Best turntable under 50k?

[gleeds]

Stephan, I have been a Simon York fan forever! The founder of 47 Labs, Junji Kimura used a tagline "only the simplest can render the most complex" which rings true for me with Simon York's transcription turntable designs. One day I'll purchase a SY for my personal collection and use it in a system with my Quad 63s and a Roger Modejski OTL-1 amplifier

When I discovered the Ars Machinae turntable from a small team in Southern Germany two years ago I knew we had to add this their product to our stable of innovative products from boutique manufacturers. After many months of additional development, including adding an effective isolation base we now have a complete turntable solution offering the purity of design and purpose of the Simon York that can take on the big boys at a significantly more affordable cost. For those members attending Axpona 2023 please come by room #1506 to meet the developer, Ralf Woelfel and have a look and listen to what I affectionately call, the German Simon York.

 

[msimanyi]

Stephan, I have been a Simon York fan forever! The founder of 47 Labs, Junji Kimura used a tagline "only the simplest can render the most complex" which rings true for me with Simon York's transcription turntable designs. One day I'll purchase a SY for my personal collection and use it in a system with my Quad 63s and a Roger Modejski OTL-1 amplifier

When I discovered the Ars Machinae turntable from a small team in Southern Germany two years ago I knew we had to add this their product to our stable of innovative products from boutique manufacturers. After many months of additional development, including adding an effective isolation base we now have a complete turntable solution offering the purity of design and purpose of the Simin York that can take on the big boys at a significantly more affordable cost. For those members attending Axpona 2023 please come by room #1506 to meet the developer, Ralf Woelfel and have a look and listen to what I affectionately call, the German Simon York.

View attachment 107049

I'm not a vinyl guy, but that ARS makes me want to expand my horizons. Everything about that speaks to me. Good luck at Axpona!

 

[SOS]

We were the USA Importer for many, many years. We LOVED the SYD tables and I enjoyed my S7 for over 15 years. Worst thing I ever did was sell it. Over those years we sold 20-25 SYD tables (even one to M. Fremer) and every customer was thrilled (at least that's what they conveyed to me ). From Simon's web site:

Whether I helped an old man enjoy his record collection or assist a Nation in accessing its recorded history, I felt like I was doing something worthwhile.
Now, sadly, I am unable to continue to make record players – age has caught up with me and thus I am now retired.

Simon ~ Stay well my friend and thanks for all the enjoyment you brought to my listening sessions.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Congratulations, Gary, on the North American launch of this Ars Machinae turntable! It looks great!

(It actually looks a bit Danish to me: clean, simple, contemporary.)

 

[Frankie67]

Hi Guys. Which phono cable would you recommend for the following TT setup?

- Bergmann Audio Galder Signature
- My Sonic lab signature Platinum
- D’Agostino Momentum Phono stage

thanks

 

[Johan K]

Hi Guys. Which phono cable would you recommend for the following TT setup?

- Bergmann Audio Galder Signature
- My Sonic lab signature Platinum
- D’Agostino Momentum Phono stage

thanks

Try the Nordost Valhalla 2+ phono cable. It works very good at my place. Have the D’Agostino phonostage, and have had the MSL PS with very good result.

/ Jk

 

[Frankie67]

Try the Nordost Valhalla 2+ phono cable. It works very good at my place. Have the D’Agostino phonostage, and have had the MSL PS with very good result.

/ Jk

Thanks. Have you tried Transparent Audio?

 

[Johan K]

Thanks. Have you tried Transparent Audio?

Yes Sir, I have. I tried both the Transparent Reference and the XL phono cable, but I had a hard time to get system quiet with those cables. It never seem to work. I have tried a bunch of different phono cables, but the ONE brand that really stod out at my place, was Nordost and it’s phenomenal grounding system, making everything super quiet. So I stuck with that, and I’m very pleased with the sound.

/ Jk

 

[Frankie67]

Yes Sir, I have. I tried both the Transparent Reference and the XL phono cable, but I had a hard time to get system quiet with those cables. It never seem to work. I have tried a bunch of different phono cables, but the ONE brand that really stod out at my place, was Nordost and it’s phenomenal grounding system, making everything super quiet. So I stuck with that, and I’m very pleased with the sound.

/ Jk

Thanks. I’m hesitant since my cabling as far as IC, speaker and phono is all TA (Reference XL or Opus). The only exception so far are the power cables on the Gryphon amp and the preamp which have their own (excellent) Vanta cables.

 

[Johan K]

Thanks. I’m hesitant since my cabling as far as IC, speaker and phono is all TA (Reference XL or Opus). The only exception so far are the power cables on the Gryphon amp and the preamp which have their own (excellent) Vanta cables.

Great.. sounds very nice. So what about the TA phono cable you have right now? Are you not a 100% satisfied with that one?

 

[Frankie67]

Great.. sounds very nice. So what about the TA phono cable you have right now? Are you not a 100% satisfied with that one?

Sorry Johan. I was actually referring to the tonearm cable (din/rca). I’m presently using a Kimber cable and it’s not so great.

 

[Johan K]

Sorry Johan. I was actually referring to the tonearm cable (din/rca). I’m presently using a Kimber cable and it’s not so great.

Yea, me too… all along… haha…sorry about that. ”Phono cable” is maybe refering to the cable between the phonostage and the pre-amp and tonearm cable between the tonearm and the phonostage ofcourse. Well I meant the tonearm cable all along and nothing else. Okay - so you using a Kimber as tonearm cable… well try the Nordost tonearm cables… anyone will do, but the higher you go the better. I love these cables, specially the grounding system, which uses two different grounding wires in each end of the cable to make ANY kind of hum disapear. To match the rest of your cable level, I would go with at least Valhalla, but Odin or Odin Gold, should probably match your TP Opus level.

Hope that helps.

/ Jk

 

[Johan K]

Hi @Frankie67 ,

A little follow up to our previous conversation. It seem that Nordost cables goes along very well with other brands of cables such as Transparent Audio, as I run Transparent as my speaker cables and some interconnect. I only use the Nordost in my turntable set up, as I found they worked much better than other brands there. For other areas in my system, I use different brands that (to me) sounds the best in that particular area. In my mind not ONE brand is the best in ALL areas, if that make sence.

/ Jk

 

[Frankie67]

Hi @Frankie67 ,

A little follow up to our previous conversation. It seem that Nordost cables goes along very well with other brands of cables such as Transparent Audio, as I run Transparent as my speaker cables and some interconnect. I only use the Nordost in my turntable set up, as I found they worked much better than other brands there. For other areas in my system, I use different brands that (to me) sounds the best in that particular area. In my mind not ONE brand is the best in ALL areas, if that make sence.

/ Jk

Thanks a lot Johan. I’ll see if I can find one to audition.

 

[Johan K]

Thanks a lot Johan. I’ll see if I can find one to audition.

No worries! My pleasure ! Let me know how you find them, and how it goes. It’s gonna be very interesting… good luck.

/ Johan

 

[DasguteOhr]

Audioquest leopard I still thought it was good and affordable, be careful not to buy on eBay as there are a lot of Chinese fakes out there that are hard to tell apart from one another.

 

[BillK]

Hi Guys. Which phono cable would you recommend for the following TT setup?

- Bergmann Audio Galder Signature
- My Sonic lab signature Platinum
- D’Agostino Momentum Phono stage

thanks

In general you want to keep cabling to the same family, but I can't recommend Synergistic Research's phono cables enough.

Truly incredible improvements to be had there, but as always they're system-dependent.

 

[jfrech]

Thanks. I’m hesitant since my cabling as far as IC, speaker and phono is all TA (Reference XL or Opus). The only exception so far are the power cables on the Gryphon amp and the preamp which have their own (excellent) Vanta cables.

Honestly, I think you better stick with Transparent. I love my Transparent Phono cables. I've had Ref XL, and Opus. All Magnum Opus now. I think you'll miss the synergy on the interconnects/speaker cabling...

 

[Another Johnson]

For under $50k, it’s hard to beat a properly set up Klimax level LP12, but with an ARC Ref Phono 3SE instead of the Linn phono stage. I also have a second LP12, a Dual 1009 for 78s, and a Clearaudio Master Reference with magnetic bearing and Universal 12 tonearm. Also very nice and well under budget on the used market.

 

[Loheswaran]

IME setting up a lot of tables and arms it that the motor system is the holy grail (with a heavy/dead plinth) and how well the arm is setup to take advantage of the cart being used. What is best under 50k is largely dependent on the setup of the table and arm/cart. The same table and same arm different setup has the potential to be great and terrible. I have seen this many times. I find most buy off aesthetics with regard to table design.

I have been to many homes and shows where the >50k table skips when walking by it or you see when the arm is lifted the cantilever leans. As I mostly deal in bespoke designs made by smaller manufacturers the quality of the table is almost always superb in performance and there is a lot to choose from under 50k.

A good example of this is this restored P10 done by Torqueo. It is an old table, completely redone from scratch and I would put it against many tables over the 50k mark handily

View attachment 104908

The exclusive P10 has quite astonishing specs - it is superior to just about all decks manufactured now - its no surprise that it will stack up to anything out currently.

I have a JVC QL10, EMT 950, townshend rock elite (not standard) Amazon Model One and a yet to be plinthed Sony TTS8000. I love the EMT most but on any day i can be capricious and prefer the other