Home Vinyl Asylum

Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

Either or both

I recently bought a 598 III and have been very happy with it.

There are several versions of the 598 and you should check which it is. I gather that the 980 tonearm on the earlier versions may not be as good as the 990.

I've never heard a 698 but have read about them and I would expect it to also be excellent.

I believe that the most significant differences are the tone arm and the automatic lift off.

I believe that both the 990 tonearm on my table and the tonearm on the 698 are excellent. The slightly higher effective mass on the 990 tonearm may be a bit of an advantage as most modern cartridges are designed for mid mass rather than low mass tonearms but I suspect that either tonearm would handle a wide range of excellent cartridges.

The auto lift off is a great feature. On the 598 it is simple and magnetic. I understand that on the 698 it is more complex and can give problems.

I would make a decision based on: condition, the value of any included cartridge, and which of the two I liked the look of better.

I would also consider initially getting both to permit longer term evaluation.

You can search for my posts on the 598 here and see pictures at the AudioKarma link below.

David





This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Sonic Craft  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
  • Either or both - energyandair 02/27/0710:26:20 02/27/07 (0)


You can not post to an archived thread.