elverado
New Member
I got lucky early in my audiophilia and bought a used HK T65 at an audio shop around 2001 for $100 (no center weight or dust cover ... oh well). I used this with my tube amp and NAD preamp for years and loved it to death - and thought all TT's were this good.
Then went through a move 8 years ago and while I guarded it with my life during transport, it managed to have a lamp fall on it during move-in and cracked the carbon tonearm pipe in half. Everything else works but you can picture the headshell loose on the platter and wires dangling. Screams ensued, and I then put it in storage and bought a midgrade 80's Pioneer Pl-200 that I transferred my cartridge over to.
Now I'm buying more records, looking to upgrade, and checked in on possibility of selling the T65 for parts to fund a nicer table. But digging online I've learned this table has shot up in value and is really a nice table. So I'd like to buy a whole new tonearm - but it seems the people who buy standalone tonearms spend $500 - infinity on them. And if I'd pay that I'd want to make sure the physical mounting was clean and solid, which could be a crapshoot. So then I'm thinking could I just buy a pipe and headshell connection by themselves ... but those tend to match specific tables. And I don't know how I'd unglue it from the base. I"m pretty handy but don't want to have to be sawing and gluing if it'll be giving me a constant worry of if I made it sound worse. Another thought is buying a T20 (low end version of same) on eBay since I hear the micro-race tone arms are the same across models. Then swapping it out and selling the T20 for parts.
What would you do if you were in my spot? I can't really justify $500 on a tonearm now and if I do is it going to be a frankentable in a good or bad way? Thoughts?
Then went through a move 8 years ago and while I guarded it with my life during transport, it managed to have a lamp fall on it during move-in and cracked the carbon tonearm pipe in half. Everything else works but you can picture the headshell loose on the platter and wires dangling. Screams ensued, and I then put it in storage and bought a midgrade 80's Pioneer Pl-200 that I transferred my cartridge over to.
Now I'm buying more records, looking to upgrade, and checked in on possibility of selling the T65 for parts to fund a nicer table. But digging online I've learned this table has shot up in value and is really a nice table. So I'd like to buy a whole new tonearm - but it seems the people who buy standalone tonearms spend $500 - infinity on them. And if I'd pay that I'd want to make sure the physical mounting was clean and solid, which could be a crapshoot. So then I'm thinking could I just buy a pipe and headshell connection by themselves ... but those tend to match specific tables. And I don't know how I'd unglue it from the base. I"m pretty handy but don't want to have to be sawing and gluing if it'll be giving me a constant worry of if I made it sound worse. Another thought is buying a T20 (low end version of same) on eBay since I hear the micro-race tone arms are the same across models. Then swapping it out and selling the T20 for parts.
What would you do if you were in my spot? I can't really justify $500 on a tonearm now and if I do is it going to be a frankentable in a good or bad way? Thoughts?
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