From Linn K20 4m to WH Phantom 5m - Wow! Was not expecting it.
From stock pre-Cirkus LP12 to Karousel and StackAudio sub-chassis. Did both at once, no way of knowing what make the biggest difference, I suspect the Karousel.
From Blue Tack to Herbie’s Giant Fat Dots in between speakers and stands.
Cartridge upgrade from Audio-Technica VM740ML to AT-OC9XML. Does it mean MC rules? Maybe, in my system no doubt.
Marginal (but noticeable):
From custom made VanDamme RCA-DIN to Linn Silver Interconnects.
FlatCap 2x to 152XS on the signal side.
Linear power supply for roon NUC.
Meh (Hard to discern at best, likely the same):
From Supra to USB to Supra Excalibur USB cable.
Linear power supply for Qutest DAC.
Cable management.
Pluging the power amplifer straight to the wall jack.
For the worst:
From Phonomena II+ phono stage to Graham Slee Accession. Ended up buying the Phonomena II+ back.
Purchase of Cyrus ONE amplifier. At least it led me to Naim, traded-in for 200DR, very happy ever since.
Edit:
Forgot to mention my worst Hi-Fi purchase ever, Nagaoka MP-500, purchased to improve on an Audio-Techica VM540ML, so excessively warm, couldn’t stand it.
Best - Going from CDS3/555PS to CD555 then adding the second 555PS.
Pretty good - NAP 250 to NAP300, then DRing it.
- NAC82/Supercap to NAC252
- Radikal/Keel/Karousel on LP12, Radikal replacing Lingo.
- Dynaudio 1.8 Mk2 to Contour 60, further improvement with Gaias.
Not So Good - Can’t think of any. I’ve been lucky.
Not good combination: Naim with Vienna Acoustic. I have a nova with Beethoven baby, both have a very low dumping factor, which makes them add up, sometimes making excessive and poorly defined basses and fundamentally tinting the mids with opacity, taking away clarity and definition. So I’m trying to swap them out for high dumping speakers and more midrange clarity.
There are some very interesting comments here and after reading through the thread I realised that my speakers had been in situ for about 5 years, The positioning was fine but they had not been disconnected since they were set up all those years ago so I followed the unplug and plug recommendations (after switch off!!) to clean the contacts.
So the NBLs had a much needed clean up of the input and the connections to the HF, mids and bass units. The result was at least a black box upgrade and a half. Cost = zero, result amazing.
I have to ask, why such an expensive cartridge on such a “cheap” table? Either got a deal or plaining on a significant upgrade in the future? As a previous modded RP6 owner, I can say that it wasn’t getting everything out of what the SL cartridge could offer, I now have the ML which is a rather large step up, so I can’t imagine how much a P3 is holding back a Umani. One would think if you like Rega, a P10 should be what your looking at for that cartridge.
I listen to a lot of vinyl and after a lot of research and finding source first thinking reading this forum went with the best Hana I could get.My P3 has the RB300 arm which is very very good.
My next upgrade will be a power supply for my P3.
Source first is a good way to look at things but for vinyl, the cartridge alone isn’t just the source the table & phono stage also play a large roll in that. My advise if you really want to see what that cartridge is able to do, don’t waste any more money on upgrading the P3, your money is far better spent on upgrading the table. A better table will have a large impact on sound, as I said that level of cartridge deserves a P10. With a P3, it will be holding back the cartridge so much that the difference between a SL, ML & Unami will likely be rather small (at least significantly smaller then vs a table that is able to actually extract what each of those cartridges can offer)
Hi @pinkers1 - I am not surprised the 500 was such an ear-opener!
As an ex-RP3 owner in the dim and distant past ( it was and remains great VFM), I too would expect you to really hear what your cartridge can do on a better turntable.
On the other hand, if it is satisfying to your ears and if you don’t want to consider options atm, I am not sure I need to try spending your money for you.
Mega
Hifi in the house - Log cabin in garden
NAC92/90 - NAC52/250
NAP250 - NAP135s
Valhalla - Lingo1
Just adding an NDX
Spending on hifi upgrades - Spending on Motorbike adventures
Really good
Lingo1 - Lingo4
Pre Cirkus - Cirkus/Majik
Cirkus/Majik - Karousel/Kore
Troika - DVK17D3 Karat
Naim cards - Prefix
