Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Russ I said:
There's a huge gap between what you have and what you can get at the price-range you've set. I was going to say you'd be hard-pressed to get in the door at Vinyl Nirvana with $1,500, but then took a look and I see he has two Thorens 160B MKII's on offer for $1,500. I don't know anyone who questions the quality of Dave's work, though it still might be worth your while to contact him and explain what you're after to see what he thinks about whether/how what he's offering could meet your needs. If vintage done right rings your bell, that's definitely worth a serious look.
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Cheers, I saw that he had those two and they definitely look great. I wasn’t sure how they’d compare to a Rega P3 or the Project Pro
 
Jonny77 said:
Cheers, I saw that he had those two and they definitely look great. I wasn’t sure how they’d compare to a Rega P3 or the Project Pro
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Having owned a Rega P3, it’s not really a good value for those living in the States. If you were on the UK, a completely different story.

Another possibility would be a Technics SL1200 Mk7 with a KAB tonearm damper. No hinged dust cover though which I didn’t like back when I had my Pioneer.

The other option is to call HiFi Heaven and see if they have an open box Technics 1200 or 1210GR. That should be in your price range and in my opinion your best move. Sometimes they’ll offer new in the box for only a bit more. If they do, pounce.

I’m not a fan of the original Thorens arm. Vinyl Nirvana’s offerings get interesting when they replace the factory arm with something better.
 
HiFi Guy said:
Having owned a Rega P3, it’s not really a good value for those living in the States. If you were on the UK, a completely different story.

Another possibility would be a Technics SL1200 Mk7 with a KAB tonearm damper. No hinged dust cover though which I didn’t like back when I had my Pioneer.

The other option is to call HiFi Heaven and see if they have an open box Technics 1200 or 1210GR. That should be in your price range and in my opinion your best move. Sometimes they’ll offer new in the box for only a bit more. If they do, pounce.

I’m not a fan of the original Thorens arm. Vinyl Nirvana’s offerings get interesting when they replace the factory arm with something better.
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HiFi Guy said:
Having owned a Rega P3, it’s not really a good value for those living in the States. If you were on the UK, a completely different story.

Another possibility would be a Technics SL1200 Mk7 with a KAB tonearm damper. No hinged dust cover though which I didn’t like back when I had my Pioneer.

The other option is to call HiFi Heaven and see if they have an open box Technics 1200 or 1210GR. That should be in your price range and in my opinion your best move. Sometimes they’ll offer new in the box for only a bit more. If they do, pounce.

I’m not a fan of the original Thorens arm. Vinyl Nirvana’s offerings get interesting when they replace the factory arm with something better.
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This is what I did. I bought the open box and they offered me a new one at a discount.
 
kvetcha said:
They do this a lot and I've never understood how they stay solvent.
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I have a theory, and it's not to bash them in any way because I've gotten quite a bit of gear from them and had no problems or complaints, from new to used and trade in values. That said, I think the Open Box listings can some times be false leaders, but again, if it sparks a call or discussion leading you to what you want at a better price than you anticipated, it's all good.
 
The price they offered is without cartridge so I’d have to figure that out. On their website the least expensive option with the open box was a Sound Smith Otello. Any advice?
 
Well, the NAD C165BEE is on close out. It looks like NAD is only going to offer preamps with built in DACs now. I can’t say enough good things about mine. So if you want a really good full featured preamp without a built in DAC, check it out. Twelve years in production is forever in audio. It would literally cost over $3k to get something that I feel would be a step up performance wise.

Likewise the C275BEE power amp. It’s their last old school Class AB amplifier. All future offerings will be Class D. I was going to buy a 275 when I was in the market but there were none to be had. I ended up with the C298 power amp instead. No regrets.
 
Jonny77 said:
The price they offered is without cartridge so I’d have to figure that out. On their website the least expensive option with the open box was a Sound Smith Otello. Any advice?
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Don’t get a cartridge from them. Get the A/T VM95ML from Amazon or wherever. $169. It’s got a Microline stylus which has the longest life and tracks like it’s on rails.

I think @zombie.modernist has this exact setup. Hopefully he will chime in.
 
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