[stuartr]

I installed a cartridge by myself for the first time, and my lord was it a pain in the ass. I feel like you need three espresso-free hands, all with fingers the size of tweezers. You also need bionic eyes, the patience of Penelope (yes, and Odyssey reference), and an ability to just stop tweaking at some point.

The upside is that it sounds gorgeous. The music is so alive and realistic. Yes, every once in awhile there is a pop or click, and the backgrounds are not as black as with CD (I need a better ground cable...), but when you stop focusing on those flaws (which happens pretty much as soon as you sit back), you realize how fantastic the rest of the presentation is. Voices sound extremely realistic, strings and pianos sound like strings and pianos rather than very close approximations of strings and pianos. For me, the trade off of what vinyl does poorly versus what it does well is easy to make. The ease and beauty of the sound is well worth the huge "pain in the ass factor" that vinyl brings. By the way, I am not trying to start a vinyl vs. cd war...this is just the way I feel...I have a great CD player (Cary 306/200) and I love it, but I just like the sound of vinyl better. I have not heard enough SACD to compare, but what I have heard is fantastic. Unfortunately, practically nothing I care to listen to is out on SACD, so I am not really interested. It's more about the music for me than what technical properties the medium has, and I don't tend to buy music for its production values...though I enjoy it when something is really well-produced.

Anyway, the turntable is a Music Hall MMF-9, and the new cartridge is a Shelter 501 MkII. It is dramatically better than the Music Hall Maestro that came with the table. Not that it sounded bad before, but the Shelter is way better. The phono stage is a CJ EV-1. Anyway, I am not sure I have everything "just so", but I am sure I will have plenty of time to tweak it later. I ordered a hi-fi news test LP to see if I can have it help me get the last bits of performance out of the rig.

The music I have been listening to is Radiohead's Hail to the Thief 45 set...very well recorded and pressed, big heavy vinyl. It sounds fantastic. The best I have heard, however, is my Mercury Living Presence recording of Janos Starker playing Bach's 2nd and 5th cello suites -- it is 40 years old, yet it sounds like he is sitting right in front of you. It is the most intimate and intense recording I have ever heard. I bought it used, of course, so there is a bit more pops and clicks than most of my newer LP's, but the sense of realism and intimacy is so strong that they just disappear in the background as if they were people next to you shuffling in their seat or coughing at a concert. That is the best way I can describe it -- you are there, so the pops are just background noise in the hall.

Anyway, I just wanted to post my experience about it because it is always so great when the gear steps away and lets you experience the music viscerally. When it makes you stop whatever else you might be doing and listen to the MUSIC, which is ultimately what it is all about.

And headphones of course...they were HP-2's with the UWBR cable into the Maestrobator...IC's cardas neutral reference and KS-1010's...ground cable is a unshielded speaker cable that seems to pick up the local rap radio station when there is no signal and I turn the volume all the way up (it is inaudible at listening levels)....I am working on it.

Here is the cartridge...feel free to tell me if I mounted it backwards!

 

[Artemio]

I happen to agree with you, the presentation and realism of it beats the small pops and clicks immediately after you start listening end enjoying it.

I have done A/B compares of the same vinyls vs SACD, for instance Restrospectve by Rebecca Pidgeon (Spanish Harlem in particular) and also with Miles Davis Kind of Blue. Vinyl wins hands down in terms of catching your attention and presence in the room.

Great picture of your cartridge there. I love doing those myself, although I only have of my older Sumiko Pearl one. Now I have a Denon 103R that I have only photographed with a point and shoot camera. Your's is superb and it is a great cartridge you have there man. Congrats.

Edit: No wonder you pic is so good

Just visited your site, great work man.

 

[stuartr]

Thanks Artemio. I am glad you liked the photos. I am testing a macro lens for someone at the moment, so I had it handy to photograph the cartridge. It's interesting to hear your comments on SACD too. When I have heard it, it has been magnificent, but so few of the artists I listen to release anything on it. The only things they release are on cd or vinyl.

 

[robm321]

Definately worth the effort. Although I need to get a new cartridge since my Dynavector Karat went bad, and am listening to CD exclusively.

When I have a good set up on my TT, it's almost exclusively what I want to hear. My CD player takes a back seat. And my CD player is pretty dang good.

Good job on the cart. Setup. It is really difficult when you are trying it for the first time... heck even when experienced.

 

[nikongod]

Sweet work man. It gets a little easier as you do it more, but not much easier.

The shelter is a rocking cart indeed.

 

[memepool]

Yeah installing expensive moving coils is not for the faint hearted, especially when they don't have threaded lugs like many of the Japanese ones, so you have to faff around with allen keys and miniature wrenchs to hold the damned bolts in place.

It's even worse with high output or vintage moving coils with really strong magnets where you can feel the pull of the core should you inadvertently pickup any magnetised tool...

Giving me palpitations just looking at it

 

[MarkyMark]

Yep, it's really satisfying to the job yourself than leave it to a dealer who may well not lavish the same care and attention on the job. Well done!

The first cart I did myself was the Dynavector 10X5 - no stylus guard and non-threaded lugs. A bit nerve-wracking but I got the job done and it gave me more confidence to install my current cart, the Rondo Bronze.

BTW, lots of tips on vinyl set-up can be found at audioasylum.com.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[stuartr]

Thanks guys. Yes, the hardest part was that it did not have threaded lugs...in fact, the lugs are not even circular, so they will not hold the screw in...they are just semi-circles, so if the screw is not tightened, the cartridge will just fall out. This made it particularly hard to get both nuts on the screws, while preventing the cartridge from falling down. This is the part when you need a third hand. I can't imagine how it would be if I could feel the magnets working!

 

[jp11801]

congrats on the shelter 501 it is a really good cart. After a while you can do a cart change soup to nuts in 15-30 minutes tops with no problems. Yes vinyl is more engaging if you can get beyond they ticks and pops. I grew up with vinyl so it does not bother me but for those that only know cd it seems to be an issue. If you ever get a chance check out zyx carts I have the bloom and owned the yatra and think both are world class and perform far above their cost. Having owned the shelter 501 and 7000 as well as the dynavector 20h and ruby as well as the music maker cart the zyx is my favorite of the bunch.

Do you have a decent set of tools as well having a good set of tweezers, small screwdrivers, levels, tracking force scale (digital preferred) and gauge to set overhang.

 

[PITTM]

I have an MMF-5 and I installed a grado cartridge myself after the dealer recommended I pay him 100 to mount it. I did the tracking weight with a small scale I had and set it up in about 45 minutes and it sounds fantastic. It's not as hard as people make it sound.

 

[nikongod]

I suppose this is the best place to put this:

A shelter 501mk2 will not align on a properly mounted rega arm. ****ers. Im going to try my shure M3D next, watch it not work too.

I spent like 45min working on this thing, and now POOF. at least I didnt break it (yet.)

edited:
ARGH!!! The shure M3D will not line up either.

 

[derekbmn]

Ari .... can you get it to line up at the inner null point of the protractor ?

Check , double check and triple check the mounting distance of the tonearm.
I know there is some conflicting data out there about the Rega mounting distances.

 

[stuartr]

That sucks Ari. What exactly is the problem? What is preventing it from lining up right?

 

[nikongod]

The distance from the stylus to mounting holes is way shorter on the shelter than on the grado.

After a little more work on it, I think i got it set.

edited:
Nope, The longhorned red is better. The shelter took the red and rubbed its very wide nose in the bass, but the highs were all messed up. im happy, so thats good

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nope, The longhorned red is better. The shelter took the red and rubbed its very wide nose in the bass, but the highs were all messed up.

Is the Shelter broken in as these kind of carts usually take a long time to settle down often sounding spitty in the treble for the first few hundred hours.

That said there are some MCs that just don't gell so well on the Rega arms without additional faffing with ballast etc, like some of the Denons.

If you want a step up from the Grado I'd go for a Dynavector or Ortofon Rondo as these seem to work well although they do still need the break in period.