Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

abanytime said:
Thanks MikeH. Great info. At this point, I’m expecting to only run Roon from a homebrew NUC into the DAC. So the filter issue would be similar for me.
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the filter thing isn't that big an issue to be honest. i did it once, sorted out which i liked and have just left it on that ever since. i have rooncore installed on a NUC as well.
 
David A. said:
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to arrive for a few more weeks but it really panned out well. Dave offering me a discounted Ortofon 2m black really was a classy touch.

I kind of want an AR Turntable too. Maybe if we get a second home someday?
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yea. he's awesome. he offered me a discounted table he made that a customer returned because they bought it and barely used it after having kids. i almost went for it but it wasn't quite the wood plinth or style I wanted or anything so passed. if i had the money i would have gotten both haha
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Wow! A tremendous photo to boot, but that is an absolute stunner! Congrats. Is it a Rega arm on there?
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Rega indeed. I was thinking of going with that Soriane with the swappable headshell but my
Initial budget of $1500 definitely ballooned past $2k and I couldn’t justify. Maybe in a year Dave can service it and upgrade if possible?

I’d love a dedicated mono cart
 
So I have my eye on a Thorens TD160 that I might be able to get for a really good price. I'm waiting to hear back from the owner who said he'd give me a big deal on it if his other possible buyer falls through.

Anyway, question is, I've seen a few folks on here say the tonearm is the weak link on it. Is it possible to upgrade that myself?
 
Hemotep said:
So I have my eye on a Thorens TD160 that I might be able to get for a really good price. I'm waiting to hear back from the owner who said he'd give me a big deal on it if his other possible buyer falls through.

Anyway, question is, I've seen a few folks on here say the tonearm is the weak link on it. Is it possible to upgrade that myself?
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i guess depends on how much you know about replacing tonearms? i'd be scared to since it needs to be pretty precisely aligned. Dave at Vinyl Nirvana could surely help you out but I think he's in New Hampshire and cost of shipping it back and forth (plus making sure you pack it nicely) could be tricky.
 
Hemotep said:
So I have my eye on a Thorens TD160 that I might be able to get for a really good price. I'm waiting to hear back from the owner who said he'd give me a big deal on it if his other possible buyer falls through.

Anyway, question is, I've seen a few folks on here say the tonearm is the weak link on it. Is it possible to upgrade that myself?
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Doubtful. Looking at @David A. ’s new acquisition, it looks like Vinyl Nirvana installs a new arm mount for correct pivot to spindle distance. Because the new mount makes the arm sit higher, he installs a fairly thick spacer between the arm and cartridge for correct VTA.
 
HiFi Guy said:
Doubtful. Looking at @David A. ’s new acquisition, it looks like Vinyl Nirvana installs a new arm mount for correct pivot to spindle distance. Because the new mount makes the arm sit higher, he installs a fairly thick spacer between the arm and cartridge for correct VTA.
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That was what I assumed, but figured it would be worth asking. Do you still think it's a deck worth getting even with the stock tonearm?
 
MikeH said:
would it be replacing what you have now? or using as a secondary turntable? also obviously depends on the price.
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Probably as a secondary table. He said he'd probably part with it for $350. Seemed like a steal since it looks to be in excellent shape and he's very old and is getting rid of all his vinyl (including four turntables, but this is the only one I'm interested in...).
 
Hemotep said:
Probably as a secondary table. He said he'd probably part with it for $350. Seemed like a steal since it looks to be in excellent shape and he's very old and is getting rid of all his vinyl (including four turntables, but this is the only one I'm interested in...).
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I bought my NAD integrated amp off him from Craigslist and we've stayed in touch over email because he's a big reel to reel enthusiast and his hobby is repairing them. He doesn't sell them, just has a basement full of them. But he told me his wife is getting him to thin things out since he's in his late 70s. I'm hoping he'll let me look through his vinyl collection because I suspect he's got some goodies in there. His reel to reel collection is insane.
 
Hemotep said:
So I have my eye on a Thorens TD160 that I might be able to get for a really good price. I'm waiting to hear back from the owner who said he'd give me a big deal on it if his other possible buyer falls through.

Anyway, question is, I've seen a few folks on here say the tonearm is the weak link on it. Is it possible to upgrade that myself?
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To be honest, at the price you've stated, if it's in good shape (and I'm guessing it is given that the guy has the skills required to keep it that way), I wouldn't get too hung up on the arm. I suspect the turntable will have a lot of joy to provide you just as it is, and you can always consider an upgrade down the road if you decide you want to go that route.
 
Russ I said:
To be honest, at the price you've stated, if it's in good shape (and I'm guessing it is given that the guy has the skills required to keep it that way), I wouldn't get too hung up on the arm. I suspect the turntable will have a lot of joy to provide you just as it is, and you can always consider an upgrade down the road if you decide you want to go that route.
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Totally agree. I remember saying on the Fluance FB group once that I thought the arm was the weak point in the table and that very quickly got translated into, "the arm is bad." As always, use ya ears!
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Totally agree. I remember saying on the Fluance FB group once that I thought the arm was the weak point in the table and that very quickly got translated into, "the arm is bad." As always, use ya ears!
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Oh god yeah. Don’t ever say anything but sycophantic praise on a product FB page if you want an easy life!
 
abanytime said:
Thanks for this! Really appreciate the info. I was thinking I might try the onboard phono stage as a “bridge” until I decide which outboard one I want.

Thanks again for weighing in - helps quite a bit.

Now I need the Denafrips owners to stop by…and anyone else who cares to comment.
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Just following up:

I’ve got a new cartridge incoming that’ll arrive tomorrow so I figured I’d change the gain in my phono stage tonight. I have to up the gain as the new cartridge is 1 mV output.

I’ve got the house to myself, so I still wanted to listen to music. So I pressed the C165BEE’s internal phono stage into service. It’s a built in, so I didn’t expect much.

Capacitance isn’t an issue, as I’m running a Grado. Does it sound as good as my outboard? No. Not even close, nor did I expect it to. But you know what? It still sounds pretty damn good and way better than I expected from a built in.

Lots may be happy with it and may not feel a need to upgrade. I’m enjoying myself far more than I expected.
 
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