[longbowbbs]

A new toy for my VPI....

 

[Paul Graham]

I still need to get a clamp but keep buying headphones instead lol

 

[longbowbbs]

  I still need to get a clamp but keep buying headphones instead lol

Too many parts...I am looking at new speakers now....always something!

 

[Paul Graham]

  Too many parts...I am looking at new speakers now....always something!

Definitely!!
 
I love my BR2's but keep getting these ideas about buying some B&W's or maybe some Focal's.
But its the wife's dagger eyes that are keeping that idea at bay lol!

 

[longbowbbs]

 

  Too many parts...I am looking at new speakers now....always something!

Definitely!!
 
I love my BR2's but keep getting these ideas about buying some B&W's or maybe some Focal's.
But its the wife's dagger eyes that are keeping that idea at bay lol!

Ha!

 

[]eep]

The trick of buying expensive hifi is: selling it to the wife.

I always considered Focal to be one of my favorite brands. It still is, but there is no way you can sell me some anymore. I heard the Stella Utopia on McIntosh amplification and I was underwhelmed. Not enough detail and to slow (relatively!!!). B&W has never or will ever be my speaker of choice.

My humble setup about 8 months ago:

Judging by the amount of records you've got your priorities straight. What made you choose the AT 33PTG?

 

[Redcarmoose]

The trick of buying expensive hifi is: selling it to the wife.

I always considered Focal to be one of my favorite brands. It still is, but there is no way you can sell me some anymore. I heard the Stella Utopia on McIntosh amplification and I was underwhelmed. Not enough detail and to slow (relatively!!!). B&W has never or will ever be my speaker of choice.
Judging by the amount of records you've got your priorities straight. What made you choose the AT 33PTG?

There has been so many small audio purchases I never told my wife about. Though out of respect for all her money saving ways, I told her about one 3K purchase after the fact. I found it is much easer asking her to forgive than to give permission.

 

[analogsurviver]

  Nice shirt longboobbs!
 
I wonder if there's stairs on the other side of the white wall.  That'd be scary.

That with stairs is the most logical explanation ...

 

[longbowbbs]

  Nice shirt longboobbs!
 
I wonder if there's stairs on the other side of the white wall.  That'd be scary.

Scary was the wait for the elevator. I used the stairs all day long. Much faster!

 

[Redcarmoose]

 

[]eep]

I do use the elevator. Try outrunning that to the 15th floor! 28 flights... when I see 5 I'm still sprinting but thinking "what am I doing?", when I see 10 I'm panting and I can't sprint anymore and have to take it a nudge down, when I reach the top at 13 my heartbeat has reached at least 180 (age 50 and in top condition). And when I go down as fast as I can (step, jump, turn)x28 I get so dizzy I almost walk into the wall to the left of the hall. :rolleyes:

There has been so many small audio purchases I never told my wife about. Though out of respect for all her money saving ways, I told her about one 3K purchase after the fact. I found it is much easer asking her to forgive than to give permission.

It might be a true most of the time. But that won't work for me since I'm single. I answer only to myself.
No, but seriously: I took my wife buying my previous (2ndH) TT and there was no problem. I could account for it that it was sensible and there was no problem and we had a great day visiting the sellers. A few years later I bought designer t-shirt on sale for €5 and I got the biggest row ever. Because my wife was spending a lot of money behind my back that I really would have liked to be consulted on. So my advice: work on your relationship and you can spend a lot more than you think. Sneak behind her back and you can end up losing both.

Talking about buying constraint: buying on auction (like Ebay), now that is dangerous. I just saw some nice lp's from a casual seller that seemed to go by unnoticed. 3 items: the first was only 2.50, first bid. And in the last few seconds... overbid. What? :mad: So the second one; stay on it, don't bid, stay on it... 20 seconds... now bid, only 3.40. Ow, automatic bid, up the anty, don't skimp, quickly... 10. Ow, not enough. Again, no time to think, 15 (my predetermined pain limit). 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Yes, won it for 13.50GBP. The third one: remember, no extra P+P... 15 minutes, what's the limit? It's only 2.50 now. 9 minutes, hey! 6.50. Oh no, someones bidding. Don't worry, still cheap. 3 minutes, 9.50... 13.50. Uh oh, one more shot before the painlimit... 1 minute. Now! 15! No not enough, how high, eh, 17? No, don't. It's getting to high. Yes what? Oh! Closed. Highest bid 19.68 equals~ €25. This really got my adrenaline pumping. And adrenaline makes for bad decision-making. As does testosterone; parade around a gorgeous woman and men will buy anything at any price. Bottomline: think first, communicate, and most of all, stay cool.

So, I lost MERCURY AMS 16040, Tchaikovsky - Dorati but I won Columbia SAX 2260 B/S: Beethoven No 6 Klemperer. My first real all tube mastered SAX Ed1 'silver' for only €17. It is really a bargain since these normally go for a lot more, depending on condition. This one seems Ex.

 

[Shaffer]

Judging by the amount of records you've got your priorities straight. What made you choose the AT 33PTG?

In a word, the sound. I was running Lyras for years and wanted something different. Heard one in a friend's system and decided to try it. For ~$600 imported from Japan, it's a (relative) steal.

 

[analogsurviver]

In a word, the sound. I was running Lyras for years and wanted something different. Heard one in a friend's system and decided to try it. For ~$600 imported from Japan, it's a (relative) steal.

I waited till you replied.
 
I am VERY familiar with AT's MMs and few MCs. I absolutely HATE MC OCx family - I would remove it from my TT in a blink of an eye. Brrrr.... - it is linear like probably no MC under the sun, it tracks well, it even has decent channel separation - but 7th and 9th harmonic distortion really is the very last thing I would like listen to. NO WAY !
 
AT32/33 family is looong in the tooth - spanning almost 4 decades - and it has been updated and improved many times. For the life, I can no longer find on internet AT's own measurements of their carts - good old Bruel & Kjaer printouts. And out of all current or "just deceased" models, 33 PTG and 33PTGII had the most sensible and balanced set of measurements of all things AT available at the time ( six months back max ).
In particular, PTGs had very good channel separation that was not deteriorating much with rising frequency -
and that is always a sign of a good sounding cart.
 
33 PTG II also reduced its coil resistance - from 17 ohm down to 10 ohm. Not only is now there less mass (always a good thing in a phono cartridge stylus) - it should also help the dynamic range. It still is not really low (like 1 ohm or less carts that can wake the dead with their dynamic range ) - but should really be decent by now. Here some thoughts from another forum http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/best-cartridge-youve-never-heard-of-the-audio-technica-at33ptg-ii.329374/ - and you can form your own opinion with respect to comments of others and comparisons with other products.
 
My own question for you: after having lived with Lyras for a long time, how did you perceive the vinyl noise as reproduced by AT 33PTG II ? Lyras are sort of kings/reference in this regard, if the AT did not lag (far) behind, it must really be a great cart. 
 
And at the price, it IS a steal. Of the current ATs, perhaps the only one I would consider . 

 

[]eep]

I won't elaborate, but I was considering the PTG. I always loved my OC9 and was very sad when 1 channel stopped working. But I love my Urushi more, and still have an almost new KaratD17 MKII as a spare. Plus a Decca. I don't think you won't find anything better for the price but I don't need anything.

 

[analogsurviver]

I won't elaborate, but I was considering the PTG. I always loved my OC9 and was very sad when 1 channel stopped working. But I love my Urushi more, and still have an almost new KaratD17 MKII as a spare. Plus a Decca. I don't think you won't find anything better for the price but I don't need anything.

I first heard an OCx ( 7? 9? ) trough something both of us love(d) - Rogers LS-3/5a. And it was coarse beyond belief. Then, a few months later, I did get to install and measure OC9 - and found that 7th and/or 9th harmonic that bothered me that much . Not for me....
 
Koetsu I am not familiar enough with - except when I did get to adjust and hear them, they were behaving quite well with most signals and music. I did get to peek under the microscope with one and found they use a rarely (if ever by others) method of attaching the stylus to the cantilever. First, the stylus is attached to a metal "shroud/plate" - and that then gets glued to the boron cantilever. There is a penalty of additional metal at the least desirable point imaginable - but the positive side of such a decision does bring dividends - stylus orientation can be controlled/positioned with much better precision than the usual (haphazard ) method. From that, a shrill sounding Koetsu should be the last thing one could encounter - liked that one indeed ! Pity that retipping at Koetsu is so expensive - and NO, sending it to others when time comes will NOT bring the same sonics !
 

Koetsu
 
DV Karats ( each and every one of them ) have one fatal drawback - poor channel separation. That is why other, more conventionally built and priced much more highly models in DV lineup exist. For sheer speed and freedom from colourations, DV 17D ( now in III guise ) is hard to beat at any price. Sooner or later, my Ruby (23 RS ?? ) that by now has left and right side of the diamond  worn beyond any safe use will get a  new diamond sibling.
 
Decca ? From a (very) limited exposure, for the hard core S&M practitioners only - when it is right, it can be divine, when the LP just played does not suit it, it can be just the opposite. I would never want it as a desert island only cartridge - but for an occasional fling

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