i did bought a Rega turntable the P10 with P10 PSU , the first time i spent money on a Rega for the fact that it was the first i notice having a good sound and acurate playing of vinyl records.
My choice after noticing the SL-1000R price ,who i own a perfect condition SL-1000MKII from 79, amongst others, this having bought the SU-R1000 amplifier , ending up buying some big tower speakers that were made for it the SB-G90MKII, instead of buying even more expensive JBL speakers ,
having recentelly also bought a streamer, my first one the bluesound node III, very pratical with the suplied software and in sound quality i have to admit it was a big improvement, from a laptop with a better internal DAC as the provided when released
but having a hana umami red cartridge i installed it ,that sounds in my opinion very good, i didn´t pay for it.
The expensive suplied cartridges like the Alpheta 3 (which is good )who in my opinion is too expensive but i could buy the hana for a more cheaper value than the value sold in stores , when the first is worn out, as the seller is a friend of mine since early 80´s and at the start of the business i helped him.
Before buying the Alpheta 3, i would have bought the Grado AEON 3, sounds more dynamic , i´ve tested both on the P10, the quality is present only the personal taste matters here(maybe i´ll buy them in a near future ,only a matter of cash flow)
I refer this all because it makes the sound not only the turntable itself, and i was not used to spend more than 5.000€ in cartridge with stylus, and i didn´t
Also , where i´ve been testing turntables that before 2020 i had no interest in new material but i´ve learned something since then by testing new turntables as the cartridges, amongst other components,
I have it in my main listening room (40 square meters) along with a 70´s pioneer system exclusive series that the speakers needed some restoring and when returned it were like i remenber them sounding,
using also a cassette deck from the old days but with a high quality of sound the phase linear 7000 from series two.
the amplifier i bought only as one output line and i´m using only TDK sa-x and ar C60 from early 90´s, who i got more than a thousand for free and only started to record cassettes again since 2017,
when i installed new belts on a pioneer CT-959 which sounds very good, this phase linear is the same as the good but cheaply built Pioneer CT-A1,(both perfect cassette flat recorders). As i own a lot of nakamichi decks i can say that no model achieves this deck i refered, this working with perfection, or i would have installed a 1000ZXL that i have two ,the special edition and the 81 edition(w3ork9ng like new after total restore
Don´t remenber if they (Pioneer)bought it before 79 or after ,the phase linear brand , i think the deck as common design as the pioneer CT-F1250 display but in colour not only Blue, maybe before 79 ,not sure at all,
maybe after the turntables the cassette will return ,not pre-recorded ones but the option of recording at home a compilation of the songs we prefer at the moment, this when people realise that cassettes are hi-fi sound , any cd when recorded to cassette ,it sounds a lot better but good decks were expensive as good cassettes or reels as the reel decks