Hi, silvertone. Haven't heard the Avid TT so I'll refrain from commenting. Sweet design, though, and I'm going to guess that you'd want your TT to be a bit fashion-forward to go along with your Revels.

It seems that people in UK are fonder of the Avid TTs than audiophiles stateside? I don't know any person who uses one personally, and I haven't seen too many discussions on Avid TTs in the forums, either. I did see some review of an Avid TT in a British hi-fi rag, and the reviewer really liked the bass, if I recall correctly, and said it's resolving... compared it to digital sound, actually. So I don't know if you lean toward analog that sounds 'analog' or more 'digital.'

The best under $5K TT in my experience was the Nottingham 294, by far. Swap out the crappy Nottingham arm and put in a Moerch DP6 & you'd have something special. It's not as pretty & chic as the Avid, but I kind of like its massive look, too. Definitely not 'bright,' and it was sounding like a world beater with EMT JSD6 cart when I heard it.

Bluenote is another brand (Italian) that gets overlooked here in the US a bit, and their TTs are excellent. Very pretty, too. There's a used Belvedere that's on Audiogon, a bargain, considering that it comes w/ a decent arm:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1254726828&/Bluenote-Belvedere-turntable-w

You can use the money you'd save on going used on a sweet cartridge...

Right now, Music Direct has a demo Avid Sequel for almost the same price as the Volvere and is a (to my ear) a much better unit.

However, neither comes with an arm, so...

I'd say to look at the VPI CLassic (comes with a great arm) and then dial in your sound with your cartridge.

For a more lively sounding cartridge, you could use it with Clearaudio Maestro Wood (for moving magnet) or a Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua (for moving coil.)

The Clearaudio Stradivari or the high output Benz Ebony would also fit your desire for 'lively' sound.

The VPI Classic does seem like an enticing option, would love to hear it. As for carts, I'd go for the Koetsu Black rather than the entry level Dynavector as well, but it's not the 'liveliest' sounding cart... killer midrange, though.

I have just bought an Acutus which i have yet to pick up and install from the dealer . I really liked a conversation a reviewer had with Conrad Mas which explained his principles of engineering. No expensive racks or dedicated TT wall supports just a relative stable flat surface was all that is needed to put the deck on and it will do the rest . Its his attention to the dissipation of energy from the stylus to the platter that intrigued me most .

I'm no expert on TT's but i have had an Acutus in my set up for nine days now and its a lovely piece of kit make no mistake . Build quality is top notch . I'm based in the UK which makes things easier for me re servicing ( which is every ten years according to Avid ). First impressions are its a bit of a toe tapping machine and digs deep into the detail of the music . It will have you reaching for albums well into the early hours even when you know you have to sleep.

Great, thanks for the report, Duvet. What tonearm/cart are you using, btw?

I'm using an SME V but a realatively cheap cart in the form of the Denon dl304 . I really want to get used to the set up before i eventually bite the bullet and shell out for something more esoteric

A Denon DL304 is a nice cartridge. Not uber or the like, but a very nice and easy to listen to cartridge. Like all the Denons.

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Thanks for the feeback so far.

That Bluenote is a beauty!!!

I'll need to audition a VPI TT and a few more cartridges.

So far what I have in mind for one setup would be:

Volvere
SME 309 Tonearm
Koetsu Black cartridge

I'm not familiar with the Dynavector sound, but some folks seem to like the 10X5 entry level cartridge.

Silvertone...if u r still in the mrkt for a Volver, looks like Music Direct is discounting the Avid line of TTs, making the Volver a $3.5K outlay vs list at $5K. I was looking at the table myself and happened on this promo at MD. Check it out:

http://www.musicdirect.com/category/21?b...mp;genreFilter=