TT opinions please

I went back into vinyl for the past year. I shopped around and ended up with a Project Perspective with a Blue Point Special cartridge. It has a suspended chassis that deals with my hardwood floors. I also invested in a Nitty Gritty 1.5 Si record cleaner which works great. This turntable is really easy to setup and mess with and try different configs on it. But I think that I still don't have the "vinyl" sound. I am at the point where I need to improve my phono preamp and maybe move to a Grado Platinum cartridge. But it has been fun. I received the new turn table with cartridge for $825 out the door. Dale

LP12 the older version may have needed a lot of tweaking that's why I mentioned the Cirkus upgrade because if you can find a cheap Linn/Valhalla combo and then put the Cirkus on it the table become more neutral, but still has that basic Linn sound and as far as the Cirkus upgrade you get a bigger bearing & platter,current revision armboard,thicker sub-chassis with the newer heavey duty spings and some other stuff. The reason I know this is I bought my LP12 back in 94 and it was the basic (no Valhalla) I liked the sound at first but then I notice that infamous mid bass character and decided to upgrade to the Cirkus last year and WOW what a difference first thing I notice was the back ground became very quiet and bass increased,midrange became more musical & lifelike, then I got the Valhalla and this made a big defference too then I took off the bottom cover of the LP12 a PRESTO! that mid-bass hump was gone and the table became more clear in the midrange and the bass seem to extend lower than before also had more 3D quilty to it. Sorry for going on so much but to put it plan and simply the LP12 with the Cirkus upgrade is now a more set it and forget it tpye of turntable and dosen't need to be messed with for years. Believe me nothing will come close to it for the price or maybe even double the price.

Steve..

I like the OriginLive modified RB250 arm. Now if I can only find an affordable MC cartridge that doesm't hum!

Rfj - I'm not sure what you consider "affordable," but moreso out of curiosity I purchased a new Denon DL-103 from a shop in Germany delivered for $120. At the price the performance of this low-output MC is extraordinary. I paid over 12 times as much for my main cartridge, and I find myself in no big hurry to switch back. Also, although this is not the most sought-after 103, I believe that Van den Hul will re-tip the Denon for a nominal fee, thus improving an already time-proven design. Just food for thought.

geezer, lotsa good adwice here, & i don't see how ya could go wrong w/*any* of the recommendations. my only ting to ad is, whatever ya finally choose, go *used*. yule definitely maximize the bang-fer-buck. for ~$1800, i have an oracle 'table, updated to mk-v specs w/exception of motor/power-supply, but that's ok, cuz i got the origin-live motor/power-supply instead! also have a fully-tweeked o-l rb-250 arm. all for $1800, delivered, purchased in increments - i couldn't be happier! and, unless i win a lottery & have to have someting *really* cool-looking, i'm done w/turntable upgrades! :>)

rfj, my $225 ortofon mc25-fl is great, at its price-point. no hum in my system, fwiw... there's a guy on a-gon selling a kontrapunkt (sp?) for $369, sounds like a good deal to me...

doug s.