Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Turntables?

When I was researching carts for my Denon which is direct drive I had read, quite often, the Grado doesn't always play nice together with direct drive tables.

Hi Wid,

Well, I've never heard that but then it would depend on which Grado you tried to put into a more massive tonearm. Grado makes some very expensive Signature cartridges that have very delicate stylus assemblies. To perform best, these really require a custom separate tonearm.

But the lower-priced Grados ($100 or less) should be fine, unless there is some shielding issue. The Grado I used to use was a Signature 8, and it worked fine in custom SME tonearm on a Scottish turntable (Ariston) that was a clone of the Linn.

Generally speaking, the more massive the tonearm, the greater the tracking force you have to use. Most Japanese direct-drive turntables should be run at about two grams tracking force.

Alan

Thanks for the additonal info. I did see that the rega was a belt drive and it concerned me a bit since most of the direct drive Technics I've seen have been around for a long time, the design has barely changed.
I'm glad I asked and didn't just purchase something right away. Once again, thanks for all the info Wid, Alan, 2x6spds and BBIBH.

Hi mistico,

I can shed some light on the Pro-ject turntables. I have a Pro-ject Xpression III and have really enjoyed the table. It's a belt drive, but I haven't had any problems with speed accuracy or rumble. Before getting the Pro-ject, I also looked at the Rega tables. I decided on the Pro-ject because the build quality seemed a little higher than the Rega tables and it came with a phono cartridge. I've also had some experience with my dad's Technics 1200 table and can attest to its strong reputation.

That's a nice table Guillermo.

Question, is the SL-1200MK5 any better than the MK2?
Amazon has the MK5 for $397 and the MK2 for $369. I would get black.

From what I remember, the only difference between the MK2 and MK5 is that the MK5 has a few minor features geared towards DJ usage. Also, the MK2 comes with an included dust cover, while the MK5 does not.

I ordered and SL-1200MK2PK and it arrived today. I also got a Shure M97xE.

Thanks for all the advise and info.

Hi Mistico,

That's great--the Shure M97xe is a very linear cartridge with excellent tracking ability that in my tests some years ago was bettered only by the $500 Shure V-15 Type V (no longer available).

The Shure M97xe is also a very good match for the Technics tonearm.

Regards,

Alan

Great choice, let us know what you think of the new table once you start spinning some vinyl

I'll do that.

Alan, from all the reading I did, the M97xe was the best match for the 1200 in that price range.