I could not believe it


I was happy owner of pretty decent rig (Supratek+Clayton monoblock+AA Capitole as cdp). One pretty Sunday morning I came across garage sale, guy have 20 years old Fisher turntable for sale (cheap looking extremely dirty unused for 10+ years).
I would not normaly buy it, but for $2 what the heck. I bought it for fun. It took 30 minutes of cleaning, and I connected it to phono stage of Supratek Chenin. I had some LP's at home.
To my surprise it worked. To even bigger surprise it worked so good.
I compared Dire straits and Madonna LP’s with exactly the some albums on CD.
I could not decided which I prefer (CD or LP). I really could not!
Remember we are talking about $8700 cpd and maybe in good condition $30 worth cheesy turntable. It keeps me wonder how much better would sound decent turntable ?
Classical music from Deccca, Deutsche Gramophone, Columbia Masterworks actually scared me. Resolution (there is not congestion I hear on every classic CD) smoothness really scared me. It cannot be so! I could not believe what I heard. Why for goodness sake we have ever embraced CD format, for convenience maybe, not for quality for sure?
generally sound from CD on Capitole have more body, much better bass, dynamics on some audiophile CD’s.
BMG and other normal CD are in comparison to LP’s simply unlistenable.
Classic on CD’s is especially congested and its resolution is not even close to what I heard from LP’s on cheesy Fisher turntable.
There is one but though:
a lot of surface noise especially on older LP’s.

So , analog gurus I'm rookie at the subject but believer now, please give me advice about some decent turntable which besides resolution and lack of congestion would give me even soother and even more detailed presentation, huge dynamics, wide soundstage. And would be quiet without this awful surface noise.

What Turntable would you recommend for up to $3000 used.
I read that pretty good ones are
Nottingham Space Deck w/ space arm
vpi scoutmaster with jmw-9 arm.
How does those two compare, maybe different recommendation.

PS.
I heard on CES $30.000 turntables and they have been awesome, but I have never though that actually cheap turntable could sound that good and actually stand a chance to high-end CDP and on classic beat it in spades.
sorlowski
I had the same type experiance when I got back into analog this year.I bought a new VPI scout/JMW9/Grado Sonata cartridge.I used a cd that was out of the last cd's remastered by Jimmy Page,the box set that has one of every lp Zepplin did.It was easy to sync. the cd to to my $6,000.00 McIntosh MDA700/MCD751.I could tell no difference except a little better mids on the lp.There was less gain on the lp per the same volume setting but turning the preamps volume control solved that.I know the scout is a B grade TT,I bet a better TT would had made a huge diff,say one that cost as much as my cd setup.Lps are more of a hassle but worth it.Make sure you get a good record cleaner,they make a big improvement. Again welcome back to analog.
Yeah, I got my AA Capitole from a fellow who loved this Cd player but could not justify duplicating his entire vinyl collection for the ease of using CDs.

I don't want to bother with vinyl any more so I am happy with my Capitole. Still, I do 'hear' you.
Vinyl my ass.

My cousin says his Bose Wave Radio w/ CD player sounds like having an orchestra in his house. Sell all your vinyl and order your Bose today and find out what everyone's been raving about!
Dear Sorlowski : Acoustic Signature Final Tool even or beats any single TT named here and the Mambo is a stellar one: www.acoustic-signature.com

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Dear Dan: That's your cousin, but you? What is your own vinyl experience? wicth which latest analog rig? which are your music sound reproduction priorities and the kind of music you like?

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.