Arm, Cart and Phono Stage Advice please

[IanS1]

After years away from vinyl I dipped my toe back into the water last year and bought a Rega P3 with RB300 and Denon 110 used with a MF X-LPS. I am now in a very lucky position after getting a nice TT from one of my suppliers as a gift. The TT is an unknown quantity as only a handful have been built so far and all of them have been sold in the Far East.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5456228657_7932a5960a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/43493290@N06/5456228657/)

I'm now looking for a suitable arm, cart and stage but on the analog side I'm completely at a loss. I have a budget of around 5k for new or second hand but would be prepared to stretch that budget considerably if the gains were worth it.

My main aim for the vinyl set up is to acheive a nice natural flowing sound with as much tone/timbral detail as possible with my current system. I listen mostly to Female Vocal, Classical, Jazz, World Music performed with real instruments so would love to bring out the best in that.

My current research has led me to SME, Ortofon and possibly Morch and AudioOrigami PU7 arms. Anything else I should be considering?

Cartridge wise I'm looking at Ortofon, Audio Note. Anything else I should be considering?

For phono stages, I've been offered a demo unit of the TE Groove and will hopefully get a chance to listen to a mates CJ EV-1. Anything else to look out for?

Thanks for reading.

[chris@panteg]

Hi Ian

That's a serious looking deck ! And a rather nice gift , I'm not the best one to advise but ...
If i had the money i would be looking at an Audionote IO with a suitable arm , perhaps Guy or Pete can advise here , for a phono stage ' well it depends on what's left after the arm and cart but how about a Puresound P10 with the matching SUT .

[Mr Pig]

I've heard the Morch, it's nice, and of course you could get a PU7 made to match your turntable! ;0) Actually, the styling of the PU7 matches that turntable very well. You can could get the bearing caps in gold to match the gold disks on the turntable.

http://www.divineaudio.co.uk/images/uploads/products/Audio%20Origami/audio_origami_pu7_back.jpg

[Bazil]

OMG you lucky sod :)

[IanS1]

Thanks for your input so far folks.

Mr Pig, the PU7, based on looks alone is so far my choice but it's a lot of money to spend if I find I'm not keen on the sound. Any ideas if the PU7 will help towards what I'm looking for sound wise?

Chris, the AN IO is defintely on my list to research more and I have been invited to go listen to one not too far from me so I'll definitely be taking up that offer.

Basil, very lucky indeed.

[Welder]

Erm well; very nice, but what about the Tom Evans kit?
That’s some serious modern amplification you’ve got there :eek:
Love to hear what the Groove and linear B’s sound like.

[John]

With a turntable of this quality I would also consider some of the air beaing arms, perhaps the Graham Phamton too, as for cartridge for me at this level the London Decca Reference would be top of my list or the Jubilee and perhaps get Lurcher to build you a phonostage it not I heard the Nighthawk a few times and consider it very good indeed probarly the best I heard so far
My best advice is hear a few top end players with different arms take your time and really find out what right for you, with this level of quality spend your time in getting it right

[Mr Pig]

Any ideas if the PU7 will help towards what I'm looking for sound wise?

No. I've only heard the arm twice and neither occasion was in a system I knew so I couldn't draw any sort of conclusions at all. Also, sound quality is such a personal thing, I have no idea what it is that you like or want. You may prefer a completely different thing to me.

From all that I have gleaned though the PU7 is a very good arm, I've heard of a lot of people moving to it from some pretty serious established arms. I know the guy who makes the PU7, he is an artist. It's a genuinely hand built arm and it's actually very cheap for the amount of work that goes into it.

You should give Johnnie at Audio Origami a call, he's a lovely bloke and I'm sure he'd be able to shed some light on the different arms. He's a real tone-arm expert. Of course he thinks his PU7 is pretty good but he's a very honest guy and he'll tell you if one of the other arms you're looking at might suit you better.

Spectacular turntable though eh? :0)

[audio39]

Arm - http://www.needledoctor.com/Dynavector-DV-507-Tonearm?sc=7&category=1104

Cartridge - http://www.needledoctor.com/Ortofon-MC-Windfeld?sc=7&category=969

Phono pre - http://hifigallery.info/luxman/e-06/ (I'm on a waiting list for one of these)

There, I've spent your money well....:eyebrows:

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Ian,
It looks like your suppliers, whoever they are, quite like you!
Would you mind telling us a bit more about the turntable?

Cheers

[Alex_UK]

Hi Ian,
It looks like your suppliers, whoever they are, quite like you!
Would you mind telling us a bit more about the turntable?

Cheers

+1 (And all I can say is I don't do what you're selling for your supplier, but it must be shed loads! They're not Columbians by any chance? ;))

[keiths]

I think one of my suppliers gave me a diary once...

[IanS1]

Hi Ian,
It looks like your suppliers, whoever they are, quite like you!
Would you mind telling us a bit more about the turntable?

Cheers

Not a lot to tell really but only because I don't really know a lot about it myself. I've never heard one playing so it is pretty much an unknown at the moment. Once I get it up and running though you can be sure I'll let you all know how it sounds.

[IanS1]

One thing that might be of interest is the TT uses a magnetic bearing design, the platter is completely decoupled from the driving motor. This design apparently significantly reduces any TT induced noise into the audio signal.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Does it have a name, or did I miss that bit?

[markf]

It looks like a Transrotor, perhaps a far eastern version of a Transrotor!

[topoxforddoc]

Phono stages
TRON Seven, TEAD Groove, Sutherland PhD

Tonearms
Used Graham Phantom, Hadcock 242, Transfi Terminator, Used Audio Origami PU7

Cartridges
Decca (either a new one or a rebuilt C4E), ZYX 4D or Airy 3, Lyra Kleos or old stock Skala.

If it were me, i would go for a Decca Reference, Transfi Arm and TRON Seven Phon stage. That comes in pretty much bang on £5k new.

Charlie