Hi Suntzu - sorry, just saw your post tonight! My brother has a Nottingham table that he uses a Dynavector with, and he likes it. The Nottingham tables are very nice. The Thorens 124 was indeed what I was referring too, fantastic table. You might try the new Rega P10 - my brother has heard one and said it is fantastic.

I use Kimber 8PR speaker wire and Kimber Hero Interconnects. I have never been a huge believer in cables, either. The Kimber stuff was on sale when I got it, and I have never looked back. It does beat the Monster cable I used to use. Paul Klipsch famously said that you could use lamp cord with his speakers and they would still sound great, LOL! I definitely agree with Robert Harley where he says that the cost of your cables and interconnects should never be any more than 5% of the total system cost - I think mine is a little less than that figure.

learsfool June 13, 2014 03:13

Hi Suntzu - the main reason I have never "upgraded" is financial - can't afford to! I am a professional musician, LOL! I bought my system all at once when I had the money, with the idea that it would probably be a very long time before I could experiment much with it. I will be in the market for a new cartridge soon, though, as it is probably nearing time to retire the Exact 2 I have been using. I am thinking about going with a moving coil and a SUT. Many people seem to like Dynavectors, do you have any experience with them? What do you have on your Rega? Or do you not have a Rega right now?

The Regas do classical and jazz great. Certainly better than just about anything else anywhere near their price range, IMO. I would love to experiment with an old Thorens, though. A friend of mine has one I hope he is still saving for me to buy some day...

learsfool May 27, 2014 02:11

Thanks Suntzu! I am glad you are enjoying that set up! It's old school, for sure, but for me audio still has not bettered the combination of tubes and horn speakers, as long as we are talking about acoustically produced music. I'm still running the same set up myself.

learsfool May 23, 2014 23:08

Hi, sorry I just saw your post! The PrimaLuna is an integrated amp. It does have an optional phonostage, but I did not purchase one with that since I already had the Bellari.

learsfool March 24, 2010 05:31

Yeah, as far as cartridge break-in goes, I had heard 50 hours, and found that to be true. You should hear a definite improvement from how it sounds now over that time.

I would strongly recommend that you get a cleaning machine. The Nitty Gritty Record Doctor 3 is made by them specifically for Audio Advisor, and that is the cheapest price you are going to find for it. My brother just uses the one fluid (Nitty Gritty's own), but I did find that the AI 3-step cleaning yields considerably better results, especially on an old and dirty record. If you use fluids, by the way, you really do need to vacuum them off with a cleaning machine, I haven't heard of another really satisfactory way to do it that isn't a complete pain in the butt. Even most the guys that hand-wash their LP's usually put them on the machine afterwards. I only hand-wash mine if there is some stuff really stuck on there. You don't want to leave even tap water residue on the record.

If you don't want to do the machine and the fluids, then just get a really good dry brush, such as the Mobile Fidelity one. Also, dry brush the stylus after every side, no matter what else you do. I use the wet stylus cleaner at the end of every listening session, so it has plenty of time to dry. Doing just that much will make a big difference, but you would be very surprised at the much better results the machine and fluids provide. Regardless, enjoy the table!

learsfool August 18, 2009 22:27

Hi Ryder - I'm sure you will get alot of responses about how to clean your LP's. If you want to know what I use, I'd be happy to share that.

However, here is another take on the issue. Yes, there are sometimes hisses and crackles or pops on LP's, even after a good cleaning. This, however, is just surface noise, really, it is not a distortion of the music itself. Digital processing of recordings removes some of the harmonics quite often, resulting in a much more sterile, sometimes lifeless sound. Clean, yes, but often with the soul gone with it. There is more distortion in analog reproduction, but it is generally at much lower frequencies than the digital distortions are, and therefore much less musically objectionable.

With your P5, you have a good enough table to rival a much more expensive digital set-up. Analog offers much wider dynamic range, and much better fidelity to the timbre (natural color and sound) of acoustic instruments. If you only listen to electronic music, then you won't care about this as much. Another thing that I care about quite a bit as a professional orchestral musician is a reasonably accurate reproduction of the soundstage, which analog also does a much better job on than digital. So if you listen to alot of classical or jazz, you should notice quite a bit of difference for the better in these areas. Imaging is another one - the ability to locate exactly where each member of a jazz combo is on the stage, for instance.

Like I said, if you only listen to rock or other types of mostly electronic music, then perhaps you won't care about some of these issues as much. But I think you will hear these positive differences, and the much closer fidelity to what live music actually sounds like is more than worth a few occasional extraneous noises, IMO. Enjoy your table, I think you will be very happy with it!

learsfool August 18, 2009 02:49

Hi Ryder - I have not actually ever owned a P3-24, no. I had a P2 in my system that I borrowed from a friend before I bought my P5. I only quite recently heard the P3-24 for the first time at my dealer's. I have had some exchanges about the differences between it and the P5 with Adam18 on this site, that may have been what you read. He went with the P3-24. The main difference between the two tables is that the P5 has quite a bit better arm - the RB700 as opposed to the 300. This is where most of the extra cost comes in, and IMO is worth it - better tracking gives you better sound. There is also better material in the plinth on the P5, which has a slight effect as well. I have always used the TT-PSU with my P5, so I would suggest that you stick with that, no need to give that up. The same one will work on both tables, unless I am mistaken. Rega is really pushing the new table right now, so alot of dealers will tell you there isn't much of a difference. To me, though, the difference in the arm is a big one, but both are great tables for the money. Both Adam and I went with Rega's Exact 2 cartridge, by the way, though you could of course keep whatever one you are using now. Hope this is helpful. Let me know what you decide to do!

learsfool August 16, 2009 19:29

Hi Shadorne - no pics of my system, actually. I may do that one of these days, who knows. I listen mostly to classical and some jazz. I haven't really even begun to explore the possibilities of the amp yet, as far as tube rolling, etc. I am still in the process of listening through all my collection of LPs even once, so I am trying to reserve judgement on what labels sound best. I only get to do serious listening maybe a couple of times in a week, three if I am lucky. Too busy performing it myself! :)

learsfool March 12, 2009 04:46