Oracle Alexandria MkII

[woundedpig]

Finally able to get my well-stored Alexandria Mk II back up and running after not really having a suitable listening room for years. I am the original owner and the only upgrade is the Linn Basic Plus arm. I have checked with the Oracle support folks and with pictures and such, they feel that I don't need to do any refurb of the table, though I have the refurb kit.

I have an Acurus phone preamp and a Denon AVR X3700H AV receiver with a MM input.

My questions :

1. Should I use the Acurus for the phono preamp or the MM input of the Denon?

2. Which cartridges would match well with this arm? My budget is <$500 and I prefer to stay with MM for now, but would consider a high output MC. I don't know that the Acurus would have the necessary flexibility in impedance matching to deal with a lot of the MC's out there. Haven't examined that issue much.

I may eventually upgrade the table and phone preamp, but back when I had them up and running, the sound was awesome. (Aragon amp, Acurus preamp, Snell/Vandersteen speakers.

You can probably guess my age......

Thanks for thoughts

David

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Pictures or it didn't happen.

Try both the Acurus and Denon, I'm betting you like the Acurus better.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Is this your table? Outstanding.





The Oracle Alexandria has a sprung chassis and is powered by a Papst DC motor from an outboard power supply.

Available with optional Prelude tonearm

Specifications
Type: manual turntable

Plinth: suspended subchassis type

Drive method: belt drive

Platter: 3.1kg

Speeds: 33.33 and 45rpm

Wow and flutter: 0.055%

Rumble: -82dB

Dimensions: 490 x 385 x 15.5mm

Review
An upmarket player, the Oracle Alexandria was easy to set up and use, it is also well engineered and finished, with a performance to match - £820 HiFi Choice 1984

 

[Nat]

I agree that the Acurus is likely to be better, but you will never know if you don't try both.

As to cartridges, you can get all tied up in knots with possibilities of vintage cartridges with fancy new replacement styili - which of the many excellent vintage catridges should you choose, and which of the various styli should you choose. It gets complicated quick.
So a current production cartridge might be an easier choice, with more likelihood of easily available styli down the road. There is actually a surprising range of choices still, but the biggest players are AT and Ortofon (Grado, Nagaoka and various others are also out there). If you have any experience of the house sound of any of these companies, that might make choosing easier. My own preference would probably be for one of the better ATs (and I wouldn't disdain the lowly 3600, or whatever its new version is - cheap and cheerful).
But what was on the Basik, and do you still have it? Does it actually need a new stylus? Are styli available for it? Using it, with or without a new stylus would be the most cost effective and easiest solution, and presumably you liked the sound when you bought it, and probably still do.

 

[Nat]

Different cartridges sound different into different loads, and it is true that adding components and interconnects cannot help but have some slight negative effects, so it is possible that he might like the receiver better. Stranger things have happened. It doesn't hurt to try.

 

[Nat]

I don't think anyone is arguing with you. But the OP might as well try both - for whatever reason, convenience being one of the possibilities - he may not perceive a worthwhile difference. I assume that five minutes of checking will convince him that the Accurus is better, but who knows?