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Turntable cost:benefit

I read the new Garrard 301 review in the current "Stereophile" with great interest, especially as my father owned one which he jettisoned decades ago...most unfortunately. Anyway, appealing as the re-issue is, the cost is punitive, as noted by the author.

With that preamble, I'm interested in forum members' thoughts on the cost:benefit ratio of a high priced turntable for a modest vinyl collection. In my case, that's around 800 LPs. Another reason I'm curious is that I have a friend who simply "decided to get into vinyl" and bought a ~$15k turntable plus a comparably priced tonearm + cartridge. He owned zero vinyl at the time of the purchase. Now I think he has about 20 "audiophile" pressings to enjoy on that TT.

To answer my own question, I can't justify a turntable at that price level for my own vinyl collection. Actually, I can't really summon up a compelling argument for such a purchase. Plus, I'm quite content with my  VPI HW-19 Mk 2 (though a better cartridge would be attractive).

Assuming disposable funds are not the absolute deciding factor and other components in your system are good enough to support a high end TT, what size record collection do readers think justifies a turntable costing over some arbitrary (say around $3000 for the purposes of argument) threshold? Is that even a consideration?
kacomess

Showing 1 response by millercarbon

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
What the hell does the number of records have to do with it? You have 20 records you loved enough to buy but you don't love them enough to want to hear them sound even better? But if you have 100,000 crappy dirty scratched up records of no-hit wonders you'd never in your life play for yourself let alone anyone else suddenly this justifies a $30k rig? Are you kidding me?

And don't try to hide behind "crappy scratched up", you know what I mean. You either have records you love and want them to sound better, or you don't. You either want to hear the music you love sound as good as it can, or you just want to hear a lot of different music and the hell with how good it sounds.

I have now at least half a dozen White Hot Stampers. A cheap one might be under $100, if you're lucky, but anything really desirable can run $300 or more. By your logic I would have to play each one 100,000 times to be worth owning. Sorry if that sounds stupid, it is. But its your logic NOT MINE!

Mine is: you love it, its worth it. You don't, it's not. My system, every bit of it, totally worth it. Yours... is yours.
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