csgreene
Active Member
My three turntables (Technics SL-QL1, Denon DP-23F, Marantz 6100) are all vintage now. All work properly and I recently replaced the carts on the Technics (with a NOS AT450e which was a HUGE improvement over the original Technics cart and aftermarket stylus). I'm letting one of my sons use the Denon and I recently put in a new AT95e cart in the Marantz. As some of you will know, this was more of a basic CEC made for Marantz table. Mine is near mint, dead quiet, speed is good, and everything works the way it's supposed to.
Now, the above said, I've been thinking of getting a new turntable for no really good reason as I'm not really unsatisfied with what I have but I kept thinking a new Pro_ject, Rega, Music Hall in the $1000-1500 range would/should give me some serious improvement over what I own already.
Still with me? OK, so in talking to a guy who works at a high end shop that sells two of these three brands and Clearaudio and a couple more, he suggested that rather buy a new table, I upgrade to something like an Ortofon 2M Bronze on my Marantz. I don't object to a significant upgrade to what might be a $200 table these days but his point was if it was working at 100%, I'd gain more from spending a few hundred on the cartridge than a $1600 on something like the MH 7.3 with the 2M Bronze. I'm not particularly sold on Ortofon as I've never used one but AT has similar price points with their VM540 and VM740 carts.
Love to hear your opinions on his thinking/advice! I thought it was rather remarkable that a guy who sells higher end gear for a living would suggest keeping an ancient, entry level table and spending some money on a cart.
Now, the above said, I've been thinking of getting a new turntable for no really good reason as I'm not really unsatisfied with what I have but I kept thinking a new Pro_ject, Rega, Music Hall in the $1000-1500 range would/should give me some serious improvement over what I own already.
Still with me? OK, so in talking to a guy who works at a high end shop that sells two of these three brands and Clearaudio and a couple more, he suggested that rather buy a new table, I upgrade to something like an Ortofon 2M Bronze on my Marantz. I don't object to a significant upgrade to what might be a $200 table these days but his point was if it was working at 100%, I'd gain more from spending a few hundred on the cartridge than a $1600 on something like the MH 7.3 with the 2M Bronze. I'm not particularly sold on Ortofon as I've never used one but AT has similar price points with their VM540 and VM740 carts.
Love to hear your opinions on his thinking/advice! I thought it was rather remarkable that a guy who sells higher end gear for a living would suggest keeping an ancient, entry level table and spending some money on a cart.
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