most significant element depends on the level of analog you are at.
at the entry level your biggest enemy is NOISE, so motor and platter will dominate the musical limitations. cartridge and arm are less significant, phono stage is also less significant.
next level up SPEED STABILITY becomes big and is what gives you the sense of musical flow. so again, motor is huge. better motors separate. they determine whether it sounds real.
next level now we are seeing arms become the limitation. can it relate the BASS and allow the cartridge to sound TRANSPARENT?
then the next level the cartridge and phono stage. how much INFORMATION and TONAL COMPLEXITY.
over about $6k-$7k total..........it’s EVERYTHING.....and at this break point the big separator would be SET-UP PRECISION.
this price point is arbitrary. just about what it takes to get ’over-the-hump’ into better sounding turntables.....from more modest level turntables. and if you go with the right vintage set-up and you know your stuff you could exceed this performance level for less money.
just how things look to me from being a serious analog guy for many years.
i have three separate $75k-$100k turntable systems. there are no pieces that you could significantly lower the performance and get the same result. they are SYNERGISTIC SYSTEMS.
you could make the case that over about $40k-$50k that the turntable/motor/plinth are most significant....but ONLY because they are the most expensive pieces. i'm not sure they are most important to the performance.
at the entry level your biggest enemy is NOISE, so motor and platter will dominate the musical limitations. cartridge and arm are less significant, phono stage is also less significant.
next level up SPEED STABILITY becomes big and is what gives you the sense of musical flow. so again, motor is huge. better motors separate. they determine whether it sounds real.
next level now we are seeing arms become the limitation. can it relate the BASS and allow the cartridge to sound TRANSPARENT?
then the next level the cartridge and phono stage. how much INFORMATION and TONAL COMPLEXITY.
over about $6k-$7k total..........it’s EVERYTHING.....and at this break point the big separator would be SET-UP PRECISION.
this price point is arbitrary. just about what it takes to get ’over-the-hump’ into better sounding turntables.....from more modest level turntables. and if you go with the right vintage set-up and you know your stuff you could exceed this performance level for less money.
just how things look to me from being a serious analog guy for many years.
i have three separate $75k-$100k turntable systems. there are no pieces that you could significantly lower the performance and get the same result. they are SYNERGISTIC SYSTEMS.
you could make the case that over about $40k-$50k that the turntable/motor/plinth are most significant....but ONLY because they are the most expensive pieces. i'm not sure they are most important to the performance.