Arm and Phono Stage advice

[montesquieu]

Best arm I had on this (very) deck was an Audio Note Arm 3, which beat all-comers by a clear margin. Pricey, though.

I would agree with these Audio Note arms, Arm3 (wired with AN-Vx) is superb, I used one on a Voyd with an AN Io, but pick of the bunch in terms of value for money with its AN-V silver litz internal and external cable is the Arm2. But even the Arm1 (copper litz) is a great performer and should outperform vintage arms like the 774 by quite a margin, without the risk/variability you get from old gear where if you end up with a clunker then it's not worth fixing. Recommendation for one of the Alphasons is a good spot, you can still pick up a Xenon for sensible money but again, always the risk (though perhaps more worth spending money on in my view).

M2-9R as recommended would be absolutely lovely but the prices have indeed got a bit silly.

All in all I reckon the Audio Note recomendation is the winner here. Rega geometry too so very easy to accommodate.

I would say though, pick an arm and think about arm board afterwards, various people will do them.

[Barry]

I would agree with these Audio Note arms, Arm3 (wired with AN-Vx) is superb, I used one on a Voyd with an AN Io, but pick of the bunch in terms of value for money with its AN-V silver litz internal and external cable is the Arm2. But even the Arm1 (copper litz) is a great performer and should outperform vintage arms like the 774 by quite a margin, without the risk/variability you get from old gear where if you end up with a clunker then it's not worth fixing. Recommendation for one of the Alphasons is a good spot, you can still pick up a Xenon for sensible money but again, always the risk (though perhaps more worth spending money on in my view).

M2-9R as recommended would be absolutely lovely but the prices have indeed got a bit silly.

All in all I reckon the Audio Note recomendation is the winner here. Rega geometry too so very easy to accommodate.

I would say though, pick an arm and think about arm board afterwards, various people will do them.

I would tend to agree with all of that.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, either the Audio Note arms or a chrome finish modern SME would look perfect mounted on that beautiful TD125 and plinth (I hate to say it but a Mission 774, for all its SQ attributes, just looks awful to my eyes) and provide a very good platform to carry any of today's cartridges.

It's a shame SME seem to be pricing themselves out of the market, though no doubt there is a reason why they have increased their prices so dramatically.

[chipcalzada]

If you have the budget spring for the Audiomods Series 6. Very happy with mine.

[Doctor Fuse]

OP, I'm curious what you ended up putting on your 125?
I recently put a Grace G707 on a beat up old Mission 775LC, and it sounds so good, I want to try putting it on my TD160. Except I'm not crazy about having to grind some of the subplatter away, which is apparently necessary for mounting a Rega RB300 (which I am also considering cannibalizing from a Planar 3 that just can't keep steady speed).

If you have mounted an arm, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.