Van Den Hul what is the best cart ?

@sbank , I'm not pushing anything other than I honestly and really think you can increase the performance of your system by getting away from those arms. It has nothing to do with ANYTHING other than that. If I did not have any respect for you I I would not have mentioned it in the first place. I am quite happy to let several individuals stew in mediocrity but not you. You REALLY deserve better arms and there are many to chose from. Kuzma, Triplanar, Reed, Schroder and now Transrotor all make excellent arms. Going to any of them will improve your bass detail immensely. I have no irons in this fire other than my own reputation which around here is garbage anyway.  

@sbank , Trust me on this one. You have to get rid of those arms. The quality of your life will increase 10 fold. Angels will sing in your ears and throw petals at your feet. You might even get a massage (I would say with a "happy ending" but then the post will get pulled.) 

@nandric , how many people have you watched age over a lifetime? Not very many obviously. As JFK relates, "Old age is a train wreck." Nobody, and I mean nobody has the manual dexterity at age 80 that they had at age 24. Some are better than others. "Going Strong" for most 80 year olds is still breathing. Yes, I know some 80 year olds that are still running 1/2 marathons and I had one patient who at 84 could still dead lift 480 lb but these are the rare exceptions. The 84 year old had stopped working on his own cars because he was having difficulty with his eye site. 

Old age is something you have to cover up with humor and the sensibility to retreat from activities that have become to dangerous either physically or legally whilst giving up as little ground along the way as possible. You can't think about it, too depressing, just as bad is painting it as something it is not.

One thing I can say about you nandric is your mental capabilities are still going strong. Keep eating those jellyfish pills:)

Nandric, by his age VDH's hands shake just as bad as mine or worse not to mention failing eye sight. I would rather have mine built by a well trained 24 year old person who can get pregnant (gender neutral according to big pharma and I am not kidding!)

@sbank, a 12" VPI has to be the worse tonearm for that cartridge, ask rualiruegas. It is too heavy, too long and a unipivot. That cartridge belongs in an SME V or a Schroder CB with the phenolic plate. Would be a big improvement in tracking and sound. 

@lewm , I would swap low output for low Impedance. You still thinking of getting that BMC phono stage or did that go the wayside?