Which TT would you choose? An Avid Diva II, Pro-Ject RPM 9.2 or a Michell Gyro SE?

Many thanks for the detailed post & pics Puma Cat.

Combined with the turntable, tonearm and cart, this will definitely blow my $4,000 budget out of the water. Hey, if you're feeling generous, feel free to donate!

 

For some additional reference information, Hi-Fi Choice did a comparison this year between the Funk Firm Vector 3 (w/ the Funk Firm FXR II arm), the Pro-ject Xperience 2, the Rega P7, the Scheu Analog, the Townshend Audio Rock7/Excalibur III and the Michell Gyro SE MkII/Michell Technoarm, and the Michell came out on top with a five star rating. It also won the HiFi Choice Winner 2011: Best Turntable over ₤1000 award. Check out the May 2011issue if you can find it for the review (available via Zinio).

 

You should be able to put a Michell, arm, and cart together for $4k, no problem. I'd go with a used SME 309, or Rega RB700.

 

Yeah, that should be no problem at all.

 

Just checked, and a new RB700 is $895. I'd go with that over a Technoarm. I've been reading about quality problems lately with aftermarket-modded Rega arms, so I'd go with an excellent stock arm. I have an RB700 my P5, and I can tell you for a fact, it is a fantastic arm, especially for $895. Also used SME's are a good bet.

 

It's a great table, glad I found a smokin' deal on a used one a few months ago!

 

I'll never give mine up...

Well, maybe for an SME 20, but that's about it...

 

I ended up getting a Gyro SE mkII with the Encounter arm PLUS the ORBE platter upgrade, clamp and never connected upgraded power supply for $2,500. These items would have cost me $5,000 if purchased new.

Looks and functions as if it were brand new - so I am happy!

 

Sweet! Man, that was a score. The Orbe platter and clamp upgrade and the never connected power supply are not cheap and are probably close to $2500 in of themselves.

The TT-PSU made such an improvement in my P5, I'm also thinking of getting the never connected power supply.

Not sure about the Orbe platter...I really like seeing the weights go around!

 

Running a Technoarm on my Orbe and a RB600 on my Gyro SE and having compared them on each deck I'd recommend the opposite, I'd choose the Technoarm over the RB700 any day, though I'd obviously choose an SME IV or V over both.

Other than the other thread I haven't heard of any problems with the Michell modded Rega, even Rega themselves don't say bad things about the Technoarm.

With regard to warranty, my Gyro SE is 10+ years old and my Orbe must be about 5 years old neither have had a single issue and when I've contacted Michell for upgrading the motor to DC or other things their service has been excellent, it's one of the reasons I'd say consider buying a used Gyro, or Orbe, you can get them up to current specs quite easily and unless they were owned by an idiot they should be working 100% perfectly.

 

I totally agree with you on the Orbe platter, I don't think I'll ever change my Gyro platter, the Orbe spindle and clamp are another matter though.

 

I've heard great things about the Orbe spindle and clamp...didn't you recommend that to me a while back? I think you did the mod and said it was quite an improvement.

 

Listening to Grant Green, Idle Moments, a Blue Note blue label on my Michell right now...



I love that Urushi Vermilion red color in the black arm...

 

Ooops, bad post!

 

The ORBE platter & clamp run $850 new and the HR power supply is $895 new. A new Gyro SE is $2,495 and an Origin Encounter is $1,750. That's almost $6,000...so a little more "new" than I had figured. Granted, mine is used and the Encounter is the MKII rather than the MKIII - but still it was a great deal (and I got it shipped for free as well!).

If you were local, I'd let you borrow mine.

I have the original platter and clamp (it came with the table). But I have not used them as it was already set-up for the ORBE and sounds fantastic!

 

Is this a "good" or "bad" matter?

 

The Rega P5 blowout sale has got to be one of the biggest steals ever...if only I had waited before purchasing my RP3...

 

Not me, but it is in a different league to the standard Gyro affair, it makes the normal clamp seem like a toy, I think it costs about £80 in the UK, so if you have the normal clamp to sell and recoup a little money I'd say it's worth doing for ease of use if not for sound quality as I'm not sure whether it makes much difference to performance.

The nice thing about the Gyro is that every time I've upgraded anything, AC to DC motor, HR power supply, RB250 to RB600 or even changing carts the improvement has been obvious, not one of those where you are trying to hear an improvement because you've just spent a lot of money, but something you can easily hear and if I hadn't seen an improvement I could always have gone back.

 

I just had a look on ebay.com to get an idea what you guys in the States pay for Michells and other than an Orbe/SME V there aren't any, what sort of price are they used and new?

 

There's a table only on Audiogon for $1,850.

 

The base price on the current specification Gyro SE MkII was $2500 when I bought mine in 2009. That's w/o the never connected supply, but with the DC motor. My guess is they are higher now, knowing the high-end market.

 

Still the same (at least at Needle Doctor), see my previous post...

 

That's not far off the UK retail, so I guess it's a good deal for the States assuming it is as described and unused, that would leave the OP just over $2,000 to get a Technoarm, HR power supply, Unicover and Orbe spindle clamp and if ebay prices are accurate leave $1-200 for a cartridge or more realistically forget the spindle and Unicover and put $500 into the cart. I kinda like spending other people's money.

 

Yes, much more fun it's not OUR bank accounts!

 

That's a great price, the deck is new, only the box has been opened.