Thread: Change t'table and arm for Clearaudio MC?

Hi all

I'm still using an LP12 with Ittok LVII, bought new in the 80s/90s. Never thought of changing until upgrade to Clearaudio Davinci v2 (where I managed to detach and lose the stylus - ouch) and now a Titanium V2. Playing through a Boulder 508 and then 1110/1160, the SQ is as good as I can imagine vinyl will produce: almost zero surface noise, character of each LP revealed, huge dynamic range and clarity, faultless tracking.... Question: what could I expect to gain from a change of t'table and arm to e.g. something from the Clearaudio range or similar? Not talking budget at this stage, just SQ.
Grateful for any responses.

Jeff, UK

the venerable LP12 in its present guise is still a serious table. I've had a Klimax level deck and most iterations below that. I would consider upgrades, the Lingo 4 being the sweetspot for motor/controller. Its quite sophisticated with an optical encorder that reads the patter position which communicates with the speed controller. Its every bit as sophisticated as any PS used by Clearaudio. The other upgrade is ditching the 80/90s subchassis for something like the Kore (or Keel if you can swing it).

Thanks for these thoughts - v reassuring! I'll investigate these upgrades for starters.

Thanks very much for these comments. You are taking me down a new avenue here since my real concern was whether a table/arm combo approx 40 years old would be good enough to "manage" a relatively new MC design which no doubt imposes its own demands on the arm especially. However there have been no issues with the tracking of the Titanium V2 so I have to believe all is well from that point of view.

On SQ, I suppose I must be pretty used to the LP12 sound by now, and it's not easy to find a dealer who would set up a comparison between comparable LP12 and CA "editions". Hence the value of this forum since I have never heard a fully loaded CA set-up in action. I can only assume it would be wonderful and I'm very grateful for your comments on the CA units you have. Detail and delicacy become more important to me as the years go by and will contact Clearaudio distributor in the UK to get their thoughts and info on demo options.

Again many thanks.