Did DankPods get ripped off when he bought his turntable?

[ThatM1key]

I have been watching DankPods for many months now. Recently he posted a video about getting into Vinyl, and paid 2,300 AUS (1,700 USD) for a "AVID HIFI Ingenium Plug&Play Turntable" from Addicted To Audio. When I saw the closer shot of the cartridge, it looked like a cheap Audio Technica 3600L judging by the ridges. I do know lots and lots of turntables used that cartridge with the blank face. If you look up the turntable's cartridge, the "AVID CA-1", you'll get results for AVID themselves. The 3600L is a good cartridge that costs $20 USD but it appears that AVID stuck it on a $1,700 TT.

DankPods Closer Shot:

Audio Technica 3600L General Stock Photo:

Addicted To Audio Stock Photo (Cropped):

DankPods Video:

 

[anmpr1]

This low end A/T (if that's what it is) is on other beginner record players. Denon uses one that looks the same, on theirs. Which is pretty funny, given that Denon's cartridges cost as much as their record player. Talk about a market disconnect. Maybe the new owner of Denon will fix that. LOL

Also see the Ortofon Red, and OM10 on some entry level decks.

 

[deniall83]

Plenty of companies buy OEM cartidges and put their name on them. Rega also offer that same cartridge named the Rega Carbon and fit it to their Planar 1 as a plug and play option. The arms AVID use are made by Rega as well. Michell use modified Rega arms. Plenty of this all over the HiFi world. I think saying "ripped off" is a bit strong. If he wanted a plug and play turntable, that's what he got. If he wanted a better cartridge, he could have bought one.

Addicted to Audio are the official AVID distributor in Australia. I have had many dealings with them over the years and they are nothing but professional.

 

[anmpr1]

Plenty of companies buy OEM cartidges and put their name on them.

In the heyday of analog, many Japanese record players were very similar in the electro-mechanical department, but each sported different cosmetics. I suspect they were all made in the same factory. In any case, they certainly shared a very similar DNA. Think about the 'dynamic servo' arms used on Denon, JVC and Sony decks.

Low end to mid-tier cassette decks all pretty much looked the same, with the same controls and features. Was every Japanese audio company making their own tape decks? Not likely. CD players? Ditto.

At the analog high-end, Mark Levinson, GAS, McIntosh, Klipsch, and many others sold expensive MC cartridges. Most definitely sourced from whatever Japanese cartridge makers would work with them, and as long as the spread was decent.

 

[Vini darko]

It just means we have cartridge maddnes videos coming at some point . I'll enjoy the Aussie take on it.