Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

So I’ve been collecting records for a little over a year now. My girlfriend gifted me an AT LP60 for Christmas 2017 and it was a gift I didn’t know I needed, it’s taken over my life since. While it’s been an awesome table to get my feet wet with I’m on track to have saved up $1000 or so for a new deck come this upcoming Christmas. What would be the best options for that price range? Right now my eyes are on the Rega Planar 3. Anything else to consider?

Thanks for the help :)
 
ghostdorado said:
So I’ve been collecting records for a little over a year now. My girlfriend gifted me an AT LP60 for Christmas 2017 and it was a gift I didn’t know I needed, it’s taken over my life since. While it’s been an awesome table to get my feet wet with I’m on track to have saved up $1000 or so for a new deck come this upcoming Christmas. What would be the best options for that price range? Right now my eyes are on the Rega Planar 3. Anything else to consider?

Thanks for the help :)
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Fluance RT-85 -This has become an exceptionally popular table around these parts. It provides a hell of a mix of features at its price point.

Pioneer PLX-1000 - this has long been a popular table around here (and the one I have, and love) as it’s a very solidly built table that I can tell you from experience, pairs very well with a Grado Gold cart.

Either one will blow you away compared to the AT LP60 you currently have.
 
ghostdorado said:
So I’ve been collecting records for a little over a year now. My girlfriend gifted me an AT LP60 for Christmas 2017 and it was a gift I didn’t know I needed, it’s taken over my life since. While it’s been an awesome table to get my feet wet with I’m on track to have saved up $1000 or so for a new deck come this upcoming Christmas. What would be the best options for that price range? Right now my eyes are on the Rega Planar 3. Anything else to consider?

Thanks for the help :)
Click to expand...

Just to open it up a bit. What are you using for speakers/amplification and does it have a phono stage or are you using the one built into the LP60?

I like the idea of the RT85 or PLX-1000 if you need a phono stage but if you don’t I’d maybe be looking higher towards the Mofi StudioDeck or even the upcoming Technics SL1200 MK7 or even the SL1200 GR if it’s possible!
 
Joe Mac said:
Just to open it up a bit. What are you using for speakers/amplification and does it have a phono stage or are you using the one built into the LP60?

I like the idea of the RT85 or PLX-1000 if you need a phono stage but if you don’t I’d maybe be looking higher towards the Mofi StudioDeck or even the upcoming Technics SL1200 MK7 or even the SL1200 GR if it’s possible!
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The Pioneer PLX-1000 does not have a built in phono stage. It's a nice table though and deserves consideration.
 
As others here have said, I’d make sure to budget for a good phono stage.

Heck, if you’re looking to resolve the volume issue you mentioned in the Klipsch thread, you might want to just get a phono stage now and use it with whatever nicer table you get later on.
 
Quite specific this, but gonna see what forum throws up....
So i have a Dual 1219 with Castle Severn II speakers and a Yamaha AS500 AMP and im really pleased with this set up. Ive been sourcing needles from a local(ish) shop (Wilkinsons in Nelson, Lancs) for anyone who might know it. They have a stock of original Shure Hi- tracks i get.
But ive read there is a needle Nirvana for the M91-ed cartridge ive got - The Jico Sas. Up till now ive never been tempted to part with the required extra cash this would ask. But now i am :) Only it appears to have been discontinued and then a new alternative model is out. Or is it? Dont wanna shell out a lot extra and get a product which isnt really much of an upgrade. Anyone in the know.....
 
ByersVinyl said:
Quite specific this, but gonna see what forum throws up....
So i have a Dual 1219 with Castle Severn II speakers and a Yamaha AS500 AMP and im really pleased with this set up. Ive been sourcing needles from a local(ish) shop (Wilkinsons in Nelson, Lancs) for anyone who might know it. They have a stock of original Shure Hi- tracks i get.
But ive read there is a needle Nirvana for the M91-ed cartridge ive got - The Jico Sas. Up till now ive never been tempted to part with the required extra cash this would ask. But now i am :) Only it appears to have been discontinued and then a new alternative model is out. Or is it? Dont wanna shell out a lot extra and get a product which isnt really much of an upgrade. Anyone in the know.....
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The Jico SAS is the same stylus cut as the A/T Microline and there are other manufacturers with the same cut.

The stock Shure stylus is an elliptical so the SAS is an upgrade. It should track better and my experience with this stylus profile is that it's good at not highlighting surface noise.

It's available- here are all of the Jico styli for your cartridge. I think $249 is ridiculous when you can get a better cartridge for substantially less. I'd buy the $56 stylus listed.

https://www.jico-stylus.com/advance..._in_description=1&keywords=Shure+91ED&x=0&y=0
 
HiFi Guy said:
The Jico SAS is the same stylus cut as the A/T Microline and there are other manufacturers with the same cut.

The stock Shure stylus is an elliptical so the SAS is an upgrade. It should track better and my experience with this stylus profile is that it's good at not highlighting surface noise.

It's available- here are all of the Jico styli for your cartridge. I think $249 is ridiculous when you can get a better cartridge for substantially less. I'd buy the $56 stylus listed.

https://www.jico-stylus.com/advance..._in_description=1&keywords=Shure+91ED&x=0&y=0
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Thanks ! I never really considered a cartridge upgrade....
 
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Running a Technics SL-1900 with a 2M Red through a NAD 3240PE into Magnavox Tricoustic speakers. What is my best bang for buck upgrade path here? I suspect the speakers net the most bang but a different cart gets a better bang for buck ratio. Also note that I regularly digitize vinyl and my room layout won’t allow for a proper speaker arrangement anyhow so I would overly emphasize the portion of chain ahead of the speakers.
 
debianlinux said:
Running a Technics SL-1900 with a 2M Red through a NAD 3240PE into Magnavox Tricoustic speakers. What is my best bang for buck upgrade path here? I suspect the speakers net the most bang but a different cart gets a better bang for buck ratio. Also note that I regularly digitize vinyl and my room layout won’t allow for a proper speaker arrangement anyhow so I would overly emphasize the portion of chain ahead of the speakers.
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If you are looking at cart the best value you’ll get is the stylus swap to the 2M blue. They use the same cartridge body so are interchangeable. The blue is so much better than the price difference. If you’d like to change manufacturers none of us here would dissuade you from the Grado Gold2 if your table is one that doesn’t have the Grado hum issue!
 
Joe Mac said:
If you are looking at cart the best value you’ll get is the stylus swap to the 2M blue. They use the same cartridge body so are interchangeable. The blue is so much better than the price difference. If you’d like to change manufacturers none of us here would dissuade you from the Grado Gold2 if your table is one that doesn’t have the Grado hum issue!
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I had that in mind when I bought the table in inoperable condition and put the red on it while we were just situating with a second child and money was esquisitely tight. It’s still tight but I was wondering if holding out for the bronze was worthwhile. It opens me up for a black in the future and frees the red up for a potential second table. But most important, is the jump from red to blue as big as the jump from blue to bronze?
 
debianlinux said:
I had that in mind when I bought the table in inoperable condition and put the red on it while we were just situating with a second child and money was esquisitely tight. It’s still tight but I was wondering if holding out for the bronze was worthwhile. It opens me up for a black in the future and frees the red up for a potential second table. But most important, is the jump from red to blue as big as the jump from blue to bronze?
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The Blue is a uniformly well-regarded cartridge, but once you get above that price point the 2M series becomes more divisive. They're very analytical, neutral carts.

I liked my Bronze quite a bit, but I also got it for considerably less than list price.
 
debianlinux said:
I had that in mind when I bought the table in inoperable condition and put the red on it while we were just situating with a second child and money was esquisitely tight. It’s still tight but I was wondering if holding out for the bronze was worthwhile. It opens me up for a black in the future and frees the red up for a potential second table. But most important, is the jump from red to blue as big as the jump from blue to bronze?
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I never had the bronze I maxed out at the blue before going to the Grado.

The bronze (and the Black tbf) has a mixed reputation. It is even more detailed, and so potentially bright, than the blue and since I got better amplifiers the blue was a bit too bright for my ears.

I wouldn’t go bronze and I know @HiFi Guy isn't a fan but then I know @kvetcha and @Mather have different views so I suppose it all depends on the sound signature you are after...
 
kvetcha said:
The Blue is a uniformly well-regarded cartridge, but once you get above that price point the 2M series becomes more divisive. They're very analytical, neutral carts.

I liked my Bronze quite a bit, but I also got it for considerably less than list price.
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Okay, thanks. That was pretty much what I had perceived to be the case.
 
debianlinux said:
Running a Technics SL-1900 with a 2M Red through a NAD 3240PE into Magnavox Tricoustic speakers. What is my best bang for buck upgrade path here? I suspect the speakers net the most bang but a different cart gets a better bang for buck ratio. Also note that I regularly digitize vinyl and my room layout won’t allow for a proper speaker arrangement anyhow so I would overly emphasize the portion of chain ahead of the speakers.
Click to expand...

One option I would recommend looking at before taking the jump to 2M Blue stylus is an entirely new cart, in the Audio Technica AT-VM95ML which you can get on Amazon for the same amount of cash. I'm running one right now on my Technics 1700 (a higher end model from the same era as your 1700, but essentially analogous in arm weight and motor) and I've been really impressed for the money. For $160 you're getting a cart with a MicroLine stylus, that mates well with medium mass tonearms like our decks have, and that loads well into 47k. That last one is something that prior AT's struggled with (one of the reasons they got the reputation of being "bright") but this one has no issues. Both by ear and by CBS STR-100 FR measure I'm getting a flat frequency with no grating brightness or veiled bass. The cart tracks really well, much better than my more expensive DL-110 does, and completely nixes the last bit of IGD and sibilance I was getting.

See @HiFi Guy 's comments above about the MicroLine/MicroRidge/SAS profile. He mentioned the surface noise thing on the old board before I grabbed my AT and I have to say I was a bit skeptical that you could get more detail and less noise, but I have to say this has been my experience. I can't say which would be better as I've never run the 2M blue, but from a pure objective standpoint the AT has a superior profile. I think that that price it's an extremely competitive value, and a good option to consider for your deck.
 
ghostdorado said:
So I’ve been collecting records for a little over a year now. My girlfriend gifted me an AT LP60 for Christmas 2017 and it was a gift I didn’t know I needed, it’s taken over my life since. While it’s been an awesome table to get my feet wet with I’m on track to have saved up $1000 or so for a new deck come this upcoming Christmas. What would be the best options for that price range? Right now my eyes are on the Rega Planar 3. Anything else to consider?

Thanks for the help :)
Click to expand...

Are you set on a brand new table or would you go for a restored vintage table? There's a ton of great options on either side, but for $1k, you can get a lot on a restored table+nice cartridge.
 
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