Ultimate Turntable search...OMA K5 or ?
As the title says, I’m on the hunt for a statement turntable. Don’t really post on the forum so forgive me if this has been discussed already. I’ve been told that whatsbest might be another place to post about this but I’ve been a seller on this site for many years, so I figured it was a good place to start.
I’m a longtime Caliburn owner but it’s time for a change. I would like to ditch the belt drive and vacuum. I know Fremer loves the OMA K3, but the K5 has got my attention. After owning many different speakers, a friend of mine turned me on to OMA. I ended up buying a pair of OMA mini’s about ten years ago and then quickly moved up to the AC-1. I’ve had a wonderful experience dealing with Jonathan and the company and love their aesthetic. With the AC-1s, my main system has reached a level of musicality and presence I never thought possible. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that upgrading my front end is my next big move. So I’ve been doing a ton of research on turntables in this class.
Although I’ve owned OMA speakers for years, I haven’t heard any of their new table designs. Sadly, I have not been to any shows or showrooms since covid. I do plan on visiting OMA sometime in the next few months, but for now, I’m interested if anybody has real life experience with the K3/K5 and if you have listening notes or opinions to share? Also curious to hear thoughts on competive turntables in this class. I have heard many high end tables in person, but definitely not all. Thanks!
I have heard a lot of top turntable designs. IMO, the best and by quite a large margin, is the Basis Transcendence. It is still a belt drive, but AJ (RIP) hit it out of the park with this table. Plus, his Superarm is a great arm. Like Mike L said, the new Esoteric should also be on your short list. What do you dislike about your Caliburn?
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@peterayer A friend heard the AS 2000 a while back, reported to me that he was quite underwhelmed. He believed that the speed control was marginal and that the string contributed to wow and flutter. My experience with the old war horse SME 3012 tonearm ( this is typically mounted on the AS 2000) is that one can easily hear the knife edge chatter of the bearing. Assuming of course, that one has a resolving enough system. |
@whart To your point about good dealers and bad dealers, there are surprisingly a lot more bad dealers than one would expect. I have had a couple of recent experiences with bad dealers. One was so rude to me that i walked out of their establishment within less than ten minutes! Why these folks think that they have to cop an attitude about the customer the minute he/she walks in the door is beyond me?? Needless to say, i bought an expensive DAC from a dealer that does care about customer service. |
