YATTANT - Yet Another Turntable Adviced Needed Thread!
Ok,
I'm ready to take the plunge and get my first high end table. I'll start auditioning tables next month and I'm putting together the "hit list" now. I'm looking for a belt-driven, high mass turntable for playing about 99% Rock music ( 1960s - today, but mostly 1970s/1990s).
Things I don't want:
- an overly "fiddly" table ala VPI or the Schiit Sol
- a factory packaged table/arm (and sometimes cartridge too) combo.
Brands I'm NOT interested in*:
EAT / MusicHall / Project / Rega / Techniques / VPI
Things I want/need in a table
- Accurate 33 1/3 & 45 rpm platter speeds. Fine adjustments a plus.
- Reliable and built to last
- Table must be made within the last 5 years by a company that's still open and servicing customers.
- Low maintenance after a professional setup
- Low background noise - I like to make vinyl rips
- Wide/3D Natural soundstage that's realistic and musical.
- A wee bit of drive/PRAT would be ok as well. Not too much.
- Ideally flat response ( no EQ tweaking gimmicks, etc) and little to no coloration by the table/arm/cartidge
- Detailed but not sterile/clinical. I want detail retrieval, but being a tad forgiving on less well mastered LP's would be a plus.
Budget... Mentally I pieced this together
- around $1500 for a tonearm ( I had Audiomods series 6 / Jelco 850 in mind based on descriptions alone )
- around $750 for a cartridge ( I'm eyeballing the Nagaoka MP 500 based on descriptions alone )
- around $3000 for the table
So that's a bit over $5k. I figure I could get a nice setup for that price. I am interested in new gear or, ideally, dealer demos of recent/current models to stretch a bit higher. Please toss me your suggestions.
Last thing: If it helps.. These brands seemed interesting in my googling around the net*:
Acoustic Signature / Clear Audio / Feickert Analog / Gold Note / JA Michell / Nottingham Analog / Origin Live / Scheu Analog / Sota
( Other brands meeting my criteria are welcome )
* brands listed alphabetically before someone asks
PS Let's hope I got all of those terms correct.
