Transfiguration Phoenix

I agree. It is worth coming to a level of satisfaction that one is, well, satisfied with, where its not an issue of beating yourself up over spending while continuing to enjoy the hobby - a balance, as it were.

And hey, there were no bad choices on your list and now its time to enjoy a new cartridge and some good music! Congrats.

John...I think you made an excellent choice going with the Dyna XX2 Mk.2. I used to own the XV1-S, until for some reason,(which I was never certain of)its suspension seemed to have collapsed. I decided I did not again want to pay big dough for a cartridge. I wound up getting the Dyna XX2 Mk.2 new at a sizeable discount. To be honest, it comes amazingly close to the sound of the XV1-S, and for a helluva lot less money. I'm extremely pleased with it, and I'll wager you will be too. You don't have to spend "an arm and a leg" to get very satisfying reproduction. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks Tim and Jeff! That's weird about the suspension collapsing on the XV-1s, but I probably never owned my XV-1s long enough for the suspension to collapse. :)

My ZYX UNIverse died too, it took about 5 years, but the eventually the stylus wears and the suspension breaks down and you are left with a very light boat anchor.
I can't see myself ever playing up in that high ticket area again Jeff, especially with toys that wear out like cartridges.

I still remember how close the Airy 3 and 4D came to the performance of the UNIverse. You have to pay a LOT of money to move up just a wee bit. That's not just cartridges though, as I've downsized I've been quite pleasantly surprised at just how good a $20K rig can sound compared to a $100K rig. It's a LOT closer sonically than it is price wise. I'm sure a well assembled $5K system could push mine.

Cheers,
John

"You have to pay a LOT of money to move up just a wee bit. That's not just cartridges though..."

I've discovered this too, John. Not long ago I purchased two Acoustic Zen Tsunami Plus power cords for my amps. Mighty fine sound which I feel surpasses cords costing far more.

Now your wetting my lips for AZ Jeff. I have a pair of AZ Satori Shotgun speaker cables due in, hopefully next week. I actually received them already, but they were damaged on receipt. The seller was kind enough to take care of repairs, AZ has had them all week now. Hopefully I'll get them next week.