Suggestion on a second turntable for mono.

RichardA

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Mar 21, 2017
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Calabasas CA
I’m thinking about a second turntable with a mono cartridge. Does anyone have any suggestions between 6-10k with a cartridge. I’m open to used.
Thank you for any help or advice.
 
Well mono is slightly less sensitive in some ways. Why not get a quality vintage table and a Gray arm? Even a broadcast would work fine for that.
 
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This would be good. Put on a mono cart and good to go. It comes with a Bokrand which are impossible to get now (believe me, I paid for one last November, no sign of it)

 
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I like the look of this one too:

 
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If you like the Gray tonearm route there is a replica made by Karmadon in Ukraine, should a 'good' vintage one not be readily found. Agree vintage idler is nice.

Don't forget direct-drive. Awesome vintage ones are well discussed. Also you could get into a new STST Motus DQ* with say a Groovemaster tonearm and a modest cost mono cart for the upper end of your stated budget if brand new strikes your fancy...


( caveat: I sell the STST...)
 
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Thank you for all the suggestions. does anyone have any direct drive or non vintage suggestions for comparison ? I’m trying to get a variety and then narrow down and research.
 
The STST is probably the only non-vintage thing in that price range that is really good. Another vintage option that is pretty badass...

For direct drive I also think vintage tends to be a better outlook. I guess there is the PTP turntable.

Junk I wouldn't touch. VPI, Rega, Music Hall, Pro-ject, Clearaudio,
 
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I could not open the vintage option link.
 
i have 2 mono cartridges each on a separate turntable.

the Miyajima Infinity mono 1.0 mil stylus is on my Wave Kinetics NVS turntable on a 2nd arm, the Durand Telos 12" with wood arm wand. the NVS might be a little rich as a mono-only tt choice, but it sounds amazing.

then i have the Miyajima Infinity mono 0.7 mil stylus on an EMT948 mounted on a Durand Kairos tonearm. the EMT948 is a reasonably affordable ($4k-$7k) but top performing vintage direct drive and love it. super quiet and very lively and powerful sounding, a great match for my mono records. 948's are out there to be found.

hard to imagine a better "around" $10k mono package than an EMT948/used Kairos arm/Infinity 0.7 mil. on mono pressings it betters both the $75k+ stereo packages next to it. in that equation i do think that the Infinity mono is the key ingredient. it's a remarkable value and plays at the very tip top of mono carts.

the other vintage tt i would pursue is a Garrard 301.
 
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With the Gates you get a 'gated shifter' ;)
 
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If you like the Gray tonearm route there is a replica made by Karmadon in Ukraine, should a 'good' vintage one not be readily found. Agree vintage idler is nice.

Don't forget direct-drive. Awesome vintage ones are well discussed. Also you could get into a new STST Motus DQ* with say a Groovemaster tonearm and a modest cost mono cart for the upper end of your stated budget if brand new strikes your fancy...


( caveat: I sell the STST...)

The STST is an excellent value TT. Very musical
 
I’m thinking about a second turntable with a mono cartridge. Does anyone have any suggestions between 6-10k with a cartridge. I’m open to used.
Thank you for any help or advice.
What keeps you from adding an additional arm with mono cart to your Kronos?
A LOT more budget for arm and cart if you "ditch" the TT :cool:
 
This would be good. Put on a mono cart and good to go. It comes with a Bokrand which are impossible to get now (believe me, I paid for one last November, no sign of it)

Have you chased him? My two took 8 months but I’m very pleased with them now they have arrived. He had forgotten them until I reminded him, but once he was reminded they came fairly quickly. From our email conversations I suspect he’s not very well so you may well be right that they will be impossible to get hold of soon.
 
Have you chased him? My two took 8 months but I’m very pleased with them now they have arrived. He had forgotten them until I reminded him, but once he was reminded they came fairly quickly. From our email conversations I suspect he’s not very well so you may well be right that they will be impossible to get hold of soon.

I emailed him and he told me about a small hospital stint. Then he said he'd send it right away but nothing ever showed up months later. My last email was unanswered. I understand we can't always predict how health goes but when you have a queue of 20 maybe you should stop if you've already been having health trouble.
 
Back to the original question I’d probably go for a Garrard 301 (designed for mono replay) with the Bokrand arm and the Miyajima Infinity. Given the budget a fancy plinth for the Garrard is out so perhaps a Layers of Beauty cherrywood one.
 
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I’m in the middle of the same path, ordered a Brinkmann Taurus with a 12.1 arm for my Airtight PC1S and going to put a mono cartridge on my Brinkmann Oasis with the Brinkmann 10.5 arm
 
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