Has anyone had some listening experience with the Project Debut II turntable? This was my first turntable that I bought a few years ago, but I find that since upgrading my CD player, my vinyl now sounds noticeably worse than my CDs.
I listen to mostly classical and/or acoustic music. The Debut II does not give that much mid-tonal separation.
I think it might be time to upgrade the turntable, but I don't want to spend a huge amount on the upgrade - would a used Rega Planar 3 be a noticeable improvement, or would I have to shell out more?
And, since I am a TT newbie, how important are the tonearm and cartridge to the sound quality? Any tonearms/cartridges to recommend, and are there any to avoid too?
A Planar 3 would most definitely be an improvement, provided it has been taken care of! That's the problem with these devices. How do you know if it was cared for well?
Tonearm and cartridge are very important indeed. The Planar 3 came with an RB300 arm which is a very good value for money item. Rega also has a range of cartridges. I'm not a fan, but fitting them is a piece of cake which is always a good thing. That said, there are other brands and one entry level series I would look at would be the Ortofon 500 series of 4 cartridges (510 - 540). These all have the same body but have different styli. Given that the 540 is £140 and the 510 is £45, you can see that the stylus is very important too. Ortofons are slightly taller than Rega cartridges so you need to buy a 2mm spacer to fit under the arm. It's best to get a dealer to fit this for you (loads in London, UK).
The later P3 introduced a new motor and mounting for the motor. This makes an appreciable improvement in performance so if you can get a P3 it's worth it.
I owned a Debut III for a few weeks. It was a good TT, but their is better out their, but it'll cost you more.
The Rega Planar 3 is a very good table. It's well built, sounds great, and is easily upgradable. It's not a 'budget' TT icon for nothing. It deserves the praise it gets.
An alternative to it is the Pro-Ject Xpression, which I own. It's a little cheaper and IMO has near or the same level of sound quality. It's built very well. If their's a downfall its that it doesn't have nearly as many upgrade possibilities. Their are a few such as a Speed Box (speed controller), better cartridges and mats, but I think the Rega is probably the most 'tweakable' table out their.
If tweaking the TT is a very improtant thing, the Rega is probably the best choice. If you're the type who's happy with the way something sounds out of the box and too many upgrade options will drive you crazy (like me), and saving a few bucks is somewhat of a priority, the Xpression may be a better option.
Just about everything effects sound quality from a TT. While the tonearm and cartrdge are very important, maybe even the most important, everything else still plays a significant role. The motor needs to be quiet and spin at a constant speed (seperate speed controllers/power supplies are a huge plus), the feet and plinth need to keep out external vibrations, the platter shouldn't make any noises such as ringing. These things all add up. If you had a great tonearm and cartridge on a bad table, it's not going to sound very good. It may actually sound worse because they're picking up all of these things, whereas a lesser arm/cart wouldn't be as sensitive.
Is the table you're looking into new or used? TT's are probably the last thing I would buy second hand. While you could get a great deal, you could also get burned very easily. They also don't ship very well. Unless the person has taken the time to pack it the exact way it came from the manufacturer or better, you could have problems. I've heard about more people being disatisfied about second hand TT's than probably everything else combined. Unless you know the person selling it or it's a reputable dealer with whom you're got a good relationship with, I'd skip the second hand market. That's just my opinion though. I'm sure many will disagree.
Also, Frank knows his stuff inside and out. In my experience, his descriptions/advice/suggestions have always been right on.