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Upgrade: Turntable or Cartridge?

I currently own an early generation of the Clearaudio Emotion turntable (no CMB, spiked feet, aluminum Satisfy tonearm). My cartridge is a Grado Sonata1 (new version) Reference (High Output). I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade the turntable or the cartridge, and between the two, which would provide the greatest benefit. My phono stage is the PS Audio GCPH, which I've found to perform pretty darn well, and don't think I need to upgrade that at the moment.

I do feel that the Emotion turntable could still handle a cart a good deal more expensive than the Sonata1. To my ears, the table is extremely quiet, with fairly decent speed stability. There are a few convenience things that are annoying, such as the decoupled motor which always ends up sitting against the table and needs to be moved. The location of the switch to turn the power on, and also the exposed belt can get annoying. However, I'm still willing to live with those things if upgrading the cartridge will provide much benefit. In the end, I'm in this for the sound, not the convenience, otherwise I wouldn't have a turntable.

For cartridges, I was considering quite a range: Shelter 501 Mk II, Benz Ace or Glider, Clearaudio Concept MC, Ortofon 2M Black, Dynavector 20X2 or Karat, etc. I'd like to try out a decent MC for once, if I do choose to upgrade the cart. I've had trouble getting rid of inner grove distortion with the Sonata1 and Satisfy tonearm, even after very careful alignment. Maybe they aren't a perfect match?

Any ideas here?

Thanks
jwglista
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Jwglista,

If the motor is moving because of a side-mounted on/off switch, which I agree is a poor design choice, try holding the motor down firmly with one hand while operating the switch with the other. Simple fixes for simple problems. :-)

If the motor *still* ends up touching the plinth despite this extra care, odds are the belt tension is pulling it there. A fix might involve any or all of:
- a less slippery surface beneath the motor feet
- less slippery motor feet
- lower tension on the belt
Each of these is likely to have audible effects too, but you must do something to prevent motor vibrations from transferring directly to the plinth and thence into the tonearm and cartridge. That's a guarantee of sonic mud and an excessively high sound floor.

As Manitunc stated, few if any vinyl rigs are set-and-forget devices. Their "convenience" resides mostly in a ready response to incessant tweaking!

Good luck and keep at it!
sballs
23 posts
 
Jwglista

Congrats on the new cartridge. I'm using a karat with the Emotion TT with really nice results. One suggestion, consider the CMB upgrade for the Emotion. For far less than a new table, I found it to be a big jump in perofrmance.

sballs
lewm
6,770 posts
 
To add a smidgeon to what Doug said, if the motor is however imperceptibly moving toward the platter during play, the speed of the turntable cannot remain constant. Another remedy: double-sided tape to immobilize the motor feet, and if that does not work - duct tape. At all costs, you need to immobilize the motor. Once that is done, check the speed with a reliable device. The best bang for the buck in that department is the KAB strobe. Calibrate speed if possible and you are done, so far as the particular other limitations of your tt will allow.
hcalland
38 posts
 
I had a Benz Gilder with the Emotion. One of the first tables I owned. The Benz sounded good, but when I upgraded to the CMB and Mapleshade brass feet, what a difference in performance.

But honestly, this stuff is all system dependent. Every piece of the puzzle will make a difference, and there really are no shortcuts to a great sounding system.

One of my favorite saying is "it's the journey and discovery that counts in the end."

Enjoy

Herb
jwglista OP
205 posts
 
Dougdeacon: You are right, that is the best way to deal with the problem. In fact, that is what I normally do, but at times I get a bit lazy and try to turn it off with one hand. Sometimes I can get away with not moving the motor, other times I can't. Only way to be sure is the use both hands every time. A definite inconvenience, but oh well. Just to be clear, the motor is definitely not moving during playback. The only time it happens is when I move the motor myself while turning it on or off. However, putting something like a rubber mat or tape underneath may allow turning the motor off with one hand, and even further isolate vibrations coming from the motor.

Sballs: I too thought about the CMB upgrade. It looks like it currently sells for around $400. Would you say it's worth the cost? What types of improvements did you notice? I had been thinking of saving my pennies for a few months, then upgrading to a VPI Classic 1. I've read so many good things about it.

Lewm: Good ideas. I may try the duct tape, but as I said, the movement only really seems to happen from my own hand pushing it to the side while turning the motor on or off.

Hcalland: What types of improvements did you notice with the upgrades? My fear is that I could dump money into an old turntable that already can't sell for much, and that the money spent on those upgrades will get mostly lost during resale.

As for an update on the cartridge, I think it sounds fantastic so far. I probably have about 15 hours on it, so it still needs more break-in time, but man, what a step up in bass control, extension, impact, and dynamics over the Grado. This isn't to say that the Grado is a bad cart, it's just easy to hear how "romantic" it sounds compared to a more honest cart like the Dynavector. The Dyna has an extremely engaging sound, very lively, detailed, lots of inner detail, but never harsh or bright. It's strange to hear a presentation such as this, since often "lively" and "detailed" are accompanied by "bright" and "harsh" to even a small extent. It really has me wondering how much more sound I can extract out of the cartridge with a better turntable.
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