stiv@stat6.rice.edu (12/12/90)
Well, here I am again, asking for some net.wisdom. You may recall a few months ago that I was asking for advice on the purchase of VPI Jr. vs Linn Axis vs WTL Classic. I've since decided that they didn't offer a significant _enough_ upgrade from my Linn Basik. So, in an effort to make stretch my dollar a little further, I've decided to look into the 2nd hand market, with the caveat that I'd like to be able to at least look at the device 1st. So far, I've turned up 3 possibilities, all at dealers in either Houston, San Antonio, or Austin. (1) Linn LP-12, with 2nd hand Akito arm. The deck is black, updated, and about 3 years old, with one owner. I don't know about the arm (though the Akito is a fairly new design). Estimated cost, including checkup and setup by the dealer and a new armboard is $1000-1100. (2) SOTA Star, with 2nd hand Premier FT-3 arm. The deck is about 1.5 years old, and is also a one owner deck. The arm again is from a different person. Estimated cost, with new metal armboard and dealer set up is $1400. (3) SimplyPhysics Darkstar, with SimplyPhysics Aviator linear-tracking air-bearing arm and dedicated stand. This is a demo deck, and is being sold by the dealer/manufacturer. Has anyone heard of this deck? SimplyPhysics also makes a $7000 reference phono system, as well as a number of audio tweekies, like the IsoDrive for Philips transport CD players, and ToneCones. The only difference between this and a new deck is that this one is white (new ones are dark gray), and there have been some other (supposedly cosmetic only) changes in the armboard and case. This listed for $3000 new, and has been for sale for several months, and is now down to $1500. It comes with a 2 year parts/labor warranty. The Linn is the only deck that I've listened to, and they've always impressed me. Two things concern me about it though: it has no record clamping system (unlike the other two and almost every other deck in that range on the market), and my impression from reading reviews &c. is that Linn products seem to be slightly optimized for pop/rock, whereas I'm interested in optimizing for classical, if I must optimize at the expense of other genres. The SOTA seems like it might be a little dear at $1400, since I don't think that it's the most recent model. I may be able to negotiate it down, though. The SimplyPhysics may be a good deal, if discounted price is any indication, plus it includes a warranty. It's also the only one here in Houston (though I have other excuses to visit SA and Austin), and is thus most convenient. Actually, I don't think that I'll be able to listen to any of these except as on delivery (I'll make it a condition of the sale that I must be able to listen to it before making the _final_ purchase decision), just "equivalent" models. I rather suspect that listening to these will tell me that, yes, indeed, of the very fine decks out there, these are some of them, and I may have to make my decision based on reasons other than sound quality. Also, any suggestions as to cartridges? I'm inclined towards the Sumiko Blue Point, 'cause I own one, and because I don't want to have to fool with making a cartridge decision now, for financial and logistical reasons, but I'd be interested in readers' suggestions for <$300 cartridges that match well with one or more of these decks. Someone wanna wish me luck? :-) david n stivers stiv@rice.edu
rshapiro@uunet.UU.NET (Richard Shapiro) (12/13/90)
In article <8280@uwm.edu> stiv@stat6.rice.edu writes: >(2) SOTA Star, with 2nd hand Premier FT-3 arm. The deck is about 1.5 years >... >The SOTA seems like it might be a little dear at $1400, since I don't >think that it's the most recent model. I may be able to negotiate it >down, though. If it's really the Star, that's not a bad price at all. The SOTA Star is the model with vacuum clamping. If it's a Sapphire (the next model down from the Star; identical, I think, except it has only a spindle clamp rather than the vacuum clamp), it's too much. A used Sapphire with a used FT-3 arm should go for more like $1000 (I've seen that configuration in that price range more than once).