BitLess

No, it's the 103 that you're thinking of. It does have a conical stylus, but you would never know it with how much detail and tight bass it pulls out of the grooves. The non-replaceable stylus is what has always kept me away from MC carts as well, but the 103R is so reasonably priced for its performance. I was debating between the 103R and a 2M Bronze, but replacing the stylus alone on the Bronze would cost more than the 103R. Plus, I know a lot of people get their 103Rs re-tipped with better styluses; so that's always an upgrade option.

Including the cartridge and shipping, it set me back just shy of $2,000. Certainly the most I've ever spent on a single piece of audio equipment, but I have no regrets. The cartridge is a DL-103R. I was a little nervous about making the switch to a Moving Coil, as I had no experience with them, but I have a phono stage that can easily handle low-output MC carts, and I read that the 103R was a great match for the Jelco SA-750D tonearm.

My custom Thorens TD-160 Super from Vinyl Nirvana finally arrived last Friday, and I spent most of the weekend doing nothing but listening to records. I'm very pleased. Sorry for the crappy quality of the photo; I snapped it quickly this morning in pretty low light.

I upgraded from the Red to the Blue, and it was a big improvement. One piece of advice: don't replace the whole cartridge, just buy the Blue stylus. The Red and Blue cartridges are exactly the same.

I'll add my endorsement for the Red to Blue upgrade. I've had my Blue for about a month now, and am astounded by how much better it sounds than the Red. I figured going from a Red to a Bronze or Black would be a huge leap in quality, but I really wasn't expecting this big of a difference between the Red and Blue. Definitely worth it.

I'd really love to buy it, but I need to curb my spending a bit or my spouse will murder me. If it still isn't sold a few weeks from now, I'll probably go for it.

Yeah, I know exactly the type of connection you're talking about. That's one of the options we were discussing. It's probably the most user-friendly way to go, but would also mean that from the inside of the unit, the hardware would be somewhat visible. But that's not a terrible trade-off. The other thing we want to figure out is the best way to mount it to the wall. Mine just has 4 holes drilled into the back panel, and I used four 4" cabinet screws with washers, that I drove straight into the wood studs in my wall. While there's nothing wrong with mounting it that way, it does take a little bit of finessing it to get everything perfectly level. I'd like to come up with something more foolproof.

That was one my main impetuses for asking my dad to make this for me. When I saw what companies were charging for unsightly, cheaply welded metal brackets, I thought there had to be a better option. Surprisingly, there was not. I also knew that in order to convince my wife to let me mount my turntable to our living room wall, it would have to be something that looks really nice.

Well, once I saw how well this one turned out, I started talking to him about the viability of creating a little side-business. I'm gauging interest here and on some other forums, and if it seems like it would be worthwhile, he will definitely make more of them to sell. We just need to work out some build modifications, so that we can offer it as a more user-friendly, Ikea-esque kit. The way the joints in this one are done, it would either have to be shipped pre-built -- which would increase the cost -- or the customer would have to have at least some building skills, as well as access to a set of clamps.

Thanks! I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out.

Thanks! My dad has been a cabinetmaker going on 35 years now, and he is a true craftsman.

Shortly after I bought my AR turntable, I knew that getting it off of the Kallax bookshelf that sits on a bouncy hardwood floor was an absolute must. I didn't like any of the purpose-built options for turntable wall mounts, and I didn't want to go the low budget DIY route, so I asked my dad if he could design a custom wall shelf for me, that included some record storage. This is what he came up with, and I could not be happier.

That's too bad. That would have been a decent deal. At any rate, my advice is to be patient, and see if another good deal comes along for some vintage gear. The fact that you're on this site asking questions leads me to believe that you're dedicated to getting something that's at least decent, so I hope you don't settle on that LP60.

Ah, ok. There doesn't seem to be a ton of easily found information about those Luxmans out there, so I wasn't sure. And yeah, I get that the theoretical downside to any direct drive TT is that the motor isn't decoupled from the bearing/platter. That's why it seemed like an odd design choice when I mistakenly thought the Luxman had a proper sprung sub-chassis. Makes more sense now.

Very nice-looking table, Allen. Am I correct in thinking that's a direct drive motor with a sprung sub-chassis? That would seem to defeat the purpose a bit with the motor not being decoupled from the platter and arm, no? Just wondering.

Oh, it didn't even occur to me that this was the same guy who posted about that Technics table and Panasonic receiver in the other thread. Dude, seriously. For $50 plus $13 for that Pyle preamp, you're going to have something way better than an $80 LP60, which you would still have to buy more gear to listen to anyway. Why are you asking for advice if you aren't going to listen to people who know what they're talking abou--oh right, you're 16. Nevermind. But seriously, if the deal that lady was offering is still on the table, take it.

No, you need a phono preamp. There are phono preamps on the market that have headphone outputs, but I think what you're asking is if you can use whatever headphone amp you already own, without spending any more money. And unfortunately, the answer is no.

Are you talking about the Pyle compact phono preamp that sells for around $14? Because that, plus the Lepai amp aren't likely to give you great sound. But it seems like you already had the Uturn for a little while, and it was sounding fine before. Is that right? I don't know what to tell you. It's possible that you've just gotten used to it, and are now beginning to pick up on the shortcomings of your system, but that's just a guess.

VTA is short for Vertical Tracking Angle. To keep it simple, when your stylus is lowered onto a record, your tonearm should be level when you look at it from the side, and not sitting at an angle. Since different cartridges have different heights, sometimes you will need to adjust the height of the tonearm to compensate. But not all tonearms have an adjustable VTA. It would help to have a little more information about your turntable, and the rest of your set up. Without further details, it's difficult to narrow down what might be going on.

What she is offering you for $50 is a heck of a lot better than an AT LP60 would be for $80. It's not even close. Buying an LP60 is the equivalent of lighting $80 on fire, and then throwing your records on top of that fire. I am being a bit hyperbolic, but not by much.

You shouldn't be getting distortion from a new cartridge; that's got nothing to do with "break in". I would check the alignment first, as well as your tracking force. Also check VTA while you're at it. If all of that seems correct, you may have just gotten a defective cartridge.

Still available. Going up on Craigslist today.

Considering what I paid for it, I think I'll keep it standard for the time being. It would be a shame to start ripping it apart when everything is in such great shape to begin with. I know that tonearm isn't the best, but considering the rest of my current setup, it's more than adequate for my needs. If I do any upgrades in the near future, I'll likely start with the spring and stud kit from VinylNirvana, and then maybe upgrade the motor. The table sounds great so far, and I still have some tweaks I need to do. I need to make some adjustments to the springs to get the platter level with the plinth, as it's currently a bit off. I also don't think I did a great job aligning the cart, so I'm going to fiddle with that a bit tonight.

Here are some pictures. I snapped these quickly on my phone this morning, so the quality isn't the best. The TT is shown without the 2M Red because I am temporarily using it on my new TT until I my 2M Blue arrives in a couple of days, but I will remount and align the cart before shipping. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I paid $700 shipped. More than most unmodified ARs in good to excellent condition go for, but worth it, I think.