I’ve recently upgraded an old 1980s LP12 to a new Linn Majic, Arko, Adikt, Lingo 4 combination using a Rega Fono mini with the Uniti Star. I’m still happily using 30 year old bi-wired Epos ES 11s!
I’m happy with the streaming aspect for now but want to take gradual steps improve the vinyl sound. What would you recommend as an upgrade path? Improved phono stage before new speakers? Cartridge?
Trying to keep within a budget of £3-5000.
Thanks for reading.
Personally, I’d probably upgrade the Rega Fono to a Rega Aria, which is both better and gives you the option of also using MC cartridges down the road. If you don’t have a strong preference for Rega, there are other good phono stages out there (including the Gold Note PH-10, which I have and which handles both MM and MC cartridges and can be upgraded with a separate power supply - a very worthwhile upgrade). The rest I’d use on new speakers. With your budget there are many excellent speakers to choose from.
P.S. Assuming the Adikt is new I wouldn’t replace it. However, if you can get a decent trade in price from your dealer you could consider upgrading to a Linn Krystal (MC) combined with a new phono stage and the rest on speakers.
Many thanks for your advice. I’ll definitely follow up with my dealer. May have to wait for another Linn upgrade offer!
When I had an LP12/Ittok/Adikt I was never very happy with its performance paired with a Rega Fono 2, and that’s a step up from a Fono Mini, so I would certainly look at a phono stage upgrade.
At the top end of your budget and with the sale of your Star you could get a NaitXS or a Supernait, perhaps with an ND5XS2 for streaming. This would get much more from your LP12, and from any other sources you use. The current Mk3 versions of these amps have a decent phono stage built in too.
Its quite easy to get a better amp section than Star
Same with the CD section really.
Your budget indicate there’s room for a s/h Supernait, a Nait 50 or a Rega Aethos with a Saturn CD player, a Apollo if its seldom used.
This will wipe the floor of the Star and your LP12 / ES11 will love it.
I agree an Aria is a worthwhile step up from the Fono. I would also consider Dynavector cartridges, I have found they work well in an Ittok. As for speakers, there is a lot of choice around your budget, especially if you look at secondhand too, Rega RS3s or RS5s would be a good match for star and could be found well within budget.
For a while, I paired my Star with a 250DR and then replaced it with a 222, keeping the 250DR which gave a significant uplift over the star.
As you can see, you have lots of choices.
Your LP12 is now better than you are hearing from it. Spending £300-£1000 on a new phono stage would fix that while keeping everything else. Note that phono stages take a very long time to wear out, so eBay may well be your friend here.
I am a big fan of the Dynavector P75 mk4 at this price for MM and/ or MC, but the Rega Aria (like some other suggestions above) is a great alternative. There are better phono stages in higher price brackets of course, but that extra may not be audible with a Star anyway, good all-rounder though it is.
Also, don’t ignore the possibility of fitting a Naim Prefix phono stage into your LP12. It would need a Hicap to power it, but it is neat and a lot better than your Fono.
Given your streaming quality, how often do you play CDs now? If the answer is that you have 50 or 100 CDs but rarely bother playing them when Tidal/ Qobuz is available, this would give you more flexibility IF you want a bigger upgrade in sound quality than ‘just’ a phono stage change.
Can you easily accommodate more boxes.? If you want a general upgrade and only 1 box, a Nova has a better amp section and more grip. It might be worth comparing one with your Star.
If you can accept a few more boxes and want a big upgrade but a similar character to what you have now, your budget gives lots of options.
I have a system with ND5XS2 with 82, Hicap and 250 feeding Neat Xplorers, and something like that really would show what your speakers can do to the fullest. In a shoot-out with a Nova, that old Naim combo was well ahead. For a smaller box count and nearly the same SQ, I’d buy ND5XS2 (or even NDX2) plus Supernait.
As an added bonus, a SN3 has a good MM phono stage internally, as @ChrisSU says. Thus, you would not need any extra phono stage unless you move to MC cartridges, so this option may be more affordable than it looks.
As with the SN3, if you did get Naim 82 (or 282) as your preamp rather than a Nait or Supernait, then the MM and MC cards that fit inside for the phono input are a good option. Many will move on from them to a dedicated phono stage eventually, but that internal card option is good and can give anyone’s upgrade path a bit more flexibility. Naim MC cards and a Linn Krystal wouldn’t be standard pairing, but it is not a bad temporary mix imho.
If you go for that sort of level of amplification and still have some budget left for a turntable upgrade, many of us would arge that a Linn Krystal (or equivalent) would be the obvious next step. However, that would probably need a separate phono stage, even if you start off with 82/282 and internal cards.
Some (including me) would probably also argue that a Krystal is good enough that you should probably budget on fitting a better sub-chassis to the LP12 eventually - A Kore or equivalent really does make a difference.
If you want a big overall upgrade but do want to keep CDs, then feeding a CD transport into the DAC of a streamer makes sense. Many here like Audiolab transports. for example.
Finally, accessories. Naim amps are usually reckoned to sound best when not bi-wired, so it might be worth experimenting a bit. You could borrow single runs of Naim A5 or equivalent to see if that works equally well, esp with more powerful amplification.
If you have not thought about it for a while, I would also check that your speaker stands can’t rock and that the speakers have a bit of space around them. And, if going down any multi-box route, please bear in mind that a £20 extension block from Asda probably won’t be ideal, and neither would putting one box directly on top of another.
As for what goes under an LP12 for max SQ, how long have you got? There are other threads aplenty…
I hope all that makes sense. Apologies that it is so long, but taking time to look at your many options (and thinking about what sort of system you will want in 5+ years) makes sense when spending that sort of budget.
Good luck!
Many thanks to all who contributed to my query on improving LP12 phono. I’ve just updated to Supernait 3 and ND5XS2 streamer. Looking forward to hearing how my vintage Epos 11s sound through these!