Cartridge or cable upgrade

A good SUT may cost more than your turntable. I would get a MM or HOMC cartridge for now.

http://www.bobsdevices.com

Not sure where you want to go with your last question Zd542. This thread has nothing to do with MC vs MM carts. My two cents, I lived very happily with a DV10x5 for a few years. However, the Virtuoso Wood was a revelation to my ears. Lyra Delos is now my reference cart.

Back to Simao's thread and the question remains:

Should I upgrade the cable or the cart first?

My answer still remains the same - a better MM cart like the Virtuoso Wood will bring new life to his system. More so than a better cable.

Respectfully disagree. I don't think that, given the architecture of the existing system, a Dynavector 10X5, or even a 20XL, will be a subjectively large improvment. The turntable is the limiting factor here and is sonically unbalanced with the rest of the system.

Additionally, the improvements from a new turntable are sonically very different than the improvments from a cartridge upgrade, both in terms of quality and of degree.

IMHO, save your money for the inevitable turntable upgrade in the future. Another reason for this is that the cartridge should be matched to the tonearm. And if you do end up upgrading the table, the cartridge that you select now may not be optimally matched to the new arm. Turntable first, cartridge second, cables third.

As always, YMMV.

"Respectfully disagree. I don't think that, given the architecture of the existing system, a Dynavector 10X5, or even a 20XL, will be a subjectively large improvment. The turntable is the limiting factor here and is sonically unbalanced with the rest of the system."

What do you mean by sonically unbalanced? I have both of those cartridges and going from the 10x5 to the low output version of the 20 is a pretty big difference. I'm not using really expensive equipment either.

Thank you all for the myriad avenues of advice and direction!

Now, let's assume that a new tt is out of the picture for now insofar as I'm guessing I would have to spend ~$1500 or so for a decent upgrade. And assume I have a few other bills I'm paying off before I go full throttle into the tt route.

So, with that in mind, and knowing that, like almost all of us, I'm more or less happy with the sound but "know" it could be better, just like the greener grass on the other side of my fence, should I

a. stay put and enjoy the music

b. try some sets of different cables - BlueJeans, Morrow, AudioQuest, maybe even Mapleshade - to see what happens (I'd recommend Clear Day, but Paul doesn't make shielded phono cables)

c. Invest in a 10X5 or a Grado Sonata 1 and, if I can't tell a difference, sell it.

d. stay put and enjoy the music