KAB 1200 vs. everything else.


A few weeks back I asked Kevin of KAB USA what price level a fully modded 1200 competes with, and he thought somewhere in the 4500-5000 dollar price range. His reasoning was that the business concentrates on romantic reproduction rather than technical reproduction. It sounded plausible, but I am pretty new to analog playback. What do you think of this claim--Cheers
jmoog08
12-26-08: Piedpiper
Of course the Dyna will better the AT. The question is whether the $ spent on
the Dyna would have been "better" spent on a better table. The
answer to that "theoretical" question is
yes.

Fair enough. This question will be valuable to everyone reading this thread.

I spent $800 on the Dyna. The KAB Technics table cost me $1000 including
the mods.

For $1800 invested on a table/arm and cartridge, where would you
recommend the money would have been better spent?
Again, theory vs. reality. In your case, your choice was, as I already implied, perhaps a good one, but you could have spent the $800 on a better arm and used the cart you had with possibly better results.
12-26-08: Piedpiper
...you could have spent the $800 on a better arm and used the cart you had
with possibly better results.

You have changed your advice. Previously, you stated, "The question is
whether the $ spent on the Dyna would have been "better" spent
on a better table. The answer to that "theoretical" question is
yes."

Now, you state that I could have spent the $800 on a better *arm*.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, however I am trying to get you to be
consistent and specific, because specifics are helpful, but general
opinion/advice without specifics is not.

I spent a total of $1800 on table/arm/cart. What would you suggest would be
a better allocation of that money? Assume that I am not willing to tear apart
the KAB Technics and retrofit it with a different arm.

Please be specific. Thank you.
Perhaps a different phono preamp on par with your lamm line stage with current cart and a used gerrard tt should smoke your cd player on most recordings

My cd player playback design is great and better than previous emmlabs I owned but still my lenco with shelter 501mk2 and rega rb700 easily matches it or even surpassed it on many recordings
Sorry. sloppy me. The arm would be the weaker link IMHO. ...and IMHO the Heed
phono stage ain't that bad (but I'm a dealer for them), obviously not up to your
Lamm but neither is the table/arm. I thought I made it clear that for that money
you did arguably well in your choices however theory might conflict with
practice. Since I haven't compared the KAB version I have little to say to conflict
with your choices if you don't want to retro fit another arm. My comments have
been to lend perspective to the conversation rather than to criticize your
choices.