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Up grade to a new turntable

Hello FriendsI wish to upgrade my turntable!!My music taste, is 70.s rock, blues, jazz rock, new wave, male vocals etc!!Here in Australia, there only a few turntables available!!, at my price, as I'm on a pension!!, I have mad a list!!1. Well Tempered Labs, reference, with a reference, arm, this is used in mint condition, that has been set up by the importer!! , but at a price $4,000!!, but with a Dynavector 20 xx high output, I'm using  low output, at the moment, on my "Once Analog" turntable!!, so I don't now how it would sound, would the higher output, sound harsh, on my phono stage, in MC, or should I switch to MM??
2.VPI prime scout, at around $5,000!!3. Kuzma Stabi, with basic arm, or if I have the money, a upgrade arm??4. Scu audio, premier, with same arm??Hoping someone can help me, with advice??Many ThanksDavid SpryAustralia
daveyonthecoast

Showing 3 responses by hshifi

hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello, 
I love the VTA on the fly. Make sure people tell you if the cart you want goes with your tone arm and more importantly the phono preamp. I am going through this right now deciding between the Ortifon Black LVB MM or the Dynavector 10x5 MKII MC for my Linn basic tone arm and the Sutherland Little LOCO. 
hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello,
Mijo.,
I recently helped a friend setup a VPI Prime with the unipivot. Pain in the @$$! But once I finished setting it up; it was the VTA was the real factor that made it sound incredible. Another friend who has the same table had it setup by a guy who does this for a living using state of the art gear said I nailed it. It was as good as he has heard. But, you are correct about the Ortifon LVB. I would have to go with a different phono stage for that. Maybe the 20/20 or the Duo. I will call Ron Sutherland about the Dynavector 10X5 Mk2. When I was demoing to the TZ Vibe for him he did not mention it would not work. At the time I was listening to a Rega P8 with the Ania pro cart. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I am not being sarcastic. I really do appreciate it. I was given a Linn Axis TT so I didn’t want to go crazy with the cart on this table. I think my endgame table is the VPI prime with or prime 21. I think I like the unipivot more than the Gimbal arm. 
hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello,
When I adjusted the VTA on the VPI Prime it was really a 1/4 turn at a time. I just kept track of what I did as far as moving the VTA from zero. Besides, that was the fun part of setting it up. The hard part was setting up the VTF and azimuth just using the counterweight on the unipivot arm. I wanted to leave the side weights alone since they didn’t seem to have a locking mechanism. I was worried over time they could be bumped or vibrate out of adjustment. I am very picky when I do things with micro adjustments. After I adjusted the VTA for typical thickness of vinyl I grabbed a 180 gram record and marked the spot for that. This way you can literally adjust the VTA very quickly by the thickness of the album with the markings on the VTA dial. Just a note you do have to loosen the two VTA arm set screws by hand before you adjust. When you listen to an album dialed in with your system and your ears it is as close to audio Heaven as you can get. 
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