Where is the significant point of diminishing returns on hi-end turntable?

mmporsche,

With all due respect, if you want a "set and forget" system, you’re better off putting your $25K into a digital front end that gets you as close to the sound of great vinyl as possible. You can do it these days; digital has gotten that good.

In order to get the most out of vinyl, though--or even just to make your $25K sound like $25K--you really have to be willing to participate in the sound, every aspect of it, and actively.

Why? Because vinyl is experiential on both sides of your speakers. We love the sound because it engages completely--because it has the potential (as Coleridge described the ideal poet) to bring the whole soul of man into activity. Activity. Vinyl is not really a spectator sport. You have to get in there up to your elbows and then your ears, and that takes time, patience, and commitment. Gradually, you sediment in the experience and knowledge you need to realize the medium’s wonders, and that’s part of its charm.

So, I’d echo some earlier comments and say, get ready for the long game. Spend money on quality tools for set up, a variety of them, and learn how to use them. Become a patient student and experimenter; read all you can, ask the village elders for advice, and simply try and err. In the process, you’ll understand what makes the medium work its magic on *your* ears; and, like Dr. Strange, you’ll learn how to conjure that magic at will. Only then will you get your money’s worth, and your $25K will sound like a million bucks.

Bill

I just don’t want to spend more time preparing to listen than actually listening.

Me neither. Who does? I typically clean an album once, use a brush before each play, and keep my styli clean. But you will want to fine tune your set up, play with various cartridges, etc., hence my statements about tools and activity.

To your Clearaudio question: I owned an Innovation Wood with a Universal arm for 18 months and never really cottoned to it, finding it somewhat hard and thin. I didn’t like the DC motor being built into the support pillar, either, as it was noisy and clearly audible on the armboard through a cheap stethoscope. I replaced it with a Brinkmann Oasis, which is much better, IMO. Each on a Minus-K. I did like the Clearaudio’s capacity for two arms, though (my other was a Phantom II, now a Supreme in use on the Oasis), and it was speed-stable.

This thread has strayed far from its original usefulness into what is tantamount to BS-ing in the barbershop, which is fine but not really on topic. One last thought on points of diminishing returns. Unless you dedicate a lot of energy to the entire signal up and down the line (as Raul said way upthread), and to your room, and to your set up, you’ll reach that point long before $25K. So spend it if you have it and have fun, because then it’s more about the toys than the sound, that that’s cool, too, but for different reasons.