Project Debut upgrades

I have been listening to vynil more and more often recently as I am getting quite into classic indie most of this stuff sounds much better on vynil.

I was thinking about upgrading my cartridge to somthing better but has anybody had expereince of doing this to a debut? Also how much will a shop charge to fit it?

It is only an idea at this stage. The problem the most upmarket turntable I have heared properly is the Debut. The others have not been proper auditions. Hence I am not sure what I am missing at the moment.

 

vinyl

 

Interesting one this. I've done it and it improved detail quite considerably. However, some might argue that putting a high end MM it would be madness given the cost of the TT. Don't even consider MC for this deck as I doubt the arm would be up to the job anyway.

Even though I've put an Ortofon 540mkII on my debut and reaped the rewards, I would have to say that in retrospect I would used the money to move up the Project range to a RPM4 which I feel would have given me more VFM.

All IMHO of course

 

I've not owned a Debut so can't answer the first question. In answer to the second question, though, I should say that any dealer worth his or her salt would include the cost of fitting in the price of the cartridge.

Good luck with the search and let us know how it goes,

Goomer.

 

Lol yep I was never considering having a high end cartridge in it. Just somthing better than the crappy OM series thing it comes with.

 

The OM's are not that bad really, given the price of them. You could look at a stylus upgrade for it, to save you messing around with having to fit and align a new cartridge.

 

Yeah the stylus have always confued me. Do any of the OM series styluses work their full benefit on any OM cartridge? I always understood if you put an OM20 stylus on an OM5 cartridge you would not notice any difference in quality because the cartirdge is not good enough.

Different people have told me different things.

 

Tonally you probably wouldn't notice much difference. The difference would be in amount of detail. Better styli do a better job of tracking the groove leading to better detail (of course a lot of this is arm/deck dependant which means that you probably wouldn't get the full benfit). If you're unhappy with the general tone of the deck you might want to consider a lower end goldring which in theory will give you a warmer sound compared to the Ortofon.

 

When I had my Debut II I spoke to Henley Designs about upgrades and they said they wouldn't bother except to upgrade the stylus to the Stylus 20. It may have been that they wanted me to upgrade my whole deck (whicj I did in the end).They did, however, sunggest that it was worth trying the Ringmat - which I did find lifted the sound and was worth the upgrade. It helped to separate the instuments/vocals etc and clarify things. I have one for sale if you interested as it doesn't make any difference on my new turntable .
Donut

 

Donut - what deck are you running now and how much of an improvement was it over the debut? I'll be in the market for a new deck in the early part of next year so I'd like to get some opinions

Edited to say that I should have looked at donuts avitar first

 

Amazingtrade,

At 50 quid or so for the stylus, I'd have thought the OM20 stylus upgrade would be a worthwhile upgrade (as slaphead suggests in terms of detail), but only if the rest of the system - phono amp, amp and speakers are not the limiting factor.

 

Yes I now use a RPM6 with Ortofon MC15 Super II cart. The deck was £350 from Hard to find records. It came with an OM5 I think. I then got the MC15 from my local shop for £118. I did try the Ringmat but as they say in their literature it should not be used with a clamp and the RPM6 comes with a heavy brass puck.

I didn't listen to any other decks - infact I didn't even listen to the RPM6 before ordering it (cardinal sin ) so cannot comment on whether it is better than say a Rega p3 but I like it a lot. I think for £350, which is the price of the RPM4, its a pretty good buy and looks fantastic. Only minor niggle is that it doesn't come with a cover - any ideas anyone.

I think it would be worth experimenting with different cartridges as the MC15 is quite layed back and I could do with a bit more kick, but everything is better than the Debut especially the bass. Don't get me wrong, I thought the Debut was a great deck and I loved mine in Piano Black Gloss. Its difficult to say how much better the RPM6 is - not twice as good but thats the way with hi-fi - diminishing returns etc.

The other thing is that the RPM6 that I got has a built in speed contoller so I can just press a button for 33/45rpm - nice.

I think if you want a new deck and onl;y have £350 (plus cart later) go for it. You will need to set it up yourself though - took me a while and infact I thought I'd made a mistake as initially it sounded the same as the Debut until I realised that the arm weigh was way out

Donut

 

How about the Michell UniCover:

http://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/audio_accessories.html

Not sure but think they are about £45.

 

For what it's worth, if it was my £350, I'd be going all out for a Rega P3 and an Ortofon 520/11. If they wouldn't budge down on the price, then the Rega Super Bias would be my cart of choice.

I recently auditioned both the RPM4 and both Regas seriously (heard an RPM6, but it was out of my league, price wise). I tried the same cart (520/11) in both the RPM4 & the P3, and the Super Bias in both the Regas as well. I had a Debut11 on loan for a while, sounded rotten, thought it must be my one, listened to one at the dealers, still sounded rotten. All of the decks I listened to, compared to the Debut, well, it was like night and day.

For what I like to hear, P3 + 520/11 every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Mind you, Richer Sounds are selling a few graded NAD 533 (rebadged Rega P2) for £150, leaving all sorts of upgrade room on cartridge, arm and even platter.

 

Hi,

The OM20 stylus should give you an improvement. This is a better profile but for a real improvement, I would look at a better deck. I wouldn't put a much more expensive cartridge in that deck. The improvement wouldn't be as good as a better deck.

Look at the graded Nad 533, which Thommo has mentioned, @ £150. Also look at 2nd Hand Rega Plannar 2 or Plannar 3 which can be had form between £70 to £160. These are good decks to get & will improve your vinyl enjoyment. They require very little messing about to get them going.


SCIDB

 

£150 is too steep. But I like the idea of a Rega 2 for around £80 for so even it is old. However I would take it to a shop and get have a cartridge installed. I never trust my own settings. I did have an old Dual 2120 (a moulded plastic one) but managed to mess up the entire settings I never trusted I had set it right even though I bought the cartirdge myself.

I would need to see how much money I have after christmas but bearing mind I am going out for new years it probably won't be much.

The other problem is my Debut may be hard to sell on ebay because of the antiskate string. I would have to take it off and I don't have the original insturctions. Also there is a slight crack in the lid though you hardly notice it. Other than this its like new. I do like the sound of my Debut and it is better than CD but I just keep thinking it that vynil has more to give.

 

Hi,

If you like your turntable, then why not keep it? - If you bought a new one, I think you may still be hankering for a cartridge, and you'd soon find a total of, say, 200 quid coming out of your wallet...!

Perhaps a treat of a few new LPs would be a better bet ?

Up to you matey.


Mind you, I cant talk... I go to get my new turntable next week..

 

Maybe new albums is the better bet. I bought Joy Divsions's Unkown Pleasure's the other day and its given me pleasures I never knew existed. (erm that sounded like a dodgy chat up line)

Some times I think maybe I should just not upgrade anything till I graduate and get job then a £300 turntable won't seem like a major outlay especialy as I won't have a car.

On other hand I've had my turntbale for 3 years now won't the stylus be worn out anyway?