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In Reply to: I think I know the answer to this already, but... posted by Rectangles on February 16, 2007 at 07:22:07:
I find that when you ask for advice with a strict budget, you tend to get a lot of "if you spend just a little more..." answers. :)I went through several carts and tables until I landed on my Thorens/OC9 combo that I love so much. The Sony's not bad, so your idea of getting a better cartridge is certainly valid. I'm not sure I'd spend upwards of $300 on a cart for that table, though.
Follow Ups:
For much less than his $300 he could find a nice used Thorens TD-160 or a TD-147. I would wager either are much better than his current Sony by a mile. At times it does make good sense to save up over a longer period for a much better table, or cartridge if you can. If not the used Thorens TD-160 and a proverbial cheap and cheerful Grado cartridge would bring him to his $300 limit. I have learned to save for items. There are still bargains to be found. In the fall of 2003 I bought my mint Well Tempered Classic for $500 on Audiogon. It is the newer generation model with the round motor. It needed the tonearm rewired which is why the price was so low. I snapped it up and I paid the factory rewire it with Cardas wire. They did a few other upgrades and went all through the turntable for me. Carl when he was still the VP of Well Tempered Labs was a class act to deal with. Too bad they sold the turntable bizz as they were/are making money hand over fist selling those high end boutique cables. Sadly they decided to sell the WTL company to Stanalog. I am sure Stanalog is fine to deal with, but no more of my being able to drive to Maine to have my table worked on sadly. Good luck on your decision be it buying something right now or later on. John
I did caveat it with "if you buy a table." I didn't want to comment on the cart because I don't know much about that table.Outside of knowing what might go with the Sony, I really like my Grado Gold which is $190. It has the sweet velvety rich Grado sound and doesn't break the bank. You can sometimes find new ones on ebay for $130. I bought mine from a guy who was a Grado retailer and he just wanted to unload some stock. It was brand new in the box. I've seen that a few times on ebay.
The only thing better than the AT 440 ML that I've heard for the same price is the AT 440 MLA. I admittedly don't know a lot about carts though.
...I've spent more on my rig than I ever planned to. :)
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