[earwicker7]

God, I hate myself for even going here... I'm a longtime audiophile, new headphone junkie. Finding out that you can get killer headphone setups for 20% of the cost of a regular stereo setup has kind of sent me off on a spending spree. I swore up and down "No more!" but I keep reading over and over how much more enjoyment you'll get out of vinyl, so I'm THINKING about maybe adding vinyl to my setup.

If I were to work on a $5,000 budget, could I get audiophile grade equipment? This would need to cover EVERYTHING... my amp (Ray Samuels B-52) doesn't have a phono stage.

 

[Todd]

Hi earwicker7,

Give me a call toll free and we can discuss your options. For 5K you can get a very good turntable/cartridge/phono stage setup. 866-444-3910. I will be in the shop Thursday and Friday!

Todd

 

[earwicker7]

I'll try giving you a call on Friday, it's my day off.

 

[tbonner1]

I have been a longtime audiophile who gave up on headphones, but have found music again with the new tube headphone amps.

Todd will steer you right and give you honest prices.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Haha, Todd to the rescue. Awesome.

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dept_of_Alchemy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Haha, Todd to the rescue. Awesome.

Yes, he totally set me up with a great system. Nice guy, very professional.

 

[bhjazz]

So what did you get? Th $5K budget should have net you a serious vinyl setup...

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhjazz /img/forum/go_quote.gif So what did you get? Th $5K budget should have net you a serious vinyl setup...

Well, I ended up with a VPI Scout, Shelter 501, and a Ray Samuels pre-amp. To be honest, I wasn't too happy with the Scout... not because of it sounding bad, but because the settings are, IMO, very sloppy. You can't change the azimuth without changing the tracking force, if you move the counterweight 0.1mm, it changes the tracking force by 10% (maybe an exaggeration), etc.

So... my budget ended up going a bit higher. Todd was very cool about giving me most of the money back on a trade in. The phono stage is here; it's the Ray Samuels XR-10B (I upgraded so that it could be balanced like everything else in my system), which right there pretty much equals my initial budget. The cartridge is also here, a Dynavector XX2. The table itself should be here soon; it's a SOTA Nova with a Dynavector DV507 Mk2 tonearm. I went with that tonearm because the settings have fine adjustments, which is very important to me as I'm using Wally Tools for alignment. They were the reason I got away from the Scout... like a fine set of cans, his tools reveal all of the faults of your system, which turned out to be many on the Scout.

The moral of the story... don't lowball your budget, go for the big stuff so you don't have to upgrade in the future. This new setup should be playing 30 years from now.

 

[bhjazz]

Thanks for the reply!

ear, this is excellent information for me. I am stashing away funds for a real TT setup, and really had my eyes on the Scout. I have a few cartridges in mind for it (one for purchase, a few already here), and changing the Azimuth would likely be required. Thank you for your honestly. I know the Scout is a fine 'table, but you've given me valueable insight into it's setup.

As for wallytools....good choice!

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhjazz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the reply! ear, this is excellent information for me. I am stashing away funds for a real TT setup, and really had my eyes on the Scout. I have a few cartridges in mind for it (one for purchase, a few already here), and changing the Azimuth would likely be required. Thank you for your honestly. I know the Scout is a fine 'table, but you've given me valueable insight into it's setup. As for wallytools....good choice!

Yeah, it turns out that azimuth is especially critical for the type of arm it uses (unipivot). You would think that VPI is aware of this as almost all vinyl fans are. To have such a critical parameter not be able to be fine tuned without throwing off other parameters is inexcusable in my book.

 

[4N6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, it turns out that azimuth is especially critical for the type of arm it uses (unipivot). You would think that VPI is aware of this as almost all vinyl fans are. To have such a critical parameter not be able to be fine tuned without throwing off other parameters is inexcusable in my book.

I agree that the VPI tonearm ergonomics leave a lot to be desired. I own the Scout and the Aries 3 (Thanks, Todd!!!

) and admit that setting the azimuth and tracking force parameters of the tonearm are a pain in the arse. However, once dialed in, it does sound terrific!

BTW: Great choices for the turntable! You will love them!!!