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£3000 to spend on TT, what would you do?

If sound quality is number one and you don't mind the oddness then WT Verselex. If durability and fit and forget with SQ AT 90% of the former I'd get the new Technics.
 
If you are set on keeping your amp and speakers, and they are really good, I would just keep hold of your money unless you really are put off by your deck. If you are, second hand is definitely where it's at in terms of VFM.

Having owned a lot of turntables, and based on what you don't like about the Classic, I would look in the direction of an SP10, Sony TTS8000 or Denon DP80. Each would cost an absolute fortune if made today and are fuss free and very high end in quality.
 
All this talk of idlers I completely forgot I've got a Thorens TD124 mk2 I refurbished and need to sell soon.

There's a PT Anni for sale on ebay at the moment, collection only from the middle of nowhere (i.e the north) at £2,100 which is on the high side but he's been trying to sell it for over a year now so can't see him turning down a good offer.
 
Will have £3000 to spend soon on a new turntable, looking for some advice. This will be a big purchase for me so would like to get it right. Current set up is a Pro-ject Classic with Hana EL MC cart, Trichord Dino mk3 phono stage with standard PSU, Khozmo passive pre amp, Leak ST20 amp (recently expertly fettled by Graeme at AmpRegen) & JR 149 speakers with REL Tzero sub. I intend to upgrade the Dino with the Never Connected PSU. Looking to buy new so that rules out Linn LP12. Currently on the shortlist are the new Rega Planar 8, Roksan Radius 7 & Michell Gyro SE. Also like the look of the Gold Note Pianosa, cant find much info on this one on the net though. There is a dealer in Birmingham has a Pianosa to demo so will arrange this for next week. Any PFMrs have any experience of these TTs or any alternatives in the same price range?
Would also appreciate views on the buying experience, were dealers able to arrange demos, provide advice on setting up etc? I am in the Midlands & will be looking to buy locally.
Thanks in advance.
Haven't heard the Pianosa but do have a Gold Note Bellavista. Fantastic 'table, and they do seem largely overlooked. Definitely worth an audition if pos. The speed micro-adjustment is a great feature too (mine has via the external PSU but seems built in to the Pianosa?).
 
Just to address a few comments upthread; the Leak and 149s are stunningly good IMO assuming they are properly restored and working as intended (ifbotched/tweaked all bets are off!). If they weren’t I wouldn’t use them! As many know I wouldn’t recommend a an original Xerxes to anyone as the build quality and reliability is just so dreadful. My own taste is for idler decks, though I value pitch-stability, timing and dynamic impact over signal to noise etc. I don’t really care that if I put my ear hard against one of my Tannoys I can hear a little rumble, it is just no issue! I’d also point out that vintage idlers can end up a hobby on their own and are often far from ‘plug ‘n’ play’ requiring a fair bit of ongoing maintenance to keep them really running to the pro broadcast standards they were designed for.

The area I have always struggled with to date is finding a phono stage that really gives its best driving a passive preamp. I’ve tried at least six so far, including some very expensive ones, and not yet been happy I was getting the dynamic range and impact that the same stage could deliver through an active preamp. For some reason I can’t yet explain CD players and DACs seem to cope fine! I’d make absolutely sure what you are dissatisfied with at present isn’t just a mismatch in this area before even thinking about turntable shopping. If so a possible solution may even be to swap the passive for a TVC to get better impedance matching. I just gave up as I don’t actually need analogue replay in that system!

If you do decide to swap the deck knowing this system very well I’d be inclined to go with a turntable that has a little more warmth, weight and heft to it than the Rega, but not necessarily one that need cost the whole budget. If the vintage idler rebuild thing doesn’t appeal I’d maybe consider a mint restored TD-125, a Gyrodeck, or going more modern a NA Spacedeck or better Hyperspace. Alternatively a JR149-vintage (late ‘70s) high-end Japanese direct drive might be a cool move, e.g. one of the range-topping Sonys, Micro Seikis etc. They’ve usually got some heft to them!
 
The area I have always struggled with to date is finding a phono stage that really gives its best driving a passive preamp. I’ve tried at least six so far, including some very expensive ones, and not yet been happy I was getting the dynamic range and impact that the same stage could deliver through an active preamp.

Interesting point Tony.

Moving to a passive (actually a Khozmo) I also found vinyl replay had some reduced impact, but only at lower volumes. The other side of it was a greater sense of natural dynamics and see-through-ness than actives at higher volumes. ie increasing sense of a de-attenuated rather than pushed signal as the volume increased. Interesting trade off. Audio Note R-Zero phono stage.
 
I'd replace everything but the Khozmo passive pre personally! At a pinch I'd keep the JR149's and sub. Much here depends on how good a pair of JR149's they are!
Stereo 20's good (I have one) but lacks the last degree of transparency and grip. I rarely use mine. Trichord Dino is thrashed by the budget phono stage I make at less than half the price... but with £3k to spend I'd be looking at spending at least £1K on the phono stage.

l have to agree about The Arkless phono stage and Dino ( even with The + PSU) l owned both,however the Dino is very versatile.
 
lid.

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Other than a very small number of valve phono stages, there is no technical issue whatsoever with using phono stages with passive pre amps. Nor have I ever heard any subjective issues. I use nothing but passive pres with all my own phono stages, of which I can see 6 around right now, 1 all valve, 2 valve hybrid, and 3 all solid state. All give great results with a passive pre. There is no difference between the output stage of a typical phono stage and that of a typical CD player or DAC... loads of variations but you will find plenty of instances of identical ones!
 
This may not be the prevailing view, but I cannot see what spending £3k on a turntable is going to bring to this system. 'tis a lovely little system, but would be rather front-heavy with a £3k turntable.

How about playing with some different cartridges (and maybe a fancy adjustable phono-stage) - the Hana is surely not at the end of the line for the current arm to wield?
 
Can’t resist - buy Roon, a DAC and a Tidal subscription
Already done (apart from the Roon bit, can live without for now). Sorted the digital side of my set up, got an amp/speaker combo that I love, will have £3000 to spare soon & want to spend it on the vinyl side of my set up. Currently leaning toward Garrard 401, I have an engineering background so don't mind getting my hands dirty. Not set in stone yet, money won't be in my pocket for another few weeks so no rush.
 
I owned JR149 many years ago and they were good speakers, very much within their limitations. You can pick up a good pair for less than £500 these days. I had the wall-mount hoops as they were designed to be wall-mounted with wide dispersion. A 20w valve amp seems wrong - they need a bit of driving, what with the bexdrene coated drivers, a 303 or 405 would have been the order of the day, I seem to remember having a 30w or 40w solid state Class A amp that got red hot (Musical Fidelity A1 at some point). So to spend £3,000 on a turntable and pre-amp seems like massive overkill. Then talking about getting a Garrard 401 - the whole set-up seems aimed at getting kit more because of its vintage rather than its performance.

I'm not totally against vintage. I'm trying ESL63's at the moment and they do some things superbly and some poorly. My son has a 1980s Inca Tech Claymore that cost £250 and Quickie refurbished and upgraded it like new for £125, it has a great mm/mc phono stage and has enough power to get the best from a pair of Harbeth P3ESR, which knock JR149 out of the park. He has a cheap Pro-ject turntable, but a better one and the whole system would still be under £3,000 and sound considerably better than anything with the JR149 in front of them. I would get a Rega package for less than £1,000.

Bear in mind JR149 came out in the late 1970s when the vast majority of people purchased solid state, they were a very popular speaker for normal people with a bit of style and not really for the valve audiophile crowd.
 
I owned JR149 many years ago and they were good speakers, very much within their limitations. You can pick up a good pair for less than £500 these days. I had the wall-mount hoops as they were designed to be wall-mounted with wide dispersion. A 20w valve amp seems wrong - they need a bit of driving, what with the bexdrene coated drivers, a 303 or 405 would have been the order of the day, I seem to remember having a 30w or 40w solid state Class A amp that got red hot (Musical Fidelity A1 at some point). So to spend £3,000 on a turntable and pre-amp seems like massive overkill. Then talking about getting a Garrard 401 - the whole set-up seems aimed at getting kit more because of its vintage rather than its performance.

I'm not totally against vintage. I'm trying ESL63's at the moment and they do some things superbly and some poorly. My son has a 1980s Inca Tech Claymore that cost £250 and Quickie refurbished and upgraded it like new for £125, it has a great mm/mc phono stage and has enough power to get the best from a pair of Harbeth P3ESR, which knock JR149 out of the park. He has a cheap Pro-ject turntable, but a better one and the whole system would still be under £3,000 and sound considerably better than anything with the JR149 in front of them. I would get a Rega package for less than £1,000.

Bear in mind JR149 came out in the late 1970s when the vast majority of people purchased solid state, they were a very popular speaker for normal people with a bit of style and not really for the valve audiophile crowd.
As I stated in a previous post, on paper you wouldn't think the JR149 & ST20 would work together but they do beautifully. I am not after the last nth of detail, I don't want a clinical system, what I have a the moment sounds tonally just "right" & creates a lovely 3D soundstage. I don't mind my set up being front heavy, I very much subscribe to the rubbish in rubbish out theory, that is if you feed an average amp/speaker combo an average signal you'll get an average sound, if you feed the same amp/speaker combo a good signal you'll get a good sound. I know this is a sweeping generalisation & others will disagree but in my experience it is usually correct.
 


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