Jim

The Pickerings are also excellent depending on the version, I have the XV-15 (moving iron) with a D4500S stylus (shibata).The XSV versions are also great cartridges. Stanton and Pickering are basically the same company which I found out earlier last year. The brush actually works very well on both my 681 and 881. They are dead quiet after being broken in. The Stanton 500 is a DJ cart,that's why it didn't sound that good. It's more of a conical tip for scratching purposes. One other cartridge I forgot to mention which is about $100.00 more than your range is the Grado Sonata V2. That is going to be my next cart. They run about $600.00. Depending on the table though, you may get a hum,so I'd speak directly to them and ask. Depending on the arm also, you may need a shim. I know on my Dual 701 I will need one. You may also want to try out the Denon 103r and get the wooden body from Soundsmith.Again, the sound on their stock cartridge wasn't for me, but this one is supposed to knock the socks off the standard version.

What are you going to put it on? Hey Travis.....should I buy one it will go on a Denon DP-1250 direct drive with a low mass ADC arm. I bought it refurbished around 2006 and it was basically a DP-1100 but without an arm. Lots of folks installed the Grace 707 with success. The table is fully manual and was near the top of the Denon line. It holds speed perfectly. I have used a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge ($800) for 7 or 8 years and was thinking the hours on the cartridge may be getting on up there. I don't listen to vinyl a lot but sat and listened to 3 lps back to back at a good volume. I thought it sounded great! I know its about $500 to retip . Frankly I wonder if that's too much cartridge for the Denon. You may be able to retip for cheaper, there are a few guys around that do it for about $150.00 with no issues. Soundsmith may be around $350.00. Since I got back into vinyl, I have tried a boat load of cartridges. The 2M Black is very nice, the Bronze as well on records that aren't top notch, as well as the Ortofon OM40 (Black), and OM30 (Bronze). I have a Digitrac I am selling which is the 2M Bronze and OM30 before they were what they are. It's made by Ortofon and is a nude super elliptical tip and can be done with new replaceable stylus.It's brand new in the box with all equipment. I am selling as I already have the other 2 that are comparable. I also have the ADC XLM MKII improved and MKIII with shibata stylus and redone custom line trace (each one was $150.00 to retip). Stanton 681EEE with an original 6800EEE stylus that I had retipped with a line trace as it was worn out ($150.00), a 681EEE with a Jico D6800EEE Shibata ($144.00 for stylus). Then there is 2 Ortofon VMS 20E MKII carts,one has the original 20E MKII stylus, and one has an upgraded 30E MKII Jico stylus ($67.00).These are moving iron carts and are very open and detailed. I actually like the VMS30E MKII better than the 2M Black and OM40 as it has slightly more to it in the high end to my ears. I have 2 Stanton 881S MKII's with an original D81S stylus, and a custom D81S stylus that was redone with a cactus cantilever and shibata tip ($165.00) For MC, I have 2. Both are from SAE (Coral), the 1000LT HOMC,and the 900LT LOMC. They are LT tips as well. I've tried many more in the last 18 months, but keep coming back to the shibata and line trace tips more than the others, and seem to like the moving iron more than the others.Any of the cartridges I have can be purchased for less than $500.00,and even with upgrades will be less than that. I don't seem to like the Japanese carts as much as they usually have slightly less output and are blander to me. I tried the Denon DL-110 and didn't like it, the SAE 1000LT blew it away. I've tried AT (11,12,13,14,15,series) and didn't like the sound either,not bad, just bland to me.Having said this, the Jico stylus are wonderful. You'll notice almost all my carts are from the 80's as well. Everything I have tried that's newer gets sold and I keep going back to those carts. If you're curious on pricing for a retip,let me know and I will get you names of the people who do it, 2 are in the UK, 1 The Netherlands, and 2 here. I f you like your cart that much, do the retip. I have a JVC 4MD-20X which I just purchased that the seller lied about on the stylus.He refunded my money and said keep it. It is identical to the AT 14Sa (AT14S stylus). You can have it for free.You'll just need a stylus which you can get for about $100.00 on the bay. The JVC is made by AT, but the specks on this are better than the AT specks, and this is a $350.00 cart. One thing I forgot to mention, I have 3 tables, a Dual 701, Hitachi HT-500, and JVC JL-F45.2 of the 3 tables have LM arms and all these carts do very well on them.The 3 carts on them seem to have a better bass response,clear mids and highs and are very open musically offering an almost 3d image.With my tubes, they are even more open and on the SET give excellent imaging.

that's gotta be one quiet table. No resonance whatsoever.

what arm did you wind up using?

It has a very nice sound to it.I'd take the Marantz over the Onkyo. I had both the SR-5004 (few years jr), as well as the TX-NR809.

I paid $200.00 for my RF-25's 2 years ago. The matching center is good at $100.00 (about average). I'd offer $250.00 max on the RF-25's. The "matching" that you are referring to is for the timber match on the tweeters, and speaker types. That gives the best sound quality and is supposed to be "seamless" on the audio going from left-center-right and vice versa. By matching, none of the speakers will overpower the others.

Bruce, I did,and am actually using it to play a few more. I'm probably going to put a good 5-6 hours or so on it. To me it is very similar to the OM30. It has a typical Ortofon sound to it. I'm tracking it at 1.25 grams as well. It's on the JVC JL-F45,so it has a similar S shaped arm. Although it's not broken in, it is similar in sound to my Ortofon VMS 30EMKII,and sounds better than my Ortofon VMS 20E MKII. Any other questions, don't hesitate to PM me.

Up for sale is a new Digitrac 300SE by Ortofon. The cartridge is a fine line nude super elliptical stylus and has all the installation tools as well as user guide and original box. The unit has approximately 1 hour usage on it to test out a test record. I purchased this from the original owner,which came on the turntable, so I am the 2nd owner. The usage is combined by me and the original owner. The head shell is not included with the sale, but it will come with the brush,screwdriver, 1/2 adapter, box, user guide, and stat sheet. This is considered to be comparable to the Super OM30, and the 2M Bronze. This came with a turntable I just purchased and I already have the Super OM40, and VMS 30E MKII. So this will not get used. Item will be shipped with insurance and packaged very well. I have this on Ebay for $160.00, I'm discounting for the forum. Shipping is included.

Try this one. https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/161738-onkyo-tx-nr809/

Moray, Not offense taken, I am in full agreement on what you say. Only reason I stated what I did is because the OP said he wanted to keep things minimal. What I did however on my amp, was have someone upgrade it with the circuitry, wiring, and caps. They were somewhat local, so it was a win for me. Parts sourced from China for the most part, and redone here.

Moray, Maynard typically doesn't sell his stuff, that is why I commented what I did. Otherwise I'd recommend him in a second.

like what? I purchased the Aiqen Audio BL-02, which has different names like Nobsound, and now Old Chen BL-02. It pushes 4 watts per channel in triode mode and pushes my Forte II with no issues, and the KF-28's even better. $189.00 PLUS $90.00 shipping and it's already built. For the DIY it runs about $149-$160 plus shipping. And I get the 3D imaging from it.

Get yourself a nice cheap entry level Chinese Class A SET tube amp and watch them come even more alive. Get one wired from the factory in triode mode. You'll have a nice smile on your face with them. Being they are front ported, it doesn't matter that much on placement backing to a wall,or out in the room. I have them also (KF-28's) and when I use them with the cardas method, come even more alive, especially with the tube amp.

Wow, Is that a clear coat over them, oil, or something else? I have Forte II'S and Brazilian Rosewood veneer and still need to do mine.

There are a few DIY from China that wouyld work. I have a Class A SET. Also, check the tubes secrtion and ask, there are several on there who do several different types of DIY.

Picked up a SAE 1000LT HOMC that came in today.

Picked up this Hitachi HT-500 Turntable as a back up after selling my Dual 1229Q the other day. I'm also getting a JVC as well.

The KG 3's are a nice speaker.I had a set of them and Maynard now has them., Hopefully he can chime in on the sound.

If they're anything like my RF-25's the vinyl is real crappy and tends to bubble up. It's real thin almost like paper. If so, maybe just peel it all off and redo them after a good sanding.

Not yet, I have watched a few of the video links posted here. Found a few others, and have SLOWLY been checking and cleaning everything. I only have one more problem to work out and it will be ready to use. Main problem was just hard grease. I think I can fix the last problem with a little more cleaning. The cart I have is factory I think? No numbers I could find, but has a weird symbol on the front of cart. Will try to get a pic up soon,but am very busy with work right now. Thanks to everyone for all the help. If I get it working good, going to build a nice wooden home for it? I have an extra plinth for it if needed. Let me know.

To the OP, have you had a chance to speak to Bill yet? Just curious. Also, which cartridge do you have on the table?

How ironic, it's also my 10 tear anniversary of being 37 on the same exact day. Congrats on the speakers.

This is the reason I went with 3 separate amps, this way, I can control what I want when I want. I toyed with getting a Scotts, until I heard what a SET can do, what a SEP can do, and what a PP Integrated can do. And none of my amps ran more than $500.00. I know there's much much better out there, but for where I'm at in the game, they keep me happy. If you can find a cheap Chinese Class A SET, you can get them wired already in triode mode and pushing 4 WPC. It will give you that nice 3D imaging, then all you need to do is "upgrade" the caps and resistors if anything. I had my SET upgraded for less than $175.00. I know you are going the other way due to your room size, but if you wanted something for critical listening, here's an idea. Try looking at one that puts out slightly more power and only has one input. Ok this is simply a comment which I think is worth making. I am not saying that you cannot use two or three amplifiers. I am saying to those who might be interested in trying that there is a reason that I usually recommend vertical biamping and that is amplifier gain. If I use two identical stereo block amplifiers all four channels will have identical gain. This is important. There are other benefits to vertical bi amping but I don't want to go there. Making sure that the gain is matched for all channels is important and it is very often overlooked and so it polarity. Every time you add a stage in an amp the polarity at the output changes so you need to keep that in mind. Have fun and enjoy. Oh and please don't confuse or be confused by knobs on amplifiers which are often labeled as "gain" they are not gain controls they are volume pots and they do not control gain they control volume. You cannot adjust amplifier gain with a knob on the front of an amplifier. Ok carry on. Moray, I don't know if you misunderstood my comment. If you did, I have the 3 amps, but don't run them at the same time.Each amp is used for what I feel like at that time. I do however want to get external crossovers and then take 3 amps and run them that way,and maybe a 4th amp for a horn loaded sub.

I just put my Dual 1229Q up for sale.If it sells and this is still available, I'd be interested in it.

I was also contemplating the Ruby, but was told they are extremely fragile. I may still do it as I have 2 stylus that need repair from when I purchased the cartridges, so I figured I'd get them done over. How is care on the Ruby? Here's the cactus cantilever and shibata.