New phono stage...

[Burnsie]

With being a virgin with a decent turntable its good to read all your different thoughts and ideas regarding upgrades, it has pointed me in the directions where I should be looking and given me ideas on carts and phono stages. I am enjoyong the sound that I am getting and was suprised that the project phono stage that I bought is pretty good for the price but I know that with the usual itch to upgrade that would be my first change but now i might try a cartridge first or save a wee bit more and get a new phono stage and try AL ears suggestion of an Audio Technica cart, If the sound its not to my liking i can always sell it and use the money towards a different one.

With the vinyl that I am buying and the upgrades that I am wanting the bank account is going to take a hammering*dash1*

 

[plastic penguin]

With being a virgin with a decent turntable its good to read all your different thoughts and ideas regarding upgrades, it has pointed me in the directions where I should be looking and given me ideas on carts and phono stages. I am enjoyong the sound that I am getting and was suprised that the project phono stage that I bought is pretty good for the price but I know that with the usual itch to upgrade that would be my first change but now i might try a cartridge first or save a wee bit more and get a new phono stage and try AL ears suggestion of an Audio Technica cart, If the sound its not to my liking i can always sell it and use the money towards a different one.

With the vinyl that I am buying and the upgrades that I am wanting the bank account is going to take a hammering*dash1*

I know I bang on a bit about ClearAudio carts but they do work a treat with Pro-ject TTs. Even my entry-level 'Concept' cart is a good step above other budget offerings.

 

[Al ears]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

Not really, he is saying it's not worth spending the £500 on a preamp if you don't do anything about the cartridge first. Which is true. A better preamp amplifying cr*p is still going to sound cr*p.

Apologies, I have just read the previous posts by Mark. I still stand by my comments though.

 

[Al ears]

With being a virgin with a decent turntable its good to read all your different thoughts and ideas regarding upgrades, it has pointed me in the directions where I should be looking and given me ideas on carts and phono stages. I am enjoyong the sound that I am getting and was suprised that the project phono stage that I bought is pretty good for the price but I know that with the usual itch to upgrade that would be my first change but now i might try a cartridge first or save a wee bit more and get a new phono stage and try AL ears suggestion of an Audio Technica cart, If the sound its not to my liking i can always sell it and use the money towards a different one.

With the vinyl that I am buying and the upgrades that I am wanting the bank account is going to take a hammering*dash1*

I know I bang on a bit about ClearAudio carts but they do work a treat with Pro-ject TTs. Even my entry-level 'Concept' cart is a good step above other budget offerings.

Never hear one on a Project PP, I bow to your greater knowledge there, it's an option for sure.

 

[Al ears]

With being a virgin with a decent turntable its good to read all your different thoughts and ideas regarding upgrades, it has pointed me in the directions where I should be looking and given me ideas on carts and phono stages. I am enjoyong the sound that I am getting and was suprised that the project phono stage that I bought is pretty good for the price but I know that with the usual itch to upgrade that would be my first change but now i might try a cartridge first or save a wee bit more and get a new phono stage and try AL ears suggestion of an Audio Technica cart, If the sound its not to my liking i can always sell it and use the money towards a different one.

With the vinyl that I am buying and the upgrades that I am wanting the bank account is going to take a hammering*dash1*

You did realise that from the outset didn't you??

 

[plastic penguin]

With being a virgin with a decent turntable its good to read all your different thoughts and ideas regarding upgrades, it has pointed me in the directions where I should be looking and given me ideas on carts and phono stages. I am enjoyong the sound that I am getting and was suprised that the project phono stage that I bought is pretty good for the price but I know that with the usual itch to upgrade that would be my first change but now i might try a cartridge first or save a wee bit more and get a new phono stage and try AL ears suggestion of an Audio Technica cart, If the sound its not to my liking i can always sell it and use the money towards a different one.

With the vinyl that I am buying and the upgrades that I am wanting the bank account is going to take a hammering*dash1*

I know I bang on a bit about ClearAudio carts but they do work a treat with Pro-ject TTs. Even my entry-level 'Concept' cart is a good step above other budget offerings.

Never hear one on a Project PP, I bow to your greater knowledge there, it's an option for sure.

Wouldn't go that far, Al. *shok*. Just that before I had a Ortofon red and changed back to ClearAudio Concept, and the price difference, which isn't huge, is justified IMHO.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

Not really, he is saying it's not worth spending the £500 on a preamp if you don't do anything about the cartridge first. Which is true. A better preamp amplifying cr*p is still going to sound cr*p.

Apologies, I have just read the previous posts by Mark. I still stand by my comments though.

That is exactly what I'm trying to say, thanks Al. It's maybe not came across very well in previous posts. I did have a few beers last night.

 

[ifor]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

Not really, he is saying it's not worth spending the £500 on a preamp if you don't do anything about the cartridge first. Which is true. A better preamp amplifying cr*p is still going to sound cr*p.

Apologies, I have just read the previous posts by Mark. I still stand by my comments though.

All I was disagreeing with was the statement that MM cartridges (however good) don't deserve a good phono stage. It is now clear that this is not what was meant to be said.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

No probs. I actually should have put the word budget before the mm carts in the post. definitely if you've spent a good few hundred quid on a mm cart... You're going to want it feeding a decent pre amp. I suppose it's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. I'm definitely going to stop posting once I've had a few.. Lol. I did buy the pre amp before the cart btw, but only because I wanted to give moving coil cartridges a go and I wasn't convinced my project phono box se would have been up to the task. It's just a pity that we can't get to dem carts before we jump in and hand over the hard earned.

 

[Al ears]

If you plan on staying with mm carts,,I wouldn't bother with a £500 pre amp...only if mc cartridges are in your future plans would I think it worth while.

Dreadful advice, IMO.

Not really, he is saying it's not worth spending the £500 on a preamp if you don't do anything about the cartridge first. Which is true. A better preamp amplifying cr*p is still going to sound cr*p.

Apologies, I have just read the previous posts by Mark. I still stand by my comments though.

All I was disagreeing with was the statement that MM cartridges (however good) don't deserve a good phono stage. It is now clear that this is not what was meant to be said.

No problem. It is funny how different people read posts differently, especially when the OP has had a few ;-) . Mark's post could have been read either way.

It's a fine balancing act trying to decide on cartridge upgrade or preamp or both. My advice would be to get a good solid phono preamp ( that need not cost the earth, there are plenty of good ones around now) and then spend as much as possible on a cartridge.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

+1

 

[Burnsie]

Just a quick update if you are interested. I got a Audio Technica 440 cartridge, had it just over a week and I am really enjoying it. Much better to my ears than the Ortofon silver, the Ortofon was a bit bright sounding for me. Also just ordered an ex dem Rothwell Rialto phono stage, not heard it but it was selling for a good price so decided to take a chance.

I will let you know how the Rothwell sounds when it arrives.

 

[Al ears]

Just a quick update if you are interested. I got a Audio Technica 440 cartridge, had it just over a week and I am really enjoying it. Much better to my ears than the Ortofon silver, the Ortofon was a bit bright sounding for me. Also just ordered an ex dem Rothwell Rialto phono stage, not heard it but it was selling for a good price so decided to take a chance.

I will let you know how the Rothwell sounds when it arrives.

A very good and economic choice on both I would say.