You’re a good man @frenchrooster. Appreciate these reviews.
I tend to go with gut instinct and I know myself all too well.
The Superline would have been with a Supercap DR in the end.
And then I would still be tinkering and wondering what other phonostages.
By going Urika 1 the deck becomes permanent. It’s fully maxed out to Linn Klimax. Only thing to do will be change of carts in future.
The box count and Fraim is a consideration as well. A slight reduction in boxes and Naim powerlines will mean I can get some funds back and have a bit more space in my listening room.
I am going to end up with 7 powerlines and should be able to offload a couple of these with change of set up. Sell some Fraim too
So Urika will actually save me money and it’s pretty much brand new. I am pretty much ending up with nearly new Kilmax LP12 at maybe 56% of new price overall
Good call - Urika is really excellent VFM in the context of this sort of kit.
Got mine for £900 used so supercap/superline and 2 fraim shelves gone meant I pocketed a fair bit of cash for what I felt was a sideways move whilst getting rid of RFI problems at the same time. If you’ve got the radikal already, it is a no brainer to me.
I’m no LP12/Phono stage expert, in fact far from it.
But you have answered your own question, by keeping what you have gives you time to contemplate how the next set of upgrades affects the sound, how that new sound sits with you and what have they brought to the party.
Who knows maybe you will have reached musical nirvana or maybe there will be some tweaking still to do.
As my old boss would say to me, one step at a time, walk through the processes and don’t race ahead.
This reply is to a post some 6+ hours old so now i’m going to read the rest of the thread and find that I am completely up the wrong tree.
Haha! Sometimes it’s best to make 10 steps and be done. Rather than 1 step at a time. You won’t move anywhere fast if you do things slowly.
Time is important to me with cancer. I could be dead in 6 months. Or I could live another 20 years! Who knows. I don’t have the knowledge of time. I have to live in the here and now.
I do what I think is right. I know this decision is right based on multiple factors.
Money, space, time, synergy and having no hassle.
I don’t want to be dismantling my system and tinkering all the time.
The decision is right for me. I know my mind and I will be delighted with the upgrade path chosen.
When I changed out my speakers I just went for it. No regrets on that front, despite those saying check these speakers and others.
The system effectively is complete. Maybe an ND555 and 2nd 555PSDR. But that isn’t as important to me as my LP12.
And NDS plus 555PS into ND5XS2 is good enough. And will be even better with 552DR.
It’s a £3k phonostage and makes use of Radikal Klimax which is £7k. Having listened to it many times at dealers with full 500 system it will be perfect.
If you’re buying the K-Rad 2 new, there’s a discount available (a Linn package offer) by buying the Radikal and the Urika as a combined package. You’ll also save a Powerline because they won’t fit the K-Rad case (more money saved). The Rad 2 also allows you to select a dimmer setting for the blue LED, which otherwise rivals the Nait 50 for its piercing brightness.
You see there are benefits to be had everywhere with K-Rad 2 and Urika!
You’ve an interesting set up, a full Klimax spec LP12 into a SN3, so running a higher end LP12 than what many of us have for 252 and 552 systems (myself included). I struggle with how far to take my LP12 with a 552/300, but clearly you find the top spec works with the SN3.
