Leap to high-end turntables

[sandeepmohan]

But considering the limited choices within India, it would be best to stick to a all-in-one, instead of going down the spearates route. Technics, clear audio, avid, Emt, Michell, Origin live and Mofi are all available in India.

The options were limited perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. You can now get hold of pretty much any and every brand of turntable in India. If there is one you fancy that isn't available, I am sure the manufacturer will be willing to ship one if you're okay to pay for the shipping and some risk associated with it.

 

[arj]

Sorry to deviate from the original thread, but could anyone please suggest a good turntable in the ₹65,000 to ₹75,000 range? I’ve posted a similar thread in the phono/turntable section but didn’t receive any response, so I’m posting here instead.
Thanks,
Sreejith

if you are looking at simplicity and done want to get into the hassle of setting up a cartridge matching a Phono etc the AT L series are excellent since they do give a standard well known audio technica cartridge whose stylus can be upgraded. especially so if you have average rated old Vinyls or the Brand new Bollywood vinyl releases which are mostly below standards.

USB out etc are gimmicks and you are better of streaming than most of these digital conversions.

 

[sreejithsreedharan]

if you are looking at simplicity and done want to get into the hassle of setting up a cartridge matching a Phono etc the AT L series are excellent since they do give a standard well known audio technica cartridge whose stylus can be upgraded. especially so if you have average rated old Vinyls or the Brand new Bollywood vinyl releases which are mostly below standards.

USB out etc are gimmicks and you are better of streaming than most of these digital conversions.

Thanks Arj, any specific model should I check?

 

[arj]

I have not heard any of these but just on specs the LP5X seems very good since it can take both MM and MC carts

 

[reubensm]

For those inclined towards Technics, Fernando of SkyFi audio does some interesting experiments like putting high-end cartridges on the new Technics turntables. His view has always been - the magic happens in the cartridge

 

[reignofchaos]

For those inclined towards Technics, Fernando of SkyFi audio does some interesting experiments like putting high-end cartridges on the new Technics turntables. His view has always been - the magic happens in the cartridge

And he is completely wrong!

There are so many things that matter - TT, tonearm, phono, cables. Yes cartridge matters but the cartridge can only extract what the TT allows.

Personal experience says putting an expensive cartridge on a cheap TT is foolishness. It's like putting a pirelli pzero rosso tyre on a maruti 800.

However putting a cheap cartridge on a high end table can still end up sounding great. I was shocked how good a basic DL103 sounds on my TT.

 

[square_wave]

I guess the question would be.... If you have 17000 $ and a 1300 $ turntable, how should you spread that budget across different parts of the turntable equation for an upgrade ? Putting the full stash onto a cartridge is definitely not the most wise decision. The sky fellow has plenty of experience with Technics and he usually makes these videos just to promote his shop. I am sure if you pose the same question to him on a phone call, he will not ask you to put the full budget on the cartridge.

 

[reubensm]

I think his point is that a decent cart can upgrade a turntable significantly assuming the user has a decent rest-of-chain.

 

[reignofchaos]

I think his point is that a decent cart can upgrade a turntable significantly assuming the user has a decent rest-of-chain.

Something that is commensurate with the price of the turntable. What he did was completely the opposite.

 

[sandeepmohan]

SkyFi audio does some interesting experiments like putting high-end cartridges on the new Technics turntables.

I think we all read (or see/hear in this case) too much into this and go banana's.
Its clearly "an experiment". Full stop.

The problem with an experiment like this is that you up with commentary about its sound that has little use or meaning. Cause in the real world, you are never really going to do this, or, you are outright stupid to place a $17,000 cart on a budget spinner.

I wonder if you'll be able to tell the difference between an Ortofon 2M Black versus this cartridge, cause its fitted to a turntable that won't be able to extract an ounce of what that cartridge can actually do.

 

[reubensm]

The expensive cart on a technics turntable should be looked at as a 'what will happen if' - experiment only. The obvious logic is - if someone can afford a cartridge that expensive and be in a position to use it with a pristine record collection and a collection of expensive spare styli, that person could definitely afford a higher end and ultra-expensive turntable. But I can relate to the experiment as I ran around 'upgrade-avenue' for a bit, only to return to the Technics SL1210 (I just switched to a Shure V15-III cart and suddenly I found myself enjoying my SL1210 more than my Garrards). Having said that, the upgrade-fever never seems to end . What really opened my eyes was Edgar Villchur's approach to turntable design and his views on the important dependencies. I've been happy ever since.