[]eep]

1964 is a good year indeed...

I watched the video about the RCM's. It sure takes a while for the record to clean. The unattended part is good but not for me probably. I even forget the tea while I'm coocking the water and a few hours later I'm thinking:"man I'm thirsty"
I have no problem with a soft-haired brush touching the surface (Okki Nokki uses a goathair brush) that is intended to be scanned by a diamond with a very high local surface pressure. If the record is really worn grey or scratched and dirty to the groove I use woodglue.

For the record (oh, the pun :rolleyes the Okki Nokki is a Dutch product (not German, even your "Dutch" is soooo wrong. Dutch = Deutsch=swearword. We are Netherlanders, I am a Gelderlander to be exact). I know the 'inventor' and spoke to him about how he came up with it. He looked at some of the other really expensive types like the VPI an Clearaudio and thought: "It's not a very complicated machine, I should be able to do that much cheaper". Het started out with a small vacuum cleaner engine and voila... It started out at 300 euros (now 400) which is less than half the price of the (hardly available) VPI etc. The name comes from dutch dialect from the Hague meaning 'ok'. It's not the ultimate in quality or durability but the average consumer has no need for that if you only use it occasionally.
And my dealer brought it to my door at no extra cost. Which is allways nice.

 

[analogsurviver]

  I've always loved that Fontana logo.

 

  Seriously +1
 
One of my two or three favorite violin concertos.

 

  I'd love to hear that.

 
In this case, the recording/record/label is just "the middle man". It is played by Igor Ozim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Ozim
under the baton of Milan Horvat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Horvat
Although Igor Ozim is my townman, I hardly remember ever hearing him live. He is one of the most in demand violin professors on the globe and returns to his homeland mainly for summer master classes like this one 
http://www.velanensis.si/21-mednarodna-poletna-violinska-sola-igorja-ozima-avgust-2013/?lang=en
Here some first hand experiences of his students.
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=8338
 
To me, Mr. Ozim is more of a demi-god myth than anything else, every time his name pops up it is accompanied by awe and admiration. Finally getting something from him on vinyl really is great. Less great is the fact that this copy has been played and lightly tracked and the more you are nearing inner grooves ( everyone reading this should know what comes next ...), the more 

 you get at the guy/gal that did this to this wonderful record. 
 
Milan Horvat is, despite his age, frequent guest conductor of Slovenian Philharmonic. After a concert under his baton I enjoyed immensely, I asked some friends from the orchestra how it is like to play under him. " B****y tyrant ..." was the most frequent answer - but that was in the end meant in a positive way. It simply proves times again conductor has to be # 1. The playing that night was a fair cut above the normal high level usually achieved by the orchestra of that particular period.
 
And good conductors are to musicians exatly like VERY demanding bosses to other mere mortals...we are all humans in the end. But it is equally true :
no pain - no gain. That is why Mr. Horvat is always a welcome guest here.

 

[OPR8R]

This may be of interest to those of you with Rega (RB303) + Ortofon combos.  I have a Rega with an Ortofon 2M fitted to it, which had been installed when I received it.  One of the things I noticed while researching my TT setup, is that the Ortofon 2M (Black in my case) almost looks designed to be fitted to the RB303 tonearm.  I assume many headshells are shaped this way?  For some reason though, my cartridge had been fitted a few millimeters from the tip of the tonearm.  I didn't think much of it, until recently.
 
I've been listening to lots of vinyl lately because I have a new phono stage I'm trying to break-in.  It's a great phono stage but it didn't solve a problem I'd hoped it would: I'd get static/crackle in my left channel on certain notes played at certain volumes.  I knew it wasn't my headphones because it only happened when listening to records.  Once I got tubes rolled and was satisfied nothing on the phono stage end was going to fix the problem, I looked at the tonearm/cartidge, which is where I should have started.
 
I wish I would have gone at this problem in a more scientific manner, but my first try at fixing it on the TT end was to move the cartridge all the way forward, but this also meant I had to readjust tracking force and stuff.  This instantly fixed my problem.  It also improved overall sound quality.  I don't know if I had incorrectly set the tracking force (I'm sure I triple checked this), or if the Ortofon is meant to be mounted at the end of the RB303.  But it sounds and looks way better, so I'm leaving it.  

 
TL/DR; If you have an Ortofon 2M (mounted on a Rega), and are having issues, check its position on the headshell/tonearm.

 

[bbophead]

Got the same TT/Cart but my dealer set it up for me.  I've had no problems.
 

 

[OPR8R]

  Got the same TT/Cart but my dealer set it up for me.  I've had no problems.
 

 
I'd previously noticed yours is setup the same way.  I should say my "problem" wasn't really always apparent.  In fact, I only noticed it on certain albums.  However, you haven't noticed any issues, so it makes me think I had tracking force setting issues.
 
edit: updated with picture.  made for each other?
 

 

[]eep]

Yes of course the Ortofon are made to fit the Rega arm. It is fitted in almost all of the players in the pricebracket the Ortofons are sold in with the exception of Pro-ject (which is originally based on the ubiquitous Rega). And they look and almost the same allthough it doesn't look as symbiotic.


I just read that VPI is launching a new RCM called the MW-1 Cyclone. It improves on the old 16.5 in a lot of ways the video VPI16.5 + Okki Nikki was saying. But $1000? :rolleyes:
It says: "The motor drives the platter rim rather than the center shaft, which means you can press down as hard as you like and the center motor shaft will not bend or break, nor will the platter "give"."
Yes thats great if you are applying Permostat right after cleaning like me. Only the platter is still recessed in the box so you can't really work in there. Doh!


One more big + for the Okki Nokki: it fits - exacttly- in a compartment of the Ikea Expedit that is ideal for LP storage. And I mean exactly, not 1 mm room to the sides. It almost feels air-dampened suspension if you slide it in.

 

[Shaffer]

I'm a little puzzled: are you guys not using alignment protractors, along with other tools, to setup your cartridges?

 

[OPR8R]

I'm a little puzzled: are you guys not using alignment protractors, along with other tools, to setup your cartridges?

 
Nope.  We got ours with the cartridge installed.  I assume since it was professionally done that a protractor was used.  I only fiddled with mine because I had an issue.

 

[longbowbbs]

I'm a little puzzled: are you guys not using alignment protractors, along with other tools, to setup your cartridges?

Nope.  We got ours with the cartridge installed.  I assume since it was professionally done that a protractor was used.  I only fiddled with mine because I had an issue.

You are clearly not obsessing enough over your alignment.Please turn in your TT and membership card.

 

[bbophead]

You are clearly not obsessing enough over your alignment.Please turn in your TT and membership card.

A good LOL!

 

[OPR8R]

You are clearly not obsessing enough over your alignment.Please turn in your TT and membership card.

I hadn't thought if it as obsession. Maybe I should sell my TT and vinyl before I get worse

 

[Silent One]

 
It's gonna get worse. But here, you'll find excellent support. Either we all sit on the wagon or be found down the street

raising sand... and tonearms.

 

[OPR8R]

 

 
It's gonna get worse. But here, you'll find excellent support. Either we all sit on the wagon or be found down the street

raising sand... and tonearms.

 

[palmfish]

I'm waiting for cassettes to follow suit and make a comeback. Then we can obsess over bias, calibration, Dolby NR, demagnetizing, etc...

 

[Silent One]

The comeback... that would be exciting!