Turntables

Nottingham Analogue - Spacedeck or Hyperspace depending on your budget. The SME 10 or 15 look good too.

When you say "mid price"  what ballpark are you looking at?  What would you like to pay and what's the max you can spend all-in (i.e. phono stage cartridge etc..)?

If you want mass-loaded rather than lightweight or suspended, then Project is the obvious answer. The 2Xperience SB DC (snappy name -) sounds great and comes bundled with Ortofon cartridge. You'll need a phono stage, e.g. Naim stageline into the SN2's powered output!

Dozey posted:

The SME 10 or 15 look good too.

Those are mid-price if high-price is the Continuum....

Not strictly high mass but If you want looks a Michell Gyrodeck might tempt you. Try it with a Roksan Nima arm.

 Need to set the budget and then consider.  There are a host of good TTs out there.   

But at the mid price points the Regas are about as good as it gets.   

Regards,

Lindsay

TOB, do you have much vinyl or starting from scratch?

As others mentioned how much do you want to spend and you need to budget in a phono stage.

Example: Rega RP3 (£550) is an excellent starting point along with a Naim stage line (£380) plus cartridge at around £75.00 total around a grand but who knows you may have a bigger budget

As requested, funds for deck, tonearm, cart, and phono stage £3k, i feel this is a realistic amount to achieve a sound that won't embarrass my CD, but add that vinyl flavour, i suppose i will know when i hear it??, so here are a few decks i have seen in certain outlet shops, some which are mix of high mass, and rigid decks, Avid Ingenium, Avid diva 2, Project extension 9, Rega p8, Project RPM 9, Clearaudio concept performance, the SME is a little rich, however it would have  been my go to deck if i was replacing my Naim Cd, the space deck has caught my attention, any comments on arm&cat for this deck?, thank you for your suggestions.

Give Cymbiosis a call and ask PS to build an LP12 from bits he has lying around. Add a Tramp2 and an AT moving magnet and you are away under 3k. Arms could be a basik, Rega or possibly a Nima although that might stretch the budget.

Just a though...

Stu

Couldn’t comment on the Project or Clearaudio but both the Avid and Rega are really excellent.  

stuart.ashen posted:

Give Cymbiosis a call and ask PS to build an LP12 from bits he has lying around. Add a Tramp2 and an AT moving magnet and you are away under 3k. Arms could be a basik, Rega or possibly a Nima although that might stretch the budget.

Just a though...

Stu

Stu beat me to it! Peter at Cymbiosis can demo the options for you and will build a deck to budget if you like what you hear. The Trampolin base means you can site the LP12 wherever you like, within reason. Alternatively, a brand-new Majik LP12 with an Adikt cartridge is a shade less than £3k. 

For that budget I'd recomend Rega RP6 / Planar 6 with Ania and Rega's phono-stage. Should be good fun.
Rega RP8 at a stretch.

If I’m thinking of the dealer in Warrington then they are a FunkFirm dealer, give something like the LSD a listen, really great sounding TT’s. 

I put one in my system having owned a Project and Rega and to my ears they both sounded rather dull in comparison. 

Salmon Dave - SME 10 is mid-price to me, e.g. compared to the 20 or 30.

The ACE Spacedeck is about £1400 new, so would be ideal with an £800 Ace space arm, Rothwell or Rega phonostage and a cart of choice.

TOB posted:

As requested, funds for deck, tonearm, cart, and phono stage £3k, i feel this is a realistic amount to achieve a sound that won't embarrass my CD, but add that vinyl flavour, i suppose i will know when i hear it??, so here are a few decks i have seen in certain outlet shops, some which are mix of high mass, and rigid decks, Avid Ingenium, Avid diva 2, Project extension 9, Rega p8, Project RPM 9, Clearaudio concept performance, the SME is a little rich, however it would have  been my go to deck if i was replacing my Naim Cd, the space deck has caught my attention, any comments on arm&cat for this deck?, thank you for your suggestions.

I've been using the Project Xtension 9/Ortofon Quintet Black/Project Phono RS for the past couple of years, because it sounds superb, is dead easy and reliable, and cost about £2800 total. I also have the balanced arm cable plugs into the RS inputs.  I was put off the recent top Regas due to the open-foam look (unfinished to me). The Gyro/Rega type arm is of course a proven alternative - just not what you specified in your opening post!

TOB, I am a bit curious about the desire for a rigid deck.  In my experience a rigid deck requires siting on a surface with very good isolation from any movement or vibration.  On what sort of surface will it be placed?

Shirley, this is easy - the answer is a Rega Planar 1, 2 or 3 - depending on budget.....  

Also worth listening to Well Tempered

Adam Zielinski posted:

For that budget I'd recomend Rega RP6 / Planar 6 with Ania and Rega's phono-stage. Should be good fun.

Seconded, provided placing on a wallshelf

A P6 is just great there for not silly money

I take it anyday of the week over a Nottingham, those Ive heard were fat in bas region and nothing like a Rega in the prat department

Funk may be an option if they have solved qc issues

He says a low unit, could be a sideboard or something wobbly from Ikea maybe. The latter was reputed to be quite good for Naim boxes but not sure about an LP12, they and their ilk (eg Manticore) are rather inclined to skip a groove or two on suspended floors when you walk near them. A Rock would be a good proposition, a Mk 2 with the bellows upgrade would be perfect but isn't going to win any beauty contest, I've not heard the 7 but the plastic platter ruined the 2 when I tried one on it. Back in my student days I had a rigid micro seiki on a chest of drawers that fed back at anything like reasonable volume but it wasn't exactly high mass. There will probably need to be some way of leveling the deck if the support can't do it so that might limit the choice a bit.

Can't help feeling we're debating amongst ourselves.

Sorry Yeti, yes it does sound like theres a debate going on without me, i will be positioning the TT on a low 2m long unit, you know, one of those heavy AV units , made from MDF, glass toped, i have also got 18mm glass plinths under my sn2 & cd, with sorbethane feet, the tt will be joining them on its  very own 18mm plinth, i sold my rack, gone for a mod look, so don't be to hard on me, aim doing what i can to give my gear something nice to sit on, anyway aim going to cheshire to sin a space deck, also off to warrington to sin a LSD, and Hull to sin the Ingenium, the spacdecks dimensions may be a tad to big, but the other two tick the boxes, just a matter of listening, so please continue without me eeee, i may be gone for a while, oh by the way aim getting a Rothwell Rialto PS.... thanks chaps. 

TOB posted:

Looking to add a TT to my Supernait 2, so I can join in with the vinyl comeback gang, now iam not getting rid of my Naim xs Cd player, no chance, but i do want in on vinyl, how do I approach this?, of course I want a quality deck, mid price, mass loaded, because it's not going on a dedicated stand, more like a low unit, and a know you purists will cast me out, but iam trying add style with functionality here, I just don't like racks, no big deal is it?, but on a more serious note, I want a few good suggestions to get me excited, I have had some advise from a dealers in Warrington where I have been going for 30 years, Project, ortofon, and Rothwell have been mentioned, however there is only so much one dealer can stock, so please feel free with your suggestions. Regards.

No Rack!!!!  Even mass loaded will be compromised.  Buy the table.  Run it on a low unit for a time.  Then borrow a proper support.  You will never give it back.

Hmm, so many questions posted without rough budgets, mid price so would that be an LP12 Klimax? - its about half way between zero & a £40K oil rig job ?

Rega Planar 3 at around £625 probably fit the bill as previously suggested, your not breaking the bank & I suspect S/H value quite good if & when you decide to move up.

I suspect the dimensions quoted for the spacedeck is for the MDF plinth - I never used mine. The deck without the plinth is much smaller and is happy to sit on glass with some resilient 3M feet - 2 or 3 mm in diameter, or similar, under the three legs.

Thanks TOB, in that case I would be looking at a deck with some sort of suspension that will work reasonably  well on a heavy cabinet. My old Michell Orbe was one such deck. Your 3k budget should stretch that far, otherwise a Gyrodec with Orbe platter would be good too for a bit less money. Or maybe even a Sondek with a Trampolin, although I still reckon it's at its best on a low dedicated table like an Audiotech or Archidee with CDS feet fitted. I think a solid deck will be compromised here. Still, good luck with the auditioning.