if you did buy the new schiit sol.......

Well 1k for a cart isn't really considered 'bang for the Buck' I don't think, but that is the space where Schiit lies. I say if you have a grand you don't know what to do with them sure, get a 1k cart, but plenty of good deals at between 200-400 dollars such as the aforementioned Nagaoka MP150. I would buy that and just fuggetaboutit. If you want to spend 100 bucks more get the mp200 with a boron canteliever to squeak out just a bit more performance

Awesome advice guys!  Nobody heard it at RMAF?

I bought a Sol, and have been working with them through their beta program issues. I also bought a new Nagaoka MP-500 to use with it. I have about 20hrs on both now, and have a good idea for the combo’s sound.

There are some minor issues - head shell space (I had to jam the MP500 all the way against the head shell/tone arm connection), platter wobble (fixed by a replacement from Schiit), some buzzing noise (the tonearm cable was touching the counterweight and causing a buzz at high volumes), and some left/right pushing of the tonearm depending on how you route the cable under/over the tonearm to its connection point.

All of that aside, this is a fantastic sounding table and cart combo. At full price it’s roughly $1500 pre-tax for the Sol and the MP500. I’ve had a Music Hall MMF 7.1, Technics 1210 MkII, and a customized Dual 1219. Quite a range of tables, and this combo is by FAR my favorite. I hear subtleties and room reflections, raspiness in vocals and reed instruments, fingers moving on steel strings, and a slew of other things that appear in the music now.

How much of that is the Sol, and how much is the MP500? I honestly couldn’t care less - the combination of the two is musical, liquid, and allows me to immerse myself in some of my favorite albums like I never have been able to before in my home.

I’m simply enjoying listening to music again, and not getting hung up on the details. I haven’t REALLY even dialed it in yet, and it already sounds a heck of a lot better than $1500 should. I don’t know what revisions are still coming for the current gen Sol, but in my opinion it’s already a serious contender in the sub-$2k range. Being able to add a cart like the MP500 and keep $500 in your pocket vs. buying a $2000 table is just icing on the cake.

I think it’s a fantastic table/cart combo.

When I saw the Sol at AXPONA, the first thing I though was that with a unipivot and that fairly thick arm cable, they are going to run into problems. Maybe they could look at some thinner wire to ameliorate this. Also consider that with a Nag MP150, it's even better value.