What is the Best turntable for under $5000 ?

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by jdandy

David.......The Avid Diva II with the Rega RB-301 tonearm is a good value at reatil $2300.00 without a phono cartridge. That would leave you a nice budge for any number of excellent moving coil cartridges, like maybe the new Ortofon Cadenza Black at $2400.00 retail. At a grand total of $4700.00, this would be a nice vinyl rig.

David,

The Avid Diva II is an excellent table but the one you should get and which was reviewed recently by Michael Fremer is the Diva II SP which has the upgraded motor. I had my Acutus upgraded to SP and it is significantly better than the non-SP version. Well worth the extra and still within budget.

Personally I would spend as much as possible on the TT, use your current phono stage and then add a phono stage later on if funds allow. If you buy a mediocre table now, get a mediocre phono stage as well and then love vinyl you have to upgrade everything again which will hit your wallet hard.

Yes the mediocre table and new phono stage might be better overall in sound quality than a great table and poor phono stage but that is easily changed with one purchase and not two.

I had a Mcintosh C2200 and bought an Avid Acutus btw.

howie

[dbz]

Originally Posted by jdandy

David.......I am assuming you meant turntable, arm and phono cartridge under $5K. This presents many options, and your taste in turntable designs will come into play, as well.

Here is a very nice turntable and arm combination by Creek. The Creek Wyndsor. It come with the custom made Creek OEM300 arm, made especially for Creek by Rega Research. The turntable is also supplied with a separate LP1 speed controller that allows you to switch to either 33.3 or 45 rpm and adjust the pitch. Other goodies that come with the turntable are a 12" strobe disc for setting perfect rotation, and a heavy record clamp. There is a lot to like about this turntable for a retail price of $3995.00

Here's the link to the Assembly Instructions: http://www.creekaudio.com/products/i...ns/wyndsor.pdf

This has been on sale in the UK for £899 (about $1300) for the simple reason..no-one bought it. It is now discontinued.

[Tonepub]

If you buy a Mitchel, find a used one. They have very little resale here in the US. Both the Gyro and the Orbe are decent tables, but they've never caught on here.

Another good combination for slightly over $5k if you are going used would be an SME 10. Fantastic table and also highly discounted on the used market. It's not uncommon to see them for about $4500. Add a Shelter 501, or your other favorite $1000 cart and it's a pretty formidable analog front end that if you decide to add the SME V or iV.Vi later, knocks on the door of the SME 20 for a lot less money. That's the one table I always regret selling.

[1KW]

The creekaudio table is discontinued according to needledoctor. I did speak to them today about ordering a gyrodec in black with a SME309 .

[MC352]

Originally Posted by 1KW

The creekaudio table is discontinued according to needledoctor. I did speak to them today about ordering a gyrodec in black with a SME309 .

David, That TT is sweet, to say the least!!

[jdandy]

David.......This turntable and tonearm combination will keep you satisfied for a long time. It would be a shame to tuck such an attractive turntable back into a shelf where no one can see anything but the front. Did you place an order?

[1KW]

Chuck I knew you would like that picture, which is why I posted it. I am leaning toward the clearaudio innovation compact or a Avid Volvere; both list for than my budget but in reality, not by much . I wanted to see what people came up with for recommendations. My next decision is going to be a tone arm and cartridge. It is alot easier to change a cartridge later than the whole turntable and cartridge.

Dan I have not placed any orders yet.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by 1KW

The creekaudio table is discontinued according to needledoctor. I did speak to them today about ordering a gyrodec in black with a SME309 .

Nice! I say go for it.

BTW, the reason you don't see many Gyro SEs on the used market is that most owners never feel the need to sell them. It would make a great way for you to get into a TT, and would likely meet your needs for a long, long time.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Stephen.......Wow! After seeing your Mitchell Gyro SE turntable with the incredible SME V tonearm, I'm just like Chuck. I want one, too. Gorgeous. How do you like the Shelter 501 MkII moving coil cartridge. Looking at its specs, it has a decent 0.5 mV output, and tracks at under 2 grams. The stated frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz +/-2dB is remarkable for a cartridge in this price range.

Dan,

I like the TT very much, especially for what I spent on it. I bought the TT new for $2500, the SME V essentially new (<200 hrs on it) from a buddy for $1500, and the Shelter used for $500 w/ < 200 hrs on it. So, a total of four grand for the whole kebab. My buddy's arm was literaly new in a box. Bought it for his Linn, the arm didn't work on that TT, so he bought a Linn arm and put the SME V in his closet for 20 years. I think he was happy to get some money for it and for it to go to a good home.

I like the Shelter a lot; for a grand it's about as good as you can do for an MC up to say $2500-$3000 if you get it set up right. I was originally running it with too much damping, but I removed some damping and it clicked into place. I was recently listening to a Music Matters 45 rpm LP of Lee Morgan's Tom Cat and had the same recording as an Audio Wave XRCD in the CD player at exactly the same time, so A/Bing between the two with the remote, the mids and highs were very close to identical, so I knew I had the cartridge pretty much dialed in about perfect (this a nice way to do this as there are no cartridge adjustment issues with a very high-quality CD). The Audio Wave XRCD is superb, but the LP was still a bit better...more air, body and weight to the musical presentation. LPs are tough to beat with regards to sound quality.

The Shelter has got a really sweet mid range and a nice top end, but is a little light on bass compared to the Grado Sonata shown in my picture. Some day I would like to a nice Koetsu Vermilion on the Gyro. I like the Shelter a lot, but it's not in the league with the really top-flight carts, e.g. a Dynavector XV-1S, which, BTW, really is superb.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by 1KW

Chuck I knew you would like that picture, which is why I posted it. I am leaning toward the clearaudio innovation compact or a Avid Volvere; both list for than my budget but in reality, not by much . I wanted to see what people came up with for recommendations. My next decision is going to be a tone arm and cartridge. It is alot easier to change a cartridge later than the whole turntable and cartridge.

Dan I have not placed any orders yet.

I recommend an SME arm....a 309 would be a great starting point.