Help in buying a TT and Phono stage

[zoso02]

Hi Everyone,

I am back with my questions and this time on the Phono/Turntable section. With all your help I have been able to set up the other components!

Looking at buying a Turntable and a Phono pre amp in a total budget of around Rs 30K. I have no LP/EP's as of now but plan on buying a few of mostly Jazz, Blues and Classic Rock.

I am currently using the CA 840A amp with the MA RX6 speakers.

Which TT and phono stage would go well with my set up, music taste and budget. Looking at something that will be lively, musical and have a large soundstage

Thanks...

 

[malvai]

what's yr current set up?

 

[zoso02]

I am currently using the CA 840A amp with the MA RX6 speakers.

 

[malvai]

See if you wanna go for a new TT & Phono, the only half decent entry level TT's & phono you'll get from Pro-ject.

But if you scour around, you'll get many pre-owned TT's for a lot less and they'll even sound a lot better. You'll get them under 10k.

For phono stage, you can speak to Lyrita Audio's Viren Bakshi. He makes an absolutely stellar phono at around 22k. This phono will last you through many TT and cartridge upgrades!

 

[zoso02]

Thanks Malvai...where to look for a pre owned piece?
Will check out Lyrita. Any other preamps that I can check out?

 

[ukjeyaraj]

@malvai - Custom made phono stage for Rs.22K I would like to see whats special in it. I got a custom made one from norge(Mahim,Mumbai) for Rs.1.5K

@zos002 - As malvai suggested wait and look for a vintage TT (like technics/dual/garrard etc) Frequently visit "For Sale" section in our forum. Alternatively you can get in touch with our forum member Mr. Hemant, who may be already having few in his collection.

You can also visit a guy called Balaji(9342410288) in Avenue road, Bangalore who at time has some pre-owned TT. You can also buy LPs from him. He has loads of LPs.

 

[malvai]

@malvai - Custom made phono stage for Rs.22K I would like to see whats special in it. I got a custom made one from norge(Mahim,Mumbai) for Rs.1.5K

@zos002 - As malvai suggested wait and look for a vintage TT (like technics/dual/garrard etc) Frequently visit "For Sale" section in our forum. Alternatively you can get in touch with our forum member Mr. Hemant, who may be already having few in his collection.

You can also visit a guy called Balaji(9342410288) in Avenue road, Bangalore who at time has some pre-owned TT. You can also buy LPs from him. He has loads of LPs.

Dear UKJayraj,
the Lyrita Phonostage is a tubed one. It is one of the BEST phonostages that i have heard in a long long time. it is handcrafted and from what i heard of it in a 2 hour listening session, this easily rivals the international tubed phono stages at upto 3-5 times its MRP.

And yes, there are phono stages and then there are phono stages. Norge is a great on at its price, but when you pair it with even a moderately good cartrige and electronics, it will start showing its inherent weakenesses.

In my experience there are two things to audio spending:
1. (this one is oft quoted) The Law of diminishing returns: That after a certain point in time the incremental value in SQ decreases in proportion to the money spent.

However, point 2 is equally true as well and works on an inverse equation...

2. The Law of Optimised Gratification (you can call it whatever you want though): As per this (my) experience here, every extra cent spent brings about incremental returns.

Lyrita's phono stage fits into point 2. It will work well with ALL kinds of electronics and cartridges that you partner them with. To outdo it, one will have to spend up to 3-5 times MORE. Which is where the law in point 1 starts kicking in. And by the way quality does cost a bit. and it shows up. especially in phono stages where one is working to amplify really tiny signals.

In short: The Lyrita Phono is a buy for the long haul.

One however can take the decision to go for any of the budget stuff that starts at 1.5k and goes all the way upto 10k. But none of them are long term propositions.

 

[arj]

since I am just dabbling with Vinyl, i am not an expert...but a Project would be the best way for you to start with a TT for this cost, In India..if you want I may have an Old Project Phono Box for sale soon...that may help you spend a little bit more on the TT.

From what I have read, the Table and the Arm are the top two priorities to get right, followed by the Cartridge and the Phono stage.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Dear UKJayraj,
the Lyrita Phonostage is a tubed one. It is one of the BEST phonostages that i have heard in a long long time. it is handcrafted and from what i heard of it in a 2 hour listening session, this easily rivals the international tubed phono stages at upto 3-5 times its MRP.

And yes, there are phono stages and then there are phono stages. Norge is a great on at its price, but when you pair it with even a moderately good cartrige and electronics, it will start showing its inherent weakenesses.

In my experience there are two things to audio spending:
1. (this one is oft quoted) The Law of diminishing returns: That after a certain point in time the incremental value in SQ decreases in proportion to the money spent.

However, point 2 is equally true as well and works on an inverse equation...

2. The Law of Optimised Gratification (you can call it whatever you want though): As per this (my) experience here, every extra cent spent brings about incremental returns.

Lyrita's phono stage fits into point 2. It will work well with ALL kinds of electronics and cartridges that you partner them with. To outdo it, one will have to spend up to 3-5 times MORE. Which is where the law in point 1 starts kicking in. And by the way quality does cost a bit. and it shows up. especially in phono stages where one is working to amplify really tiny signals.

In short: The Lyrita Phono is a buy for the long haul.

One however can take the decision to go for any of the budget stuff that starts at 1.5k and goes all the way upto 10k. But none of them are long term propositions.

Got the point

 

[malvai]

since I am just dabbling with Vinyl, i am not an expert...but a Project would be the best way for you to start with a TT for this cost, In India..if you want I may have an Old Project Phono Box for sale soon...that may help you spend a little bit more on the TT.

From what I have read, the Table and the Arm are the top two priorities to get right, followed by the Cartridge and the Phono stage.

arj, with all due respect, the OP would do better with any older Technics direct drive or any of the Thorens or Gerrards or Dual TT's. They'd cost lesser than the entry level stuff from Pro-ject and give value 5 times the Pro-ject's price.

I say this from real hands on experience with vinyl.

Any of the above with even a Shure M97XE cart and a Phono from Lyrita will bring home the magic. I can guarantee you that.

The rest however, is up to any of you.

 

[anm]

you may also try nad or ca ss phono pre-amp if you find lyrita out of your budget. Should cost 8-10k based on my readings on internet.
I have the lyrita preamp, it sounds nice, but I have not compared it with anything else.

 

[zoso02]

Thanks everyone...really appreciate your inputs. I will be traveling over the next few days and will then come back and revive this thread with more questions...once I audition/see.

I am trying to see if I can get an old Technics amp from Delhi...was my uncle's and now lying at my mom's place catching dust! If that is in good shape then will have more money for the preamp.

Pls do let me know more places where I could buy LP's in Bangalore?

Thanks again...

 

[arj]

arj, with all due respect, the OP would do better with any older Technics direct drive or any of the Thorens or Gerrards or Dual TT's. They'd cost lesser than the entry level stuff from Pro-ject and give value 5 times the Pro-ject's price.

I say this from real hands on experience with vinyl.

Any of the above with even a Shure M97XE cart and a Phono from Lyrita will bring home the magic. I can guarantee you that.

The rest however, is up to any of you.

Hi Malvai, no need for any respect .. I am very much entry level in TT's

But since the OP has a Budget of 30K and virens Pre is more than 20K, he may get constrained with TTs.. although I think nova audio has a thorens 166 for sale.
BTW Just got myself a Lenco L75 and trying to fit in a Linn Akito arm with a nagaoka M30 cart...with a new plinth also in the works. the currrent Phono is a big bottleneck so plan to go for Viren Phono myself..

 

[malvai]

Hi Malvai, no need for any respect .. I am very much entry level in TT's

But since the OP has a Budget of 30K and virens Pre is more than 20K, he may get constrained with TTs.. although I think nova audio has a thorens 166 for sale.
BTW Just got myself a Lenco L75 and trying to fit in a Linn Akito arm with a nagaoka M30 cart...with a new plinth also in the works. the currrent Phono is a big bottleneck so plan to go for Viren Phono myself..

Nice!
Before you pull the trigger on Viren's amp, shortlist the cartridge. If you go for a low impedence MC cart you'll have to tell him to the necessary adjustments.

If you go for a high output one, or a MM one, no worries!

and Oh! I never recommend the entry level phono stages to anyone... that is the kind of stuff that can put one off vinyl forever.... as well as leave one stranded with stuff that will never quite fit in one's upgrade path.... as selling phonostages in this country is kinda difficult unless you wanna take a 50% hit straight off (like i have taken, despite my phonosatge being a superb one and not an entry level one)!

In short, might as well go in for a one time investment on a phonostage, esp since it only costs 22k!

 

[arj]

Nice!
Before you pull the trigger on Viren's amp, shortlist the cartridge. If you go for a low impedence MC cart you'll have to tell him to the necessary adjustments.

If you go for a high output one, or a MM one, no worries!

and Oh! I never recommend the entry level phono stages to anyone... that is the kind of stuff that can put one off vinyl forever.... as well as leave one stranded with stuff that will never quite fit in one's upgrade path.... as selling phonostages in this country is kinda difficult unless you wanna take a 50% hit straight off (like i have taken, despite my phonosatge being a superb one and not an entry level one)!

In short, might as well go in for a one time investment on a phonostage, esp since it only costs 22k!

Hey this is one hard earned experience for anything audio ! else you lose a lot of money i :sad:
I am using a Nagaoka MP30 which is a MM (apparently moving Iron) with around 3mV output. i have a Basic Shure MJ75 as well....that is purely backup.
I plan to initially only use this for Hindi songs since the Saregama cds suck beyond comprehension..I think they ripped all their cds and have digitized them at 128 bitrate MP3s

Anyway this is not about me..will start a post crying for help in setup very soon... right now rediscovering my CDs due to a regenerator on my source.. one of my biggest upgrades ..almost to the extent of my amp upgrade

 

[malvai]

Hey this is one hard earned experience for anything audio ! else you lose a lot of money i :sad:
I am using a Nagaoka MP30 which is a MM (apparently moving Iron) with around 3mV output. i have a Basic Shure MJ75 as well....that is purely backup.
I plan to initially only use this for Hindi songs since the Saregama cds suck beyond comprehension..I think they ripped all their cds and have digitized them at 120 MP3s

Anyway this is not about me..will start a post crying for help in setup very soon... right now rediscovering my CDs due to a regenerator on my source.. one of my biggest upgrades ..almost to the extent of my am upgrade

That's a good cart. The Lyrita Phono can be used as is! In fact it will mate well with both your carts! GO FOR IT!

 

[zoso02]

Arj, how much will the Thorens 166 cost? How to get in touch with Nova audio?

Everyone, I might be able to stretch my budget to around 40K (that is if the Technics TT I get is not working and I need to buy a new one)...if so then would my choices remain the same as mentioned by others in this thread?

Is the Lyrita phono much better than the NAD, CA or Pro ject phono stage? It is double the cost so want to be sure.

 

[arj]

Hey I am not the expert..but from all I have heard, Lyrita is emphatically better...but it is tube based,just for you to be aware.
Sushil Anand is the owner of Nova audio contact details Nova Audio Private Limited in Bandra West Mumbai - Justdial

he is a very nice and knowledgeable gentleman and also sells Project in India and has a dealer in Bangalore as well.BTW So is Viren of Lyrita who posts here..you should call him up also to help understand you needs.

 

[anm]

if you get that uncle's amp, it may have a decent phono to launch you to the world of vinyl

 

[malvai]

Arj, how much will the Thorens 166 cost? How to get in touch with Nova audio?

Everyone, I might be able to stretch my budget to around 40K (that is if the Technics TT I get is not working and I need to buy a new one)...if so then would my choices remain the same as mentioned by others in this thread?

Is the Lyrita phono much better than the NAD, CA or Pro ject phono stage? It is double the cost so want to be sure.

I have heard most of the phono stages available... and IMHO, the Lyrita is way way ahead. At twice the cost it is 400% better value for the money spent.

also, try and get the old turntable in your family. it would save you much money.