At Wayner's recommendation, I am now using a new Orbit turntable/arm combination. This has their most recent tone arm, a normal two pivot version, not the earlier unipivot design.
Mechanically and ethically it is excellent. The very thick Acrylic platter platter is clear as light and is really really flat.
Its a simple, low cost, and really nice unit. A bonus - - - it does not hum with Grado cartridges.
Mine came standard with an AT91E cartridge which we promptly replaced with our Longhorn Grado Gold. We did need to add a bit of mass to the counterweight to handle the extra cartridge mass.
We ordered the Orbit Custon version with a Maple bass, acrylic platter, and very nice working cue control. Total price $384.
https://uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-customEarly listening was a bit disappointing, nice but kinda ho-hum.
Then I replaced the stylus assembly with the Grado 8MZ-V stylus and wow, the sound came alive! This is one really trick stylus assembly. The overall set up is as nice as anything I am familiar with now.
The U-Turn Orbit is highly recommended here.
Frank
