Arm/ MC Cartridge for NAS Spacedek

Looking for arm/ MC cartridge recommendations for a Spacedek. Currently, using an OL modded 250 with a DNM Reson MM and a Graham Slee V era gold. This has served me well but looking to upgrade to MC and possibly get a better arm too. Could add either an Slee Elevator step up or a new phono stage all together.

I heard from one dealer that a good combination for the spacedek would be a Rega RB700/ Lyra Dorian / E.A.R 834P but I'm open to any suggestions. I never tried a valve stage before, incidentally.

Budget is about £1500 max- less is better- so might have to look for a second-hand phono stage.

Oh, I should mention that NAS are apparently due to bring out a new turntable about £100 more than the Spacedek possibly with steel in the platter- but I could have misheard that last point!

 

i love my 834p and we've been happy together for about 6 years.



Readily available used at about £300, and as reliable as a swiss watch, they don't leave much to complain about.

Cant comment on the Slee V/ Elevator combo as I dont really know it.

 

What- not even the occasional row?

Where besides ebay and audigon does it appear second-hand?

 

NAS Spacearm, Denon 103, Loricraft missing link.

 

theres one on audiophile candy for £300. (mm)
http://www.adverts.hififorsale.com/vardet.asp
theres one on pinkfish trade sales for £400.
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23050

this place, always seems to have dirt cheap 834p's. Don't know why (?) £235
http://www.retroreproduction.com/used-price-list.pdf

Have you considered a high(ish) output MC into the MM stage of an 834P?

 

I'd second Lordsummit's Spacearm suggestion - I know the Denon DL160 works rather nicely on the Space and so do the various Orotofon Kontrapunkts if you wanted to splash out a bit.

 

There's that one that David Price is always going on about- Dynavector DV20X-H, I think.

I could buy one and keep my Rega 250 and Era Gold- but not sure DNM Reca to Dynavector DV20X-H would be much of an upgrade other than the fact that you'd be going from MM to MC. Would like to take Vinyl to the next level, though.

Cheers for the links. I think they're all MM 834s though.

 

So you guys would really recommend an interspace arm with the Spacedek. Do the Denon and Ortofon cartridges sound a lot different from each other?

Did you find the spacearm difficult to set up and get just right being a unipivot? Playing around with VTA, VTF etc is not something I'm very confident with although walrus would do it initially.

Has anyone heard a Morch arm, out of interest?

 

The Kontrapunkts do work very well on the NAS AceSpace tonearm. The £750 price charged for the Kontrapunkt B in the UK is extortionate though - buy it from Germany where it will cost you less than £425.

 

Can you tell me from where?

 

http://stores.ebay.de/Williams-Scha...ges_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

I use a Morch UP4 (as well as an Interspace arm) on an Interspace HD, along with a variety of cartridges (now mounted onto three separate arm wands ) and a Loricraft Missing Link...
The Morch is a superb arm and a really excellent match for the NAS decks.
It will kill any Rega variant stone dead, and your jaw will hit the floor. Mine did.
Two things to remember, though: The Morch/NAS combi is far from plug and play. For best results (and it is very much worth it IMHO), be prepared to get in touch with your inner nerd for a few hours; and mounting the Morch will require a stupidly overpriced "adaptor" from NAS (although if you ask HH Morch nicely he may be able to make you something a lot cheaper - and a lot better, too).
As to which cart... My optimium suggestion is a little out of your range I think. However, if you do want to splash out the new Lyra Skala is a stunning cartridge and an excellent match for the Morch/Loricraft combo, even, dare I say it better in many respects than the Titan (to these ears anyway).
The Dorian is, however, an excellent cart, too, if slightly mellow in comparison the Skala
Alternatively, the 103PRO gets many things right for peanuts.
So my suggestion is:
Loricraft - NAS - Morch UP4 (S/H, of course) - Dorian / 103PRO

 

Hi Joel

Thanks for your feedback. The Lyra Skala is indeed out of my price range. However, I do feel like pushing the boat out and spending more than I can really afford to get my vinyl really pumping!

Having called a few dealers, I have reached the conclusion that the way ahead is either:

To keep my existing RB250 OL'ed and spend virtually the whole budget on a cartridge (upgrading the arm later) or to split it 50/50 ish between a new arm and cartridge. Possible candidates for cartridge only include The Transfiguration Spirit 3, and Lyra Argo, for example.

Going the 50/50 (ish) route is more complexed, as there are a choice of unipivot or multi pivots like a SME M2, Clearaudio or even Morch DP6. But some of these would mean I wouldn't have much left for the cartridge if the budget is kept to around a grand or so. A Lyra Dorian would be a nice starting point for really fuel injecting my vinyl replay, I reckon, even though some of the cheaper cartridges discussed in this thread could more than suffice in truth.

An advantage of buying into Lyra and Transfiguration is a generous exchange program when the time comes to change cartridge.

It would be great to hear some of the above on a spacedek. Surprisingly, Walrus no longer allow cartridge demos in their shop or perhaps I misheard Les on that or he was in a bad mood when I called today. He said it wasn't a cost effective or practical policy or something.

I forgot to mention the phono stage! I could add an Elevator to my existing Era Gold V. But Whest are releasing a new MM/MC stage in about 5 weeks for £600 which apparently is a discrete design giving roughly 80% performance of their more expensive 2 box stage. It would be a particularly good match for a transfiguration spirit, as Whest use it in the making of their phono stages.

So thats where it's at right now. As you can see, I've been pushed in certain directions by dealers since the beginning of this thread. To actually hear a few cartidges would be a wise move considering their cost.

 

Hi B

I do personally (my own opinion and all that) think that the best valve phono stages are something special.

Given your recent love affair with a Canary 301, it would seem sensible IMHO to try a good valve phono stage.

I would personally rather have a decent budget cart (like my old ortofohn MC15 super II for example) into my EAR834P than the best cartridge in the world into a cheap phono stage.

Im not meaning to infer that the graham slee is cheap, I'm not familiar enough with it to comment.

You certainly do owe it to yourself to try a few top valve phono stages.

I dont know what your local dealers sell?

 

Putting an expensive cart onto a Rega arm is not a good use of resources IME (been there, done that with a modded RB600 and various carts including a Karat DV17 mkII).
Personally, I might take the Dorian over the Argo. But... you really need to try and get a listen for yourself, somehow. It is tough when you can't make direct comparisons in your system or in one you know well.
The Missing Link is *really* good. Personally I couldn't care what's inside the thing; what comes out sounds right, especially for the price.
The UP4 is where the fun is with Morch I think. S/H it's great value, too.
I can't guarantee you'd like any of my suggestions, you'll need to go and listen for yourself. But I can say that the various combinations I've suggested do work with NAS.

 

When I took my Missing Link up to J Ribees for the phono stage quest, it trounced the expensive Whest. You owe it to yourself if you want a £600 phono stage to listen to it. It genuinely is one of lifes bargains, that a Dorian and a space arm would be an excellent way to spend £1500

 

Cheers guys

Yep, spending £500 ish each on a cartridge and arm (e.g space and Dorian) would be a sensible allocation of a grand.

I was only suggesting going for a Transfiguration Spirit NOW on the basis that I would upgrade the RB250 well within the life of the Transfiguration, say, within one year (assuming that the cartridge would last about 2 years). That way, within a year I could add like a SME 4 or DP6 (funds permitting) with the Trans Spirit, which would be another level up from the Dorian and Space. However, if I was to keep the RB250 for the WHOLE 2 years, then I'd indeed be wasting the Trans Sprit.

Ideally need to hear the Missing Link, 834p and Whest. Walrus has the E.A.R but are there any dealers in the London area who would be willing to loan out the other 2 stages?

Joel: Good advice, although not sure I want to take the risk on a s/h arm.

cheers again.

 

I'm seriously thinking about the Missing Link, although haven't actually heard it.

Which of the three would be the best to get- the standard, the switchable or the professional

Also, might scale back my cartridge ambitions to the Denon 103 Pro (or the Dorian/Kontra B/Shelter 501 at a push).

Although the Space arm would be superb, does anyone know if the 103 pro would mate with a SME 4?