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And your horns @Full Range. I'll be there.

@The_conductor, speakers are diy 6 way horns, 2.4m tall, 110dB sensitive, active, driven by diy 6 channel SET monoblock amps. I love the sound. There are a couple of diy SS phonostages here, both using passive filters one RC and one LR. However, I have most of the parts here for an all-out LCR phono with E810f and D3a tubes, 80% mumetal chokes/inductors/output transformers from Dave Slagle, Black-Art Audio iron in the power supplies, all kinds of silly foo parts inside. Although both a little different, the most similar commercial units that I have seen are from Thrax and Thomas Mayer. Yes, Schroder CB arm with the table and I'll probably add the T3Pro air bearing linear tracker as well. I have an MC Anna but if I put two arms on the table I will have to look for another good cart as well.

I know it's not much, but after much procrastination I finally have one channel of a diy SS preamp up and running after leaving it partially built for a few years. It is a nice design and I am only just starting to listen to it now. Class A, DC coupled front to back, current mirror, an interesting psu with cap multipliers. Running at the moment without analogue volume control but one will be added later: am thinking either a Muses VC or an Elna switch with Dale RN resistors. I've also been playing with one of the @Gieseler Audio preamps with the Muses VC...it sounds very nice. It's also DC coupled and I have some resistors on the way to increase the gain on that unit, but it is going to be hard to beat. Clay, as usual, is super supportive. If it ends up trumping my other preamps I will have to see if Clay will build me a new one with more inputs because three just isn't enough! Then there is the Placette Active Linestage. It has a state of the art analogue volume control, most likely the best out of any of the other preamps, but it is unity gain, and I need more juice for a couple of my low output sources. There are a number of options to get some gain in this linestage, including another box from the manufacturer, but I am not so keen on that. Anthony Holton @Aussieampshas recently released what he calls Gain Block One, which is a very low noise, very low distortion Class A preamplifier that is designed for exactly my circumstances. Bloody perfect! It can be made DC coupled, is quite small and I have high hopes for it either before the linestage as amplifiers of specific low output sources, or after the linestage to boost all sources. Put a VC after it and it may be all that I need: ditch the linestage. The AKHA diy SS preamp could also be used in this way...we will see. So I have plenty of options to remedy my gain problem. Just have to work through them all and come up with the result that I am most happy with. Then.... Most of the parts are here to start experimenting with single stage DHT preamps. There is a hoard of tubes here including 71a, 45, 10Y, 801A, YO186 that I intend to prototype with to see if I can get any of them to provide good results in my circumstances. All those old tubes will give at least 30mA of current to drive long interconnects and the tricky reactive load of my DSET's, the YO186 a whopping 85mA! When loaded with some sort of hybrid mu-follower these tubes will also give low output impedance and low distortion. I am hoping for circa 0.01% THD, noise < -110dB (inaudible in horns), Zout < 20r, 35mA-85mA current, at least 3.5x gain. All with tubes approaching a century of age stuffed into modern circuits with modern components. I really want that project to work, but there is certainly no guarantee. At least I will learn a LOT.

Don't need omni's, just constant directivity speakers. Much less expensive (and better sounding).

Aced it. Must say that my wife likes reading the reviews (and leaving some as well) but I could think of nothing less useful than someone elses opinion...

Mark was the clincher. Also, where possible I'll always try to support an Australian business. Am also happy the purchase was made through a forum sponsor @Tivoli Hi-Fi. Their service has been fantastic.

Yes, there is no certain result in analogue either through auditioning madly about the place or reading reviews and talking to people with more experience. In the end I have purchased the one that I was drawn to early, for which I have a little technology crush, and is made in Australia. It did help that all the press was good, almost worryingly too good, and I was able to talk to the designer and settle a few nagging thoughts and gauge the level of post-sale support that I can expect. We talked about new inclusions to the table and I feel like the turntable question has been settled, like there is no better solution to my desires and requirements and that it will be an investment that repays for decades. I can't think of a single turntable that more satisfies my requirement for simple aesthetics, innovative technology and sound engineering design. That is why I chose the Helix 2. I'll have it in September.

Yeah, nice in theory, but where do you find all these different tables in one room? I don't know anywhere that has say a Helix next to a Kuzma Stabi M next to a Brinkmann Balance next to a P8 next to a... Listening to different turntables with different arms and different cartridges and different phonostages in different rooms and different systems at different times is so fraught with danger when making a decision like this it may as well be lucky dip. I've heard some decent turntables that have sounded good...I've heard some inexpensive turntables that can sound very compelling...as far as I know I have not heard the tables in which I am actually interested. To audition them means taking a couple of days off work, flying across the country three or four or five times before I make a decision. Or I can just stay at work for those ten days, make the $$$, don't spend the $$ on flights and accomodation and car hire which all adds up to a big percentage of the cost of most of these tables and just buy the table that compells me the most conceptually. In the end I have chosen to invest in a person rather than a table per se and am very confident that between he and I we can get this new table sounding like it needs to sound in my setup. In fact I am very confident...plus I also get to meet my deadlines at work, and keep my clients happy and also am not away from my young family.

You are pretty handy Felix, I have a motor speed controller kit here (three of them actually) that you might be able to use to get your speed right. I'm not sure if that is the sort of thing you would be after, but it is an option. I will put one or two of them up for sale one day...have ended up buying a table with it all built in.

Thanks to all that contributed to the thread. The decision has now been made and I can get on with things in the real world without researching turntables...and I will be actually able to spin some records instead of just buying them to look at! EDIT: A Lenco L75 or two will come up for sale in the classifieds soon.

Ok, so the list so far is as follows, in no particular order: Helix 2 Kuzma Stabi M Brinkmann Balance Not sure if anything else should be on there. Trying to find safe bets, but it seems like I'm picking the usual suspects. I really like the Kuzma because it comes with a lid! Of all the things to like about a table...well if it keeps refusing to rain here I'll need something to keep the dust off.

It's the time issue this year. Work is insane and will be for the foreseeable future and I just wanna play some records.

Yes, there would be no change from AU$110k once the extras and GST and shipping are paid on that fellow. There is a Caliburn for sale currenlty on Audiogon which equates to $115k by the time it gets here. I wish my pockets were that deep...

I had looked at the 927 when I looked at the L75's but they are just crazy money now....like AU$50k-$70k...and older than me (not that that matters). If I was to spend that sort of moola it would be on something newer I think. Thanks for the tip though.

From what I've heard of Continuum I can't afford them...unless they offer something I am not aware of. EDIT: Just checked the website....is it the Obsidian you heard or the earlier Caliburn?