Comparison of $700 turntable and $8,000 turntable. As you would expect.

Sounds reasonable to me. I only wish I could have been along for the ride.

 

I'd like to hear a 6 grand cart on a 700 dollar table, just for curiosity sake.

 

I'd be willing to bet (as though it could be quantified!) swapping carts would deliver better than half the difference you heard.

 

could a 6k cart be less suitable than a $500 cart on a Music Hall? I guess it's not the money, but the compatibility.

 

So, is the question "Is it the table, or is it the cart?"? Or, is it both?

As for handling that $6k cart. i'd be so nervous i'd probably drop it!

 

It's also money - I mean, does it make sense to put a $6k cart and/or arm on a $500 table? To some, maybe. Look at the aftermarket modding community. I just don't see the value ratio in this case.

There's good equipment at all ends of the spectrum.

 

I don't know. I use a cart with a suggested retail cost of about $500 on a $500 Music Hall Table.

 

Big difference in test because different cartridges. Yes, there are differences in compatibilities, but best should be using similar cartridges and arms.

 

Well, it's not a matter of always being best, it's being curious as to what the 6k cart would sound like on a like-table more of us probably have and can afford.

 

Steve, I believe the MSRP on the Mac is 8000$. Is the cart really 6000$? Even at 10K$ 60% of the package price for the cartridge sounds high.

I'm not surprised to hear you find the Mac to outshine the Music Hall; it should for about 10x the price.

Have you been able to compare the Mac to the Continuum? Once again an unfair comparison as one component costs about 10x as much as the other. This could be a great opportunity to test out the magnitude of diminishing returns.

 

Interesting...I didnt know it was based off a ClearAudio table.

- Sushimaster

 

Yeah, that's huge. It would super-level the playing field to put the same cart on each table. At least similar carts... I have no doubt that it would make a huge difference. It's like trying to decide whether you prefer the sockeye salmon over the chinook salmon when one of the sandwiches has wasabi dressing on it!
-Bill

 

Needledrops?

 

You know, I once had the chance to buy a Scully cutting lathe for $500, back in the late 1980s. I thought for about five seconds, "man, I could just put a phono cartridge on it, and it would be the world's greatest turntable!"

I wound up not getting it, only because I couldn't find a truck and enough people to load it and take it out, plus it would have been a 25-mile drive out to Newhall. I'm positive it weighed almost 1000 lbs. (and that was without the rack of tube amps and patch bays that came with it). From memory, I think the massive platter alone weighed over 100 pounds, and it took about :30 seconds to come up to speed. Once it did, it was absolutely rock-solid.

I'm still kicking myself! It wouldn't have looked nearly as cool as the Mac turntable, but you can't beat the price or the nostalgia factor.

There's gotta be 100 other cutting lathes sitting unused in various parts of the country. Hmmm... (rushing off to eBay)...

 

I kinda wish I hadn't read that line because my system is no where near 'spooky realistic'. More time and money is what I need!

Did the music hall deliver any of the realism the Mac did? Maybe just a shade of realism? I'm planning on adding a turntable soon, and my price range will probably be in the Music Hall range and way less than the Mac range...I should just give up... (Joking about the giving up part )

 

Real men would do it blind folded.

Steve, I'd be interested to hear your findings if you swapped the carts on both TTs.

I've read that much of the difference in sound can be attributed to the arm proportionally. I'm not knocking cart design AT ALL readers, but that what I read is that for money a cheaper cart on an expensive (read "well designed") arm will do more for you than an expensive cart on a cheaper (read "less well designed") arm. So while the cart undeniably does its stuff, the arm is the other half of the story. Precision mechanics and all that...

 

I think Bill's right. To really compare the two tables you got to use the same cartridge. I did this when I first got my Scoutmaster comparing it to my old Technics 1600mkll. I didn't want any second guessing about what I was hearing and why. And the biggest difference between the two? Signal to noise ratio. Better dynamics from the VPI table which allowed me to hear more from my cartridge (Not just the thump of a bass drum but background vocals and cymbals seemed clearer) than I'd ever heard before.

 

Good to hear!

Steve!

I’m just curious. What pressing this LP is? I assume, that you mean american pressing.
Are other pressings as good? Like the dutch?

Because I might buy it, if the dutch version is as good.

/JJ

 

How does it sound compared to this one, sans earthquakes?

 

I think the Cart is about 2k no?

 

I think that if you used identical cartridges on both turntables in this comparsion, the results would be much more meaningful. To me, there is still too many variables in this equation. Thanks for the heads up though

 

I think the test was as "real world" as it could get. I would think there is no middle ground for a cart that would do justice either to itself or the table - to fit on both turntables. Sure you could put a more expensive cart on the Music Hall, but why? Same answer for putting a cheaper cart on an expensive table; no one would do it in the normal course of things