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Do I upgrade my cartridge or my turntable

I just bought a new preamp a rouge rp7 and a pro ject tube box DS3B  phono preamp. I also replaced the phono cable with a fully balanced set with xlr ends. My turn table is a 1989 linn basik with a akito 2 tone arm and a linn adikt cartridge. The old preamp was a linn pretec. The rest of my system is a Bryston 4 B power amp a pair of Dynaudio special forty speakers and a rel S510 sub woofer. My speeker wire is Naim audio solid copper coated with silver.all my interconnect cabels are solid braided silver. Now when I play vynal there is a vast improvement in sound now but I would like to get more seperation and be Abel to hear the different instruments better, when listening to classical and jazz.also get a bit deeper base my highs and mids are  great. When I listen to other styles of music on vynal  I am good with it. Now do I upgrade my cartridge at this point  or do I need to upgrade to a linn lp12 at this point I like linn turntabels .Thank you Michael. 

mal11963
knotscott
821 posts
 

@chayro gave good advice IMO.

I’d be inclined to climb up the cartridge or stylus food chain before swapping the TT.

 

ghdprentice
6,469 posts
 

You really have lots of great options. One big improvement would be to upgrade the bearing on your table. The con
 

I have a contemporary lp12 which I bought at the midlevel an then have upgraded to nearly the top level. I upgraded the sub chassis and arm, very worthwhile. Lots of great upgrades to be had with your table. 
 

if your cartridge is doing great, I would do the bearing and power supply first. 

mal11963 OP
17 posts
 

Thank you for the responces. the first thing i will do is to let the new tube preamp and tube phono preamp break in for at least 250 hours of use. As for the linn basik turntable i had a full tune up done on  it as well as the current linn adikt cartridge installed and the belt replaced. I was told that it is in excelent condition both functionaly and asteticly. As for upgrading the braring and the power supply i cant they are not interchangeabel to the basik turntabel  only work with the lp12. the only things i can up grade are the cartridge and the akito2   tonearm. was told dont wasist money on a tone arm on the basik that i wont get much improvemrnt out of it. or to upgrade to a different cartridge.  Now if i replace the cartridge where do i go do i stay with linn and go with a MC or do i go somewhere else. if i dont get the improvements i am looking for with a cartridge up grade then i am going to get a lp12 and transfer the tone arm and new cartridge over. Now with a lp12 is there any models  i should look at that i can up grade and improve on as money allows .thank you Michael.

bigkidz
3,325 posts
 

Buy the Denon I think model 103 and have the wood body installed  then you are finished for sure.

terry9
2,243 posts
 

When I bought my Basik back in the day, it didn’t sound a whole lot different from a then-current LP12, to me or to my lady. I had to spend rather a lot to hear a big difference, eventually a Nottingham Analogue Mentor, which is not much different from a modern NA Dais.

But I also moved from 3B to 3BSST a century or two ago, and that did make a big difference. According to Bryston, the SST is the big change in sound quality and that accords with my perception. I still use a 4BSST for extra bass in the 2-channel system and a 9BSST for HT. Not too expensive and won’t wear out like a cartridge.

Good luck.

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