tt/ta/cart ratio?

woodsyi · « **on:** 17 Feb 2005, 02:29 pm »

What is a general rule of thumb for cost ratio of an analogue set up: TT/tone arm/cartridge? Mine is 50/30/20. I got curious because of this listing. http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=12724&keywords=NL021405 What TT and TA would you need to justify it?

JoshK · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 Feb 2005, 02:37 pm »

I am not sure how defineable this is, maybe a poll of each of our own setups is in order. In my case it is 56/13/31. IMO the cart makes the music so a good cart is key but the table and arm help the cart do its job. The table needs to be able to do its job well and Rega 250 is a very good arm for 95% of the job, so only more money should be spent here after the other two are in order. My $.02

meilankev · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 03:08 pm »

woodsyi,

If they bought an expensive enough turntable/tonearm combo, the ratios could still be in line with your setup - even with a $13,000 cartridge.

I'm certainly one of those who feels there is no rule-of-thumb for this. Of course, I'm one of those who spent double on my amp/preamp combo than I did on my speakers. So what do I know?

Kevin

shokunin · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 05:03 pm »

For my latest and hopefully last TT for awhile the ratio has been

TT / Tonearm / Cartridge / Phonostage:

44% / 18% / 10% / 27%

Some of the pieces were bought used so the percentages are a a bit lower.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Feb 2005, 05:53 pm »

I think percentages are often different when buying analogue setups piecemeal rather than all at once: I've always tended to spend more on whatever component I've bought LAST.

As is, my ratio is 60%/20/20 (TT/TA/cart) or
40%/14/14/32 (TT/TA/cart/ phonostage).

I bought the phonostage last, so percentage might be skewed in that direction; my next purchase will probably be a new cartridge maybe twice as much as the current one, again skewing the ratio towards the latest element.

woodsyi · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Feb 2005, 03:09 pm »

I was figuring the ratio by listed price. I got my TT set up used as a package deal and then I did some upgrading and servicing on different parts. IMHO, using list price gives better standard for comparison since some of us get better bargains then others in the used market. I do agree that one spend more on the lastest component. That's just natural as we constantly look to replace the weakest link with a better one. I just replaced my phono stage and I notice a big difference. So my TT/TA/CART/PS ratio using list price is 40/20/16/24.