$1500 TT - Narrowing the choices.

My vote for the best bang for the buck would be the Music Hall 7.1 with the Ortofon Mojo cart. With the decoupled motor and dual plinth design - it is super quiet. Cover included. Nice arm also. The Mojo is a re labeled OM40 cart, sorta' between the Bronze and Black new models. I got it here for $1270, sorta' like getting the cart for free, and Galen was very helpful, before and after the sale. Best of luck with your search!!!

https://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store/showProduct.cgi?id=53

 

I'd look for a good quality $800 table and then put $700 in a cart.

You can find Music Hall Ikura's new on eBay for $800 if you keep searching. You could also go used VPI (and that's probably what I'd do). Another option and I don't care who argues because I've done heads up comparing, vintage. I feel strongly that a Pioneer PL 530, 550 or 570 would sound every single bit as good as a RP6 or the like. My Roksan Radius 5.2 sounds different but not better than my Pioneer PL 530. I've tried many many side by side comparisons with dozens of tables and cart swaps. I didn't think an RP9 sounded better than my PL530 and we tried a goldring 1042, ortofon 2m blue and even a dynavector 10 x 5. All there were, were trade offs and compromises.

Up to you. But I would not rule out "in good condition" vintage.

 

I was in your shoes more or less in December, similar budget and wanting to get a dedicated mono table.

I sort of narrowed my choices down to:
Avid Ingenium w/ 9” Pro-Ject arm
Well Tempered Labs Simplex
Good reason or not, I wanted something everybody didn't have... I'm sure Rega and VPI are swell, but I wanted something else.

I ultimately went with the Avid and put on an Ortofon Quintet Mono, absolutely love it. I figure I benefit a bit from their tech on the entry level table with the bearing for sure. The pitch is dead on (I built a hall-sensor tachometer to monitor it). I only wish I could have ponied up for the 2-arm unit. Maybe someday...

I also have a vintage Dual 721, Pro-Ject RPM, and a Sota Sapphire w/ ET-2, so need to thin the herd a bit before I look at a 2-arm unit.

 

At this price point there is certainly no lack of options. Thanks everyone to all the suggestions.

I've found a couple very nice used/demo deals that are within my budget that I'm pondering.

1) VPI Scout Jr. w/ Ortofon 2M black - about 4 months old and lightly used

2) Rega RP6 w/Elys Demo unit with full warranty

They are both in my budget. The Rega is about $200 more.

 

If you can hold out, I can guarantee you'll find a used VPI with the unipivot arm in your price range, and all the research I did when I was making this decision lead me to believe that the unipivot arm was worth waiting for. Not that the Scout Jr's gimballed arm isn't good, but the unipivot arm is... well, it's VPI's speciality. If you're going for a used Scout Jr., I'd just go for a used Traveler (v. 2 or v. 3,) and save another couple hundred.

 

I'd jump on the VPI. The cart alone is worth $500

 

Marantz TT-15S1 (there's an exellent cart included) is the best deal. Just the arm and the cart costs much more than USD 1500. It's made by Clearaudio for Marantz, but the cost is twice cheaper, compared to the Clearaudio model in the same range (it's above the Concept, it's closer to the Emotion, but it's even better. The best deal for a turntable at the moment, IMO.

 

Music Hall Ikura and money left over for a lps or a new inexpensive phono stage.

 

I would totally avoid any VPI table. Go with a Pro-ject table or Rega RP6 or higher.

 

Put me in the Marantz camp as well. I think the TT15 is the best deal going right now. Of course the White could be a put off and I won't be buying one as long as it's white, but theres no questioning the value.

I-ve ditched my Scout and my RP3 in favor of a slightly upgraded 1200 and I am happier overall. Not saying it's better, just that I prefer it.

 

The Marantz looks like a very cool deck, and I don't mind white at all.

But..

I have read a number of complaints about this turntable on another message forum, and they all seem to center around the tonearm.

The anti skating design seems bad. Either the screw does nothing, or it has to be backed almost to the point of falling for the table to sound normal.
The arm wants to swing to the right when lowering the arm with the lift cue. Probably due to the anti skate issue.
The ground wire connector to the tonearm sounds like a bad design. People had problems getting the wire to stay connected to the tonearm.

Then people on other sites rave about the quality of the tonearm. I wonder if this is due to the amount of assembly required to get the Marantz up and running? It definitely doesn't sound plug and play. It's not a big deal though. I've had my RP1 stripped down to the plinth.

 

The Marantz are not selling very well either.

 

rubbish as they say....

 

Total rubbish.

 

Rega RP6 but with the Exact. I love mine but then again I also have a RP1 "performance" that was gone over by my Rega dealer and its a great playing TT as well. Both my Rega decks are stock (with the white drive belt). Rega is as close to plug and play as you can get especially using Rega three point Cartridges.

 

$1500 is IMHO a bit of a bad spot for a turntable budget...because I don't think that what's in that price range is sufficiently better than a Rega P3 to be worth putting budget towards. The $500 extra over a P3 would be better spent on cartridge or phono stage most of the time.

That said - there are a lot of good tables in the ~$3K range that sell used in the $1500 range. VPI Scoutmaster/Aries or JA Michel Gyro (with Rega tonearm) come to mind. That's the route I would take in this price range.

 

Hmm, strange. Few months ago I grabbed one (it was a deal I wasn't able to pass, the whole thing was just a small fraction more expensive than the cart itself), and didn't expirience any of the problem mentioned. The quality of all parts is so perfect, so I can't imagine such problems... Perhaps either there are some batch of defective arms (but if that's the case, of course you'll get a replacement), or for some people the assembling is difficult (for me was more fun than difficult, and I'm far from an engineer, or very expirienced in this field). The only slightly annoing thing (but easily correctable, or you can just used to it after few spins) is that when you push the power button (placed in a not very user-friendly spot on the detached motor, so everythime you push it, you risk to move the motor slightly, so it touches the plinth and if it's stay this way, it can give some vibrations. But this is only if you are totally careless.

To me this table is a perfect example how the belt drive technology have to be done - it's very simple, the platter/bearing part is so perfectly done, that if you just spin the platter by finger (without motor on), it can rotate for ages with more or less constant speed, and it's so well balances, that you can't even tell if it's rotating ot not, if you don't put some record or other sign on it. The AC motor and the belt are here just to gently support the already so cleverly balanced rotating platter, and to keep the speed accurate, without any unnessesary force.

 

+1 for VPI.

I recently switched out my Technics 1200 with a used Traveler. Attached my Grado Reference Sonata, and I'm a happy camper. This thing sings.

Nothing against the Technics; I was just ready for something different, and the Traveler delivers.

 

Have you called George Merrill yet? ☺
You just might find what you're looking for.
Have a look.....
http://www.hifigem.com/polytable.html

 

I owned a VPI Scout and an RP3. I know a lot of people love VPI and they certainly produce high quality products, but I ended up selling the Scout and keeping the RP3.

I just felt the ease of use was much better for me on the RP3. Comparing sound quality between them using the same cartridge revealed subtle differences with each table having different strengths, but I didn't feel either was head and shoulders above the other overall.

For me the RP3 was a better fit, but I can certainly appreciate why so many people are fans of VPI.

 

I've had the Marantz TT15s for two years, so I'll weigh in here. Been using it with the stock Clearaudio cart.

PROS
Makes shabby pressings (like pretty much every record from Lost Highway (think Ryan Adams), or the Capitol Reissue of At Fillmore East) sound REALLY good.
Table looks damn nice
Overall soundstage/performance on good pressings and new vinyl I'd give a B+

CONS
Still find some IGD and sibilance - nothing too distracting, but it is there now and then.
The motor does kind of "pause" for me now and then...I'll switch it, and get nothing, then move it and it starts. I have read some reports of the motor failing on people. Never noticed any speed issues though.
Assembly is a little complicated, not exactly plug and play or for a newbie really.

I do see that it's been discounted now to $1195 some places, so it must not be selling well. I've enjoyed mine, and don't regret the purchase at all, but I may experiment with a new cart soon.

 

http://vinylnirvana.com/vintage-turntables-for-sale/