runkster,
John is giving you great advice. The rest of your system is world's beyond a beat up thrift TT, obviously, so you will indeed hear the benefits of a decent arm like a Rega.
Of course there's real danger that you'll soon hear the limits of TT and/or cartridge and want to upgrade them to better suit your system. Fortunately, Regas travel well. They are a great match for many other tables and mate well with a wide range of cartridges. This is not true of some arms.
FWIW, Origin Live believes the RB250 with their mods ends up being a better arm than an RB300 with the same mods. The 300 has a VTF spring that resonates and causes problems. The 250's simpler design is actually a better base for modding into a good arm for relatively low $.
Welcome to vinyl madness and enjoy the journey!
John is giving you great advice. The rest of your system is world's beyond a beat up thrift TT, obviously, so you will indeed hear the benefits of a decent arm like a Rega.
Of course there's real danger that you'll soon hear the limits of TT and/or cartridge and want to upgrade them to better suit your system. Fortunately, Regas travel well. They are a great match for many other tables and mate well with a wide range of cartridges. This is not true of some arms.
FWIW, Origin Live believes the RB250 with their mods ends up being a better arm than an RB300 with the same mods. The 300 has a VTF spring that resonates and causes problems. The 250's simpler design is actually a better base for modding into a good arm for relatively low $.
Welcome to vinyl madness and enjoy the journey!