Ok, so I went to my semi-local dealer and he set up the Monaco 3.0 with a Koetsu blue lace cartridge next to an AMG Viella with teatro cartridge. My Viella has a Koetsu so not an exact duplicate of my system. i love my Viella and plays beautifully but thought i would try out the Monaco. It was immediately apparent the Monaco 3.0 was a big step up which is saying a lot because the Viella is awesome. I’ve never heard the Monaco 2.0 so can’t comment on improvements. I’m ordering with the triplaner SE arm and using rca cables for phono rather than din based on dealer recommendations. He is using Cardas Clear beyond rca with a Cardas wood block to connect to arm in his showroom so I’ll probably do that as well. Delivery is supposedly 6-8 weeks
These are two very different tables where we're comparing mass and beltdrive (AMG) to directdrive (GPA). We're also looking at tables and cartridges on two very different levels. The Koetsu Blue Lace (top of the line) is one of the worlds greatest cartridges, where's the AMG Teatro (now discontinued) is approaching mid level at best in comparison.
A more fair comparison would have been the AMG Viella Forte vs GPS Monaco 3.0 using the same cartridge connected to the same system overall. Not easy, but certainly doable.
It's important to look at the hole picture when making comparisons like this.
/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se