New turntable sir??

[Al ears]

Really surprised at the number of manufacturers releasing £5000+ turntables these days including Musical Fidelity (read Pro-ject), presumably someone is buying them....
Wonder why?

 

[Friesiansam]

Really surprised at the number of manufacturers releasing £5000+ turntables these days including Musical Fidelity (read Pro-ject), presumably someone is buying them....
Wonder why?

They have been duped into believing such a turntable is the holy grail. They have a lot more money than sense. They want to show-off to their wealthy mates.

Any one, or combination, of the above methinks.

 

[Oxfordian]

At £5k it won't be me that buys one. I'm not going to lower myself to a mere £5k to spend on my holy grail, it has to be this or nothing;

NAGRA REFERENCE 70TH ANNIVERSARY TURNTABLE - LIMITED EDITION @ £145,000​

If you're going to have a grail it might as well be a big one!!

 

[Al ears]

At £5k it won't be me that buys one. I'm not going to lower myself to a mere £5k to spend on my holy grail, it has to be this or nothing;

NAGRA REFERENCE 70TH ANNIVERSARY TURNTABLE - LIMITED EDITION @ £145,000​

If you're going to have a grail it might as well be a big one!!

I've seen bigger..
Thought a grail was for drinking out of though.
Yours,
Confused.

 

[Friesiansam]

NAGRA REFERENCE 70TH ANNIVERSARY TURNTABLE - LIMITED EDITION

I've seen bigger..
Thought a grail was for drinking out of though.
Yours,
Confused.

Compared to a Clearaudio Statement, it’s pleasingly compact!

 

[davidf]

But at least with analogue equipment you get an appreciable increase in sound quality, and that’s always been true for turntables. I’ve set up many turntables upwards of £5k, and whether an individual feels the asking price is value for money, it’s always surprising how good record can sound! There’s so many areas where the manufacturer can get it wrong.
The difference between a £1k turntable and a £5k turntable is vast, and easily demonstrated. Anyone who feels otherwise has either never heard the difference, or hasn’t heard a particularly good £5k turntable in a suitable system to be able to appreciate it.

There’s another brand coming soon…

The “statement” turntables produced by a number of manufacturers are almost like concept cars - made to show what the company is capable of. Invariably, the man hours and machining involved is extremely expensive, as are some of the materials used.

 

[Geoff P.]

But at least with analogue equipment you get an appreciable increase in sound quality, and that’s always been true for turntables. I’ve set up many turntables upwards of £5k, and whether an individual feels the asking price is value for money, it’s always surprising how good record can sound! There’s so many areas where the manufacturer can get it wrong.
The difference between a £1k turntable and a £5k turntable is vast, and easily demonstrated. Anyone who feels otherwise has either never heard the difference, or hasn’t heard a particularly good £5k turntable in a suitable system to be able to appreciate it.

There’s another brand coming soon…

The “statement” turntables produced by a number of manufacturers are almost like concept cars - made to show what the company is capable of. Invariably, the man hours and machining involved is extremely expensive, as are some of the materials used.

Interesting thoughts there, DavidF.
Is it possible that all these people buying £5k turntables are also specifying better cartridges/stylii, and using more upmarket amps and speakers ? The more expensive TTs are almost bound to sound better in those circumstances.
A more interesting comparison would be to do a side-by-side test using the same amp,speakers and cartridges. This would be a truer test of what you are getting for your £4000 extra.

 

[Al ears]

Interesting thoughts there, DavidF.
Is it possible that all these people buying £5k turntables are also specifying better cartridges/stylii, and using more upmarket amps and speakers ? The more expensive TTs are almost bound to sound better in those circumstances.
A more interesting comparison would be to do a side-by-side test using the same amp,speakers and cartridges. This would be a truer test of what you are getting for your £4000 extra.

Unfortunately not many people that buy a £5k turntable are connecting them to £1k amplifiers so these tests may be a tad irrelevant.
However, stick an expensive cartridge on a cheap turntable and you will still notice a difference. Good or bad, that is, as that cartridge has to suit the tonearm which it might not always do on a cheap deck.
It's always a balancing act....
On another note it seems MOFI are convinced vinyl will still be going strong for a while having just released a £6k phono preamp......
Most people I know wouldn't pay that much for their main amplifier, but then again most people I know have moved away from Vinyl and their amps simply must have a dac and all sorts of other stuff.....

 

[daytona600]

Recommended Components 2023 Edition Stereophile

Class A
J.Sikora Reference: $47,000 w/o tonearm
OMA K3: $363,000 including power supply and Schröder SLM tonearm
SAT XD1: €180,000 without tonearm
TechDAS Air Force One Premium: $172,000 w/titanium upper platter
TechDAS Air Force Zero: $550,000 ( below )

 

[davidf]

Interesting thoughts there, DavidF.
Is it possible that all these people buying £5k turntables are also specifying better cartridges/stylii, and using more upmarket amps and speakers ? The more expensive TTs are almost bound to sound better in those circumstances.
A more interesting comparison would be to do a side-by-side test using the same amp,speakers and cartridges. This would be a truer test of what you are getting for your £4000 extra.

Only problem is, you won’t get a meaningful test from both sides. You have to use a good enough system to allow the £5k turntable to show what it’s capable of, but the system will highlight the faults and shortcomings of the £1k turntable.

 

[davidf]

And one aspect of whatever system is used that shouldn’t be overlooked is the phono stage. A £5k turntable should really have a good £1k (maybe even £1500) phono stage if using a really good cart. For me, there’s two crucial points (among many) in a vinyl replay system, and that’s the contact with between the stylus and the record (and all that entails, in,causing the cartridge converting minute physical movement into electrical energy), and the circuitry dealing with that extremely low level, delicate signal that has to perform RIAA equalisation. The latter can transform a system if a suitable one isn’t already being used.

 

[Oxfordian]

But at least with analogue equipment you get an appreciable increase in sound quality, and that’s always been true for turntables. I’ve set up many turntables upwards of £5k, and whether an individual feels the asking price is value for money, it’s always surprising how good record can sound! There’s so many areas where the manufacturer can get it wrong.
The difference between a £1k turntable and a £5k turntable is vast, and easily demonstrated. Anyone who feels otherwise has either never heard the difference, or hasn’t heard a particularly good £5k turntable in a suitable system to be able to appreciate it.

There’s another brand coming soon…

The “statement” turntables produced by a number of manufacturers are almost like concept cars - made to show what the company is capable of. Invariably, the man hours and machining involved is extremely expensive, as are some of the materials used.

I understand that a £5k TT will better a £1k TT assuming that the ancillary kit matches the abilities of the more expensive TT, what sort of money would the aspiring audiophile have to spend to get that £5k TT producing its very best?

 

[Al ears]

Recommended Components 2023 Edition Stereophile

Class A
J.Sikora Reference: $47,000 w/o tonearm
OMA K3: $363,000 including power supply and Schröder SLM tonearm
SAT XD1: €180,000 without tonearm
TechDAS Air Force One Premium: $172,000 w/titanium upper platter
TechDAS Air Force Zero: $550,000 ( below )
View attachment 5579

Yes they are making them but I do wonder what their turnover and profit and loss sheets look like.

 

[davidf]

I understand that a £5k TT will better a £1k TT assuming that the ancillary kit matches the abilities of the more expensive TT, what sort of money would the aspiring audiophile have to spend to get that £5k TT producing its very best?

I guess it depends what the £5k TT comes with!

If it’s just the deck and arm for £5k, while you could just put a basic £100 cart on it with a £1k phono stage (for example), I think a good £500-1000 cart would be more ideal, although not completely necessary. Ideally I’d say maybe £7k-7.5k with a suitable cart and phono stage. But there’s a lot of variables, as the user buying the TT could already have a suitable phono stage, or a cart they can use from their existing deckl

 

[Al ears]

And one aspect of whatever system is used that shouldn’t be overlooked is the phono stage. A £5k turntable should really have a good £1k (maybe even £1500) phono stage if using a really good cart. For me, there’s two crucial points (among many) in a vinyl replay system, and that’s the contact with between the stylus and the record (and all that entails, in,causing the cartridge converting minute physical movement into electrical energy), and the circuitry dealing with that extremely low level, delicate signal that has to perform RIAA equalisation. The latter can transform a system if a suitable one isn’t already being used.

Indeed, not much point in spending a fortune on tonearm / cartridge of you don't have a decent phono preamp to do it justice.