For what it’s worth, I have a vintage Marantz 6300 which was one of the better TT’s offered in the mid 70’s. I always thought it was the cats ass with my Audio Technica AT15ss mm which was the best money could buy back then. I installed a NOS AT15ss stylus I found and it elevated things to a new level I had long forgotten.
Fast forward; I decided that I wanted to get a center piece of eye candy for the living room and started my search for a high end belt drive TT. After a lot of reading and chatting with some guys who know their stuff, I found a used, but in mint condition, VPI Ares3 TT with out a tonearm and it had the high end optional super platter. I got it for a great price and then found a used SME Series IV magnesium tonearm. I have the equipment to do the machine work to make up the arm-board and I spent two days of work precisely machining the parts to mount the SME to the Ares3. Plus I made up some custom modified rubber medium durometer isolation feet for supporting this 75 pound monster which do a 100 percent job of isolation of all feedback at any SPL I play at. I transferred the Audio Technica AT15ss from the Marantz to the Ares3 and after some work with set up, I put it into service. I didn’t expect there to be too much difference in what the performance was between the Marantz and Ares3, it was more about the fabulous sexy look for me.
When I put on some well played vinyl I was very familiar with, I was blown away. It was like I entered into some new world; hearing things I had not even known were in the recordings.... dynamic range, soundstage, detail, bass/mid/upper ranges all were just spectacular. I honestly never expected what I was hearing. So the bottom line is, I no longer listen to any digital recordings; they cannot come close to the performance of vinyl when using the right machinery for extracting the recordings.
Spend more money than you wanted to, you will not be sorry. Save money on buying some newer MC cartridges which can be very expensive. Try to find as new condition you can find in the Vintage Audio Technica AT15ss/AT20ss if you can find it, you will not easily surpass the performance of this Beryllium Cantiver/super Shibata diamond cartridge. Try to find a super platter on an older VPI, you’ll be very pleased. Skip the SME Series V, its not much different than the Series IV and save the money; but its arguably one of the finest tonearms made.
To put this into perspective; we are not comparing this to a $1200 Technics; this set up is a $9000 installation, which I have about $3200 into as I bought all the parts and put it together myself. Trust me, a $9K TT will blow the doors off of any Digital recordings, you cannot compare or for that matter any $1500 TT.... and don't listen to anyone who says its all to finicky to put together, its just requiring a little patience to align the cartridge and measure things, its no big deal. But it's worth the effort.
Fast forward; I decided that I wanted to get a center piece of eye candy for the living room and started my search for a high end belt drive TT. After a lot of reading and chatting with some guys who know their stuff, I found a used, but in mint condition, VPI Ares3 TT with out a tonearm and it had the high end optional super platter. I got it for a great price and then found a used SME Series IV magnesium tonearm. I have the equipment to do the machine work to make up the arm-board and I spent two days of work precisely machining the parts to mount the SME to the Ares3. Plus I made up some custom modified rubber medium durometer isolation feet for supporting this 75 pound monster which do a 100 percent job of isolation of all feedback at any SPL I play at. I transferred the Audio Technica AT15ss from the Marantz to the Ares3 and after some work with set up, I put it into service. I didn’t expect there to be too much difference in what the performance was between the Marantz and Ares3, it was more about the fabulous sexy look for me.
When I put on some well played vinyl I was very familiar with, I was blown away. It was like I entered into some new world; hearing things I had not even known were in the recordings.... dynamic range, soundstage, detail, bass/mid/upper ranges all were just spectacular. I honestly never expected what I was hearing. So the bottom line is, I no longer listen to any digital recordings; they cannot come close to the performance of vinyl when using the right machinery for extracting the recordings.
Spend more money than you wanted to, you will not be sorry. Save money on buying some newer MC cartridges which can be very expensive. Try to find as new condition you can find in the Vintage Audio Technica AT15ss/AT20ss if you can find it, you will not easily surpass the performance of this Beryllium Cantiver/super Shibata diamond cartridge. Try to find a super platter on an older VPI, you’ll be very pleased. Skip the SME Series V, its not much different than the Series IV and save the money; but its arguably one of the finest tonearms made.
To put this into perspective; we are not comparing this to a $1200 Technics; this set up is a $9000 installation, which I have about $3200 into as I bought all the parts and put it together myself. Trust me, a $9K TT will blow the doors off of any Digital recordings, you cannot compare or for that matter any $1500 TT.... and don't listen to anyone who says its all to finicky to put together, its just requiring a little patience to align the cartridge and measure things, its no big deal. But it's worth the effort.