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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 2 responses by lewm

lewm
13,476 posts
 
Who said VTA adjustment was unimportant or makes no significant difference?


Mijo, you’re thinking of SRA, not VTA, when you mentioned 92 degrees. I’m sure that was just a mental typo. Me, I never have even tried to visualize SRA. I just set VTA so the top of the headshell is parallel to the LP surface, listen, and then tweak VTA up or down from there looking for best tonal balance.
lewm
13,476 posts
 
Yet another vote for the Kuzma, among those on your list. I did have extensive experience with the Well Tempered Reference and its tonearm, when it was owned by a close friend who developed dementia in his last years. Thus I was doing the work for him in terms of mounting and aligning cartridges, plus he and I would often get together at his home for listening sessions during which I was even setting LPs on the platter for him. His system was very fine. I would summarize my critique of the WT as follows: Although it does nothing to irritate, it does tend to sound "over-damped", with the result that nearly all LPs sound the same, on the sweet and mellow side without high end extension or great bass definition. As I intimated, I heard it with more than one cartridge, so the colorations were not per se due to the cartridge. Plus, he owned 6000 LPs, so we heard it with a wide variety of labels and musical genres. Let me qualify my remarks by noting that I have never heard the Amadeus, which seems to please many WT fans and may be a big improvement on the Reference. I am not casting aspersions on all WT products, in other words.
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