Which one to upgrade: cart. or phono stage?

[topoxforddoc]

Can't really advise (which is of no use, I realise that) but as and when I upgrade my phono stage I'll be struggling to see past a Tron Convergence. Might be worth having a look at...

TRON Convergence is a great choice

[mikeyb]

Only buy what you can demo/try at home in your system.

Graham Slee, NVA and Ryan Labs are just three of many that will do loans. Had all three here and 'personally' I preferred the Ryan Labs.

I've also tried on home demo from local dealer a Trigon Vanguard II ( very good ), Whest 2.0 ( didn't like ).

I've owned Firebottle Vivant, Trilogy 907, TQ Claymore amp with built in phono, Trilogy not surprisingly was the best of that bunch, but then again it's megabucks and hard to find.

So you can see I've been through a few which should tell you that they're ALL different, and only you can decide which one you like.

Set a budget, if you can't demo or borrow to try at home then buy used and sell on at very little or no loss if you buy sensibly.

Phono stages are a minefield, good luck, you're gonna need it

[mac72]

As I mentioned earlier follow main rule not to make too many changes at once , transfer your Quintet cartridge to new tonearm check if works , spend some time trying to get best alignment then start thinking where to go next .

[Iceman16]

Just bought an ex demo Jelco 850s to replace the SA250.

[Lurch]

There maybe a Vida coming up for sale soonish, if the owner takes my Tron Seven Basic mm of me. (will loan him my MFA SUT for the time being)

[Iceman16]

Now time to upgrade the phono stage. Ordered the Bigbottle mk3 from Oli (Bigman80).

[Mikeandvan]

I'd love to play a trick on an audiophile, change their mega bucks phono stage over for a cheapy one and see if they notice.
I would absolutely agree that upgrades are often downgrades, or both. After all I've just 'upgraded' my amp/speakers and it sounds shit! With alot of music, but great with Jazz! To me spending over a few hundred quid on a stylus detracts from the pleasure of literally throwing a record on the TT when lightly pissed, and may'be the arm goes skidding back and forth, that hurts, but you know at a £100 a pop for a replacement styli for my MP200, its ok, saves faffing around sending a £2k + cart off for re bulidng only for it to sound meh.

[Pigmy Pony]

What would put me off buying a mega-bucks cartridge is calculating cost divided by lifespan to work out how much each record is costing to play

[Iceman16]

Bigbottle mk3 + psu arrived..

[Lurch]

How does it sound?