A Consolidation Of Analog Gear: Thought Experiment

[Mister Pig]

I tend to be a consolidator of equipment rather than owning multiple systems. A step up is preferable to owning lots of stuff as a general rule. But that does not seem to hold true with me and analog gear.

I have two turntables, one a SOTA Cosmos Eclipse with SME V arm on it. Second is a Scheu Audio Das Laufwerk No 2 with 2 arms A Schroder CB-1L in ebony and a Dynavector DV505.

Cartridges are an Ortofon Verismo, Transfiguration Audio Proteus, Ortofon MC2000/T2000, and Kiseki Blackheart first generation.

Phono stages are an Esoteric E-03, and a BMC MCCI Signature ULN and non ULN.

The question becomes can all of this be sold and the funds applied towards one very good analog rig, and what would it be.

Now on one hand it can be argued that the SOTA is an overachiever, and that perhaps this older version SME V is the limiting factor. The table can accept up to a 10 inch arm that weighs less than 2.2 pounds, so it has some constraints. The Scheu is a prototypical high mass unsuspended table. Runs just fine.

Now the Schroder arm is remarkable sound wise, but it has to be one of the most infuriating arms to set up. I absolutely loath installing cartridges on it, but I do acknowledge its greatness.

The Dynavector arm is there to be able to use the Ortofon MC2000 cartridges. I have two of them, and one was damaged in an accident and has a boron cantilever. This is my casual use daily driver. The other one has been fitted with a smaller footprint line contact stylus and sounds superb. But this is a 11 gram cartridge that is close to 30 dyne in compliance and needs a low mass arm. The small vestigial arm and an ultra-light Denon headshell allow me to use this cartridge. When in college I was fortunate to work in an audio store and while I was poor I lusted after the MC2000 we carried. So this is kind of a touchstone for me. Same for the Kiseki.

The Ortofon Verismo is a lovely cartridge. But it tracks at 2.6 grams! I have never been comfortable with that kind of tracking force.

So I am curious to hear others thoughts of what might be pathways to explore. Your experiences, and viewpoints are quite intriguing to me. Please share.

 

[Another Johnson]

You should not worry about the tracking force, but instead think about the tracking pressure. The damage on the vinyl is associated with the pressure … and a high end stylus typically has a large contact area over which the tracking force is distributed.

Regarding selling TTs to consolidate the investment into one special TT, it is a nice idea, but often difficult to implement due to the limited TT market and the number of decent new units that cost less than $10k.

Notice that a lot of TT aficionados have several. Me, for instance. I have several because some serve different purposes, and some won’t bring $.25 on each dollar initially invested. Some of mine were bought used for good deals.

The best bet might be to consolidate by approaching a dealer of your favored new machine with a trade proposal. Margins might allow you to get value out, especially if your proposed new unit has an msrp of more than $50k.

Better still, keep your current collection and take advantage of someone else’s desire to sell the unit that you’re hoping to buy. Perhaps from a dealer that took it in trade.

 

[puroagave]

It's hard to beat what you have. I owned the SOTA Cosmos/ SMEV back in the day and went straight to a Versa Dynamics 1.0. The differences weren't night and day, the nod would go to the SOTA/SME for bass. My current collection includes a Scheu Premier/Mørch DP-8, an AMG Viella/12JT and Simon Yorke S10/Aeroarm (my avatar). In the closet is a Versa 2.0 and enough Linn spares to build at least two LP12s. I owned a TechDAS AFIII/Graham Phantom which I thought would be my 'forever' table but it didnt blow away its stablemates, SQ-wise. That said, I wouldn't off a few TTs for just one rig. They all have a purpose and good way to sample other flavors i.e. table/arm/cart combos.

 

[Mister Pig]

It's hard to beat what you have. I owned the SOTA Cosmos/ SMEV back in the day and went straight to a Versa Dynamics 1.0. The differences weren't night and day, the nod would go to the SOTA/SME for bass. My current collection includes a Scheu Premier/Mørch DP-8, an AMG Viella/12JT and Simon Yorke S10/Aeroarm (my avatar). In the closet is a Versa 2.0 and enough Linn spares to build at least two LP12s. I owned a TechDAS AFIII/Graham Phantom which I thought would be my 'forever' table but it didnt blow away its stablemates, SQ-wise. That said, I wouldn't off a few TTs for just one rig. They all have a purpose and good way to sample other flavors i.e. table/arm/cart combos.

This current Eclipse version of the Cosmos has some meaningful improvements over the earlier generations. Primarily a magnetic bearing that is reported to be even quieter than the legacy sapphire bearing one that SOTA used. Also the Phoenix Engineering speed controller and AC motor combo is also reported to be excellent. So perhaps it is best to consider an arm upgrade. It seems these days either a Graham or the Triplanar are strong candidates.