Zanth
SHAman who knew of Head-Fi ten years prior to its existence
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2001
- Posts
- 9,570
- Likes
- 44
Well as some of you know, I was lucky to come across a fine rig (Gyrodec w/ Orbe platter, SME V arm, Koetsu Black cart). I had a friend check the table out before the purchase (it was from San Jose) and after the thumbs up, the deal was completed and the rig was sent!
I was warned by the seller that the cart may need retipping, so I had that in the back of my mind. First though, I needed a phono. So I did some research, spoke with many knowledgable folks (thanks to those from the past thread, thanks to GWN and Todd for their excellent private correspondences) and I finally decided that for my first try at a phono with a low mc cart, I better go with something solid state and that has a very good resale value. I went with a local dealer whom I frequent now and again and I settled on the Dynavector P-75. Not too pricey and usually sells in a day on Audiogon. I could have "tried it out" from the dealer but the problem is that he didnt' have any in stock and so, though he was willing to let me have a go with a new one, I would need to keep it for a while for the breaking in (200 hours I am told) and with my small small collection (20 or so lp's) that would mean a looooooong time with the unit. Something I was not comfortable asking of the dealer though again, he was willing. So I dropped the coin (or well, the cc took the hit
) and home it came!
I had a listen with the rig I had on loan from GWN and the sound was nice, very open and transparent, much better than the "Little Rat" but well, it was to be expected! That said, I bought this for the new rig and I wanted desperately to try it out.
As it so happens, I required some new bearing oil and some damping fluid for the arm. The bearing oil was a breeze to get a hold on, I just contacted the distributor of Michell products in Montreal and they overnighted the goop, along with a new drive belt just in case. However, it seemed no one in Canada could get a hold of the SME fluid within a reasonable time. I know, because I contacted every single SME dealer in Canada. Can one believe every single spot was out? Unreal. The ETA was approximately 3 weeks. So, then I thought...how about SME themselves!??! Sure they could do it, but they needed cash or cheque not cc or paypal. So that would mean mail this and mail that and the time in between. Given what I have heard about the UK postal service, I figured I would be looking at well over a month before I saw the stuff. I could have of course, FedExed the MO and then requested the same for the fluid, but that would have doubled its price.
Finally, I tracked down Flat Earth Audio in the US, the old distributor for SME products (Sumiko is the new one) and they had some left! And they were willing to ship! However, for whatever reason, there was a phone tag session going on, and it took a couple of weeks until things got ironed out (thanks to Kuma who had Flat Earth actually give ME a call
)
So, while I waited for this damping fluid, I had the rig in pieces. Once the phono was in my house, I just couldn't deal with the rig sitting there in boxes, so late one night after some work, I just went at it, set it up, plugged it in and watched it spin! Wahoo! it works! But could it play music? Well, that would depend on the life of this cart, which again, I was warned was in its late stages of life.
Well, I tried my best to set up the arm without any tools, read some instructions, checked the specs of the cart and arm and away I went!
The sound was bad. It was tinny and metallic. Etched, and *shock* digital sounding. I was puzzled because the Thorens/Alphason Opal/Grado Silver combo sounded exceptional. So, I figured it must be the cart. At any point in the playback where there was a loud or very dynamic passage, I would get horrible distortion. HORRIBLE hissing. The bass was loose and flabby and well overall I it was very off. The mids were good though, so on some male vocals and some guitar tracks, I did dig the sound. Anyhow, I thought all was lost and thus I began my research of a new cart.
GWN had offered to help setup the table and we agreed to wait until all the stuff was in. When the damping fluid finally arrived this past Monday, we set a time for last night. I awaited patiently all day (or well impatiently, I was anxious to know if I was simply a total tard at this analogue gig, or it the cart was toast).
Well, after a couple of hours, LOTS of learning (thanks to the fine instructor), I found out that I had completely killed the suspension of the SUSPENSION tt. Heh, what once was a fine bouncing beauty became a dull rigid mass, that is until the doctor was in the house. Now we had bounce! But it didn't stop there! The arm was completely unaligned, the weight was off (it arced into the air at a fine angle, it most certainly was not 90 degrees to the record) and well, there was a bunch else I won't bore you with. Suffice to say, that after the proper setup, my rig was capable of not only spinning records but actually reproducing some fine music from them!
There was no hint of distortion, though the sound is still slightly bright and a bit metallic, this is mainly due to the P75 which still has a while to go before it is for all intents and purposes "good to go." The bass was nice and tight. Perhaps not as snappy as I am used to with my redbook rig, but then the Koetsu is not known for that type of bass. The mids were as beautiful as I have ever heard through headphones. All in all, the waiting was worth it. I am finally into this mayhem called vinyl!
So a big thanks to GWN for helping me setup my rig. Though I am still an uber-newbie at this, at least now I have a hint of knowledge and can hopefully begin the maintenance of the rig. First things first. I need some new vinyl. There is an excellent used vinyl store I have yet to set foot in and I think it is high time I have a visit. $1 CAD records, can't go wrong there!
I was warned by the seller that the cart may need retipping, so I had that in the back of my mind. First though, I needed a phono. So I did some research, spoke with many knowledgable folks (thanks to those from the past thread, thanks to GWN and Todd for their excellent private correspondences) and I finally decided that for my first try at a phono with a low mc cart, I better go with something solid state and that has a very good resale value. I went with a local dealer whom I frequent now and again and I settled on the Dynavector P-75. Not too pricey and usually sells in a day on Audiogon. I could have "tried it out" from the dealer but the problem is that he didnt' have any in stock and so, though he was willing to let me have a go with a new one, I would need to keep it for a while for the breaking in (200 hours I am told) and with my small small collection (20 or so lp's) that would mean a looooooong time with the unit. Something I was not comfortable asking of the dealer though again, he was willing. So I dropped the coin (or well, the cc took the hit
I had a listen with the rig I had on loan from GWN and the sound was nice, very open and transparent, much better than the "Little Rat" but well, it was to be expected! That said, I bought this for the new rig and I wanted desperately to try it out.
As it so happens, I required some new bearing oil and some damping fluid for the arm. The bearing oil was a breeze to get a hold on, I just contacted the distributor of Michell products in Montreal and they overnighted the goop, along with a new drive belt just in case. However, it seemed no one in Canada could get a hold of the SME fluid within a reasonable time. I know, because I contacted every single SME dealer in Canada. Can one believe every single spot was out? Unreal. The ETA was approximately 3 weeks. So, then I thought...how about SME themselves!??! Sure they could do it, but they needed cash or cheque not cc or paypal. So that would mean mail this and mail that and the time in between. Given what I have heard about the UK postal service, I figured I would be looking at well over a month before I saw the stuff. I could have of course, FedExed the MO and then requested the same for the fluid, but that would have doubled its price.
Finally, I tracked down Flat Earth Audio in the US, the old distributor for SME products (Sumiko is the new one) and they had some left! And they were willing to ship! However, for whatever reason, there was a phone tag session going on, and it took a couple of weeks until things got ironed out (thanks to Kuma who had Flat Earth actually give ME a call
So, while I waited for this damping fluid, I had the rig in pieces. Once the phono was in my house, I just couldn't deal with the rig sitting there in boxes, so late one night after some work, I just went at it, set it up, plugged it in and watched it spin! Wahoo! it works! But could it play music? Well, that would depend on the life of this cart, which again, I was warned was in its late stages of life.
Well, I tried my best to set up the arm without any tools, read some instructions, checked the specs of the cart and arm and away I went!
The sound was bad. It was tinny and metallic. Etched, and *shock* digital sounding. I was puzzled because the Thorens/Alphason Opal/Grado Silver combo sounded exceptional. So, I figured it must be the cart. At any point in the playback where there was a loud or very dynamic passage, I would get horrible distortion. HORRIBLE hissing. The bass was loose and flabby and well overall I it was very off. The mids were good though, so on some male vocals and some guitar tracks, I did dig the sound. Anyhow, I thought all was lost and thus I began my research of a new cart.
GWN had offered to help setup the table and we agreed to wait until all the stuff was in. When the damping fluid finally arrived this past Monday, we set a time for last night. I awaited patiently all day (or well impatiently, I was anxious to know if I was simply a total tard at this analogue gig, or it the cart was toast).
Well, after a couple of hours, LOTS of learning (thanks to the fine instructor), I found out that I had completely killed the suspension of the SUSPENSION tt. Heh, what once was a fine bouncing beauty became a dull rigid mass, that is until the doctor was in the house. Now we had bounce! But it didn't stop there! The arm was completely unaligned, the weight was off (it arced into the air at a fine angle, it most certainly was not 90 degrees to the record) and well, there was a bunch else I won't bore you with. Suffice to say, that after the proper setup, my rig was capable of not only spinning records but actually reproducing some fine music from them!
There was no hint of distortion, though the sound is still slightly bright and a bit metallic, this is mainly due to the P75 which still has a while to go before it is for all intents and purposes "good to go." The bass was nice and tight. Perhaps not as snappy as I am used to with my redbook rig, but then the Koetsu is not known for that type of bass. The mids were as beautiful as I have ever heard through headphones. All in all, the waiting was worth it. I am finally into this mayhem called vinyl!
So a big thanks to GWN for helping me setup my rig. Though I am still an uber-newbie at this, at least now I have a hint of knowledge and can hopefully begin the maintenance of the rig. First things first. I need some new vinyl. There is an excellent used vinyl store I have yet to set foot in and I think it is high time I have a visit. $1 CAD records, can't go wrong there!
