Hi Aolivero,
I once participated in a friend's similar effort to "balance sources". We used an earlier version of yr pre, with a Symphonic Line amp (outstanding match with CAT and sounding similar to JL) -- AND (bingo) a Wadia 861 (i.e. an earlier version of yrs?).
TO make this long story shorter, we tried a large number of tables, all privately owned or dealer loans, mostly reasonably priced, using a Shelter 5 s.(the SAME Shelter on all TT's -- you can imagine the setting up hassle!).
1) The best digital (incl the Wadia) sounded very good, esp when NOT compared to analogue. The performance was also consistent and, of course, there's no set-up hassle, LP cleaning hassle, etc.
2) The overwhelming majority of TT were capable of better musical enjoyment than the digital.
3) Cheap vinyl reissues sounded horrible. Badly set up TT's sounded average to horrible.
4) Few cd's sounded absolutely "horrible" -- but none we tried sounded absolutely outstanding.
5) Amazingly, the TT bass was superior, as was the upper register as the TT became better engineered (also more expensive).
Many good performers from Teres, Amazon, Clearaudio (the mid-priced stuff), Scheu... priced <3-5k + cartridge, new.
The latest +10k (new) TT+arm offerings were beyond comparison; usefully, the set-up and maintenance for these TT's is also minimal/non-existant (take S. Yorke, for example; many others).
We didn't try SME, unfortunately.
We listened to classical and some blues.
Cheers
I once participated in a friend's similar effort to "balance sources". We used an earlier version of yr pre, with a Symphonic Line amp (outstanding match with CAT and sounding similar to JL) -- AND (bingo) a Wadia 861 (i.e. an earlier version of yrs?).
TO make this long story shorter, we tried a large number of tables, all privately owned or dealer loans, mostly reasonably priced, using a Shelter 5 s.(the SAME Shelter on all TT's -- you can imagine the setting up hassle!).
1) The best digital (incl the Wadia) sounded very good, esp when NOT compared to analogue. The performance was also consistent and, of course, there's no set-up hassle, LP cleaning hassle, etc.
2) The overwhelming majority of TT were capable of better musical enjoyment than the digital.
3) Cheap vinyl reissues sounded horrible. Badly set up TT's sounded average to horrible.
4) Few cd's sounded absolutely "horrible" -- but none we tried sounded absolutely outstanding.
5) Amazingly, the TT bass was superior, as was the upper register as the TT became better engineered (also more expensive).
Many good performers from Teres, Amazon, Clearaudio (the mid-priced stuff), Scheu... priced <3-5k + cartridge, new.
The latest +10k (new) TT+arm offerings were beyond comparison; usefully, the set-up and maintenance for these TT's is also minimal/non-existant (take S. Yorke, for example; many others).
We didn't try SME, unfortunately.
We listened to classical and some blues.
Cheers