May be an Avid Relveo with the Atlus to tonearm. I have a soft spot for Avid turntables, me being on my second one.
1 Like
Journey = Over.
Listening done - boy howdy, that was fun. P8, P10, LP12, an Avid (sorry can’t remember which one) and a Technics. All great on their own way. Pros and Cons to every single one, be it ease of use, sound stage, price, and of course WAF.
The LP12 lasted one track, I just could not justify the sound vs Price - I can see the higher priced models being end game for some, but the base model didn’t do it for me.
P8 vs P10 - the 10 is better than an 8, shocker! But again, we’re in the realm of diminishing returns here, and really you need to max out the P10 with the Aphellion to really smash it out of the park. I didn’t have that money available. Sadly, as great as the 10 is, I passed. And as an afterthought they both smoked that base LP12 imho.
Avid and me didn’t gel, ruled out quickly. Technics 1300G, really liked it, but the 1200 model above was spectacular, again budget intervened. I was out…
So what did I get. Pro-Ject Xtension 9 SuperPack arrived on Tuesday.
Wow. Bang for buck, there’s lots of deals out there right now, upgrade potential is awesome, but out of the box with the PickIt DS2 cart (and hopefully an Ortofon MC X40 in the future as I sell a few other bits and pieces off) it’s a smash hit.
Build quality is amazing. Unboxing Experience - it comes in a wooden crate with white gloves! Seriously, what an initial unpack and setup experience. It’s a heavy chunky boy, that’s for sure. But pretty easy to setup, apart from the anti-skate which is fiddly to setup, but defo a good excuse to skip the gym.
I’ve paired it with a PhonoBox DS3 B, cabled it all up and from finishing work for 2 nights in a row, I’ve been ploughing through some of my fave records.
From Genesis, Marillion, Metallica, The KLF, Madonna (seriously Dear Jessie and Oh Father is an absolute mind bender), My Chemical Romance, James, Jodie Mitchell (put on Clouds, cried lots), Prince, Radiohead and more. I’ve not had so much fun and as many lump in throat and tears on face moments since I helped deliver 3 of my 4 kids. Add in a splash of “wait, what was that?” As I discovered more details in the wide powerful soundstage regardless of what I played. Turns out The KLF’s “The White Room” Is a hidden audiophile classic, who’d have thought it?
Killer moment when I knew I’d made the best decision ever made in my HiFi journey - The Doors “When The Music’s Over”. I have the “Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine” comp. £30 off Amazon (it was an old mate of mines fave comp). About half way through, you have Jim preaching, while the bass and drums back him. What I thought was just a bit of 60’s poor recording, turns out was the snare rattling to the bass notes as they recorded it live… Holy sh*t. 11 mins of our absolute joy.
So, that’s that - endgame? Dunno but I’d have to drop 10k to get better imho. So possibly! Dont sleep on the Xtension 9 gang. It’s a killer deal. It made me cry. The wife sat there and went -“yeah, that’s f”ing amazing”. She has a PhD in Molecular Analytical Science. She must be right.
21 Likes
Just to say - thanks for all of the advice and encouragement from the gang here. You’ve all been brilliant!
4 Likes
Thanks for sharing, and glad you found your happy place.
I’m also jealous that you have “The White Room” on vinyl. Nice.
2 Likes
@Fletch perfect, now sit back and enjoy.
2 Likes
I also have a Supernait 3 and I resisted buying an LP12 for years. Then I auditioned a new LP12 Magik package with Adikt cart and it was okay but not ans good as I expected. I ended up buying a Thorend 1601 with an Ortofon black MM which I preferred. Then I bought a secondhand LP12 on eBay from about 1983/4 with a Basik plus arm. Bought a Goldring 1042 cartridge and I preferred this to the Thorens which I sold. Andy at Signals Hi Fi stripped it down, rebuilt it and made it sing. This 80s LP12 ended up costing around £1600. I knew this was the sound I wanted as soon as I put on my first vinyl. I sold the Thorens.
I did audition a Rega Planer 8 which is a good deck. I think the choice of turntable is very much a personal choice. You definitely can get a good deck under £2000.
5 Likes
It was high on my want list for years… Walked into one of my old record shop haunts about 5 years ago. Saw it on the wall, paid £80 for it. It had been up there literally for 30 mins. I walked home and have been smiling about it ever since. Just hardly ever see it for sale. Which is a massive shame as it’s killer.
2 Likes
You absolutely can - I’ve seen the x9 as a trade in deal in white (I went for Walnut) for £1500. There’s bargains to be had my friends! But, glad you found your happy place with the LP12.
I agree, Project decks are good value for money. Pleased that you seem to have the right deck, and it will sound even better if you upgrade the cart.
3 Likes
I’m not sure about that, it’s more profit up than cost down if you ask me. I’ve compared the Majik (back when it had a Project arm) in the past and I found it incredibly bad value for money. Easily bettered by turntables around 2/3 its price, maybe even 1/2. I’m sure higher spec ones hold their own, but the Majik I felt was purely a profit machine for people buying into the name/myth of the LP12 or wanting a foothold in the ecosystem.
@Fletch just said the same.
3 Likes
Refreshing, thanks for conclusion.
Interesting you choose Project, each to their own, not a Brand I’d consider at all, being a Rega owner, having Technics too.
Anyway its nice to experience someone actually going out for a listen, and decide for themself, rather than just ask what’s best or what should I choose.
1 Like
Oh, I have this, so I must check it out. Great result in your record player search, have fun and enjoy the music.
1 Like
[quote=“n-lot, post:153, topic:42922”]
I’m not sure about that, it’s more profit up than cost down if you ask me. I’ve compared the Majik (back when it had a Project arm) in the past and I found it incredibly bad value for money. Easily bettered by turntables around 2/3 its price, maybe even 1/2. I’m sure higher spec ones hold their own, but the Majik I felt was purely a profit machine for people buying into the name/myth of the LP12 or wanting a foothold in the ecosystem.
[/quote]
I assume profit is a primary driver for Linn at all times. If they can get someone on the LP12 ladder then hopefully they will invest in the deck over time as and when any funds become available. The lower the entry point, the wider your potential market. I don’t see anything wrong with a business taking this approach. Makes sense to me.
As for the Majik deck’s value for money against the current market, I’ve only compared one at home (fitted with Karousel) to a Rega P10. They each had their strengths and weaknesses and not sure which one I would have opted for, but I preferred my pre-Cirkus deck to both of them.
5 Likes
The higher spec deck was great, but the price was eye-watering. You can get the top end Reference line of Pro-Ject at £10.6k rather than an LP12 Selekt spec at nearly 12k. And there’s another step up for the Linn. Not saying they are not worth it… just saying I am skeptikle (see what I did there 
)
Now I didn’t listen to the Signature 12.2 because if I heard it. I’d have wanted it (lol)
My advice is - go and listen to them. I still own an OG wooden plinth P2, so I have no beef with Rega, and swore the P10 was my goal, I was very surprised this was the conclusion. I very much expected to rinse some extra budget from The Boss and get a P10. I didn’t and I am over the moon with my choice.
Let me know what you think
Congratulations on the new Pro-Ject! An interesting read in terms of your demo experiences, and good the decion came from evaluating the options. I’ve heard a couple of Pro-Ject decks and they’ve always sounded good. Enjoy rediscovering your record collection. Thread or System Pics needed.
I agree re the base LP12. It’s rather poor in terms of performance vs value. When I was looking Linn reduced the asking price by £700-800 for a Winter sales promotion last year, and only that discount made it a viable contender (for me) if buying new, as it made changing / upgrading the arm (Ittok / Ekos) and power supply (Lingo 3 or 4) to pre-loved items accessible and then making it a viable P10 competitor. If Linn reduced the LP12 Majik to 2-2.5K, they would take a lot more sales off the competition, as it’s the potential of the LP12 you are initially investing in.
I had to decide last year as we had Child No2 starting Uni, and with both Child 1 and 2 both at Uni at the same time, it would be my last chance for some time to plunge!
I still have romantic notions about finding an older cheap LP12 locally and learning how to rebuild it myself, then seek out Naim chrome bumper amps to create a period set up, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to it…
PS. Jammy Devil finding that KLF album!
5 Likes
Out of interest, did you eve use the SN3 phono stage with the P3?
1 Like
Yes that was also my original romantic idea, which got lost along the way. I get reminded by it with posts from @badlyread and @gthack and others in the Chrome Bumper thread, the shoeboxes are somehow incredibly cool!
I do have vintage speakers and the vintage tonearm / phonostage though The problem with everything in between is that it sounds so good here I could not leave that. My LP12 looks vintage, and with Naim’s ardent discontinuation policy the slimlines are now also classics anyway!
I totally agree with the rest of your post. The good & bad of the LP12 is that it is totally modular, and all components can (and should) be finetuned to a desired specific holistic whole. That’s not exactly value for money, but feels satisfying nevertheless. If one just wants to buy a good turntable and be done with it, there are indeed far more sensible options than a LP12.
btw love your system revamp, hope you get to that Aura MC some day soon(er).
4 Likes
I did, with the ND7. It sounded great. I actually sold the Aria phono stage to help fund the X9, because it sounded so good.
I then bought a Pro-Ject DS3 B as it came with a MC cart lol
Ahhh you gotta love the game!
1 Like