, and the Scheu and Dynavector are as colorless and transparent as I have experienced. While there may be performance gains to be had by the ultra high end tables, I would suspect my system and room are not at the level of refinement to take advantage of those tables. I believe this is about as high as I can hope to climb, and I am fine with that cause the sound is very very nice. Electronics are a Halcro DM8 pre amp, AVM Audio AMP Essential mono-blocks, Esoteric E-03 phono stage, and JBL 4365 speakers. So I modest system. My other two tables are a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse with a SME V and Transfiguration Audio Proteus and a Well Tempered Reference with ZYX 4D. The Scheu is every bit as enjoyable to listen to as the SOTA, and truth be told I could be happy with any one of these tables.
Looking forward to many an evening of listening with this table, it is worth every dollar I spent and more. Paid 3800 for the table including shipping and 1100 for the arm, and I can't think of anything I would rather have for under 5K.