Yes, I know this isn’t a HiFi forum, but I don’t post on any others and I require advice.
Most of you have traveled a long a winding road to get where you are. But I need you to cast your minds back to the first leap from budget gear.
Due to many things (life mostly and the fact that my career hasn’t turned out quite as I would have hoped), I find myself still mired in the cheaper end of the market. Don’t get me wrong, my gear sounds good and I get a lot of enjoyment from it but areas need to be improved.
Narelle has said that I should take my Pro-Ject Debut III SE (Ortofon SM Blue) to the brewery. I recently sold my second TT from my old office (Pro-Ject Debut II w Ortofon 5E), so it makes logical sense to replace the main TT.
The question. How much do I need to spend if I want to make a significant leap in reproduction (arm and cart included) ?
My thought is that I need to get into the £1000 to £1500 region for a proper upgrade. Or do I need to spend more ? Obviously the more I can spend (to a point) the better things “should” be.
All opinions will, of course, be ignored and I will buy a Pro-Ject 2Xperience SB. But, go on. Tell me I can do better. Caveats (which will, no doubt, be ignored) are that it must be stylish and include a dust cover within the price.
My personal opinion is that I’d start with the cartridge and spend as much as I could afford on that. I’d buy the most reasonably priced arm that’s good enough to handle the cartridge and a turntable which goes round and round at a stable speed with minimum noise. But that’s just me.
New or used? lots around for £1000-£1500 that should give a significant upgrade. I agree with Serge on this one, decent cart, something like a rega or jelco, then pick something that looks nice.
I personally would buy used every time Terry. Just like a car… As soon as you drive it away from the showroom, it is worth half as much. Because people seriously get upgradeitis with HiFi, there is a lot of used stuff around.