Here were objects of beauty, modern specs, and, by all accounts, spectacular sonics. What did catch my eye, and my reading attention over several months, were the Artisan Fidelity refurbishes of old Technics, Garrards and Lencos. Scouring A'gon and reading reviews gave me a few options but let's face it, improving on the SME 20, in this price range, is no simple deal. A table that delivered the reliability and build quality of the SME with just a little more drive, resolution, and life. Having lived happily enough with an old SME 20/2, which I bought used with an SME 309 arm, eventually upgrading to another used V arm, I had a real sense of what I wanted. Buy well, keep it in good order, and there's invariably a buyer out there for any well designed table later. A gently used Rega 3 actually cost me nothing over 5 years, even with inflation. Seven years with a VPI Aries cost me about $100 a year on balance. Perhaps this is why, over the years, I've upgraded tables at very little real cost as I've sold my older tables often for what I paid for them. Yes, it is amazing the justifications we make to indulge this hobby, but, what if I settled for 10 years.would $1500 a year be unreasonable for a primary passion? And of course, at the end of 10 years, the table would not have zero residual value, so even that simple calculation overestimates annual cost. No, the $100k+ options were never a consideration, but I figured if I stretched, bought a table that I'd keep for years, then the annual cost of ownership, assuming I continue to love listening to vinyl, would make something in the $10k-$20k range worthwhile. So, reaching the point where my LP collection has become the primary means of enjoying music at home, I figured that I should treat myself to the type of table that one only dreams of owning. This is why I always believe a cheaper cartridge in a great foundation can sound a lot better than a great cartridge on a delivery platform that has other weaknesses. And that's before we talk of VTF, VTA and azimuth. This is why the placement of the table matters, why it must be level, why the motor must drive the platter to the correct speed, without noise, why, indeed, the tonearm matters. To get to the stage where the signal in the groove is coming through cleanly, everything preceding the contact must be able to deliver the stylus to groove interface without adding or losing anything else.
As a record spins and a stylus traces the undulations of a groove, it matters that the vinyl is clean, of course, but you want those tiny movements of the stylus and cantilever to result only from the groove, not from something wobbling in the motor driving the platter, not from a resonance or vibration in the arm, not from something moving in the plinth.
At that scale, it is easier to conceive why foundation matters. When people ask me about where to put the emphasis on a turntable, I tell them to imagine they are the size of an ant and get to sit on a turntable plinth watching the action. It also is one area where careful set up and matching of tonearms and cartridges are vital: getting it right can produce wonderful results, but fail to do so and your investment will yield only disappointment. The turntable is a technology that really has not changed too much in basic form or operation over the decades. I tend to think there are a few areas of my rig where it might be possible to get near to this point, specifically speakers and turntable. Over years of buying and upgrading, I've wondered if a point would come where I would reach satisfaction, when I would say 'this is it, I've bought my last (component)' I am not convinced you can ever fully get to this point if you also love the gear that reproduces the musical magic since there's always something new, maybe something better, but the idea remains fascinating.
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