Listening to it right now on a Graham... I am blown away. Is it the Kondo step up or the cartridge, I have no idea. But the presentation/soundstage is huge, involving and nothing seems to be missing or misrepresented. Great bass, great timbre and tone. Don't know enough other Audiophile terms, but it is outstanding... |
Hitari,
I too am considering the Kondo IO-m or IO-j cartridge. I am going to use it with my Shroeder Refence (tonearms for which I am a dealer). Whether or not you purchase a Shroeder, my strongest recommendation is that you get a tonearm that has fully repeatable adjustments for azimuth, zenith, VTF and SRA/VTA. Most tonearms do, but amazingly, many do not. In particular, many struggle with repeatable, easy to adjust on the fly, SRA/VTA. You will find that in order to get the most out of your cartridge/tonearm setup, you need to be able to adjust (with repeatability and accuracy) all the parameters above.
Thanks, Pat |
Raul
The cartridge Hatari speaks of is the Kondo IO-M not the AN line from the UK. |
Dear Raul.I am also a 'holistic guy' but where everything
depends on everything else it is impossible to make a choice. Bisides the Japanese carts are obviously in the 'lead' in comparision with the rest of the world. So I
dont believe that Japanese hearing is different nor that they are supposed to have different 'priorities'.
BTW you already presuppose that we,say,in the West also have different 'priorities' or preferences so your arguments get paradoxical implications. But all of this is not a hinder for you to give an explicite advice to Hatari. I,on the other side,as you are used to sey,give only an suggestion based on my own experience.
Regards, |
Dear nandric: Certainly the Japanese are not deaf but their audio priorities can/could be a little different. Overall when a cartridge has a top quality performance it does not matters who speaks on it because always will be rated high, the differences on our each one audio priorities can't mean that a good cartridge for one of us can be a totally wrong for other person ( everything the same. ).
Btw, on that PT compliance: 8.0 ×10-6 cm / dyne ( 100 Hz ).
Hatari, if I was you I will try the Audio Note tonearm with your AN cartridge, this tonearm is something to " hear " it.
Normaly the AN cartridge is a " friendly " one about tonearms in the mid-high effective mass range, so maybe the choice is more about your own preferences and tonearm support/warranty by the manufacturer/dealer.
Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul. |
Dear Hatari,According to Albert (Porter)there is an gentleman,Stive Dobin (USA Importer). But this is,alas,all
I know.
BTW I will never part from Phase Tech P-3G. I.e. for the time being.
Regards, |
Nandric... so you kept the Phase Tech and found magic in the combo with the Reed arm? I have to say, I've never heard of the Reed arm, but that doesn't mean much.
Thank you, will look into it (site doesn't seem to have a dealer/distributor list) |
Dear Hatary, My suggestion needs some kind of introduction.
I was very amused with the consternation about 'cart ranking in the Japanese Stereo' . Particulary by the owners
of some very expensive carts. So I thought:the Japanese are
not stupid nor deaf,so why not?
But to be 200% sure I also bought the German magazine LP with the review of Phase Tech P-3G. Then I got my 200% 'insurance' and bought the cart. Alas...no match to my
(then) combo Triplanar-Jubilee. So I 'composed' an sell-story with mentioning all the awards this cart got in Japan. But I was curious about the 'why' question and thought:this have something to do witht compliance. Alas I had no concrete idea what '8um/mH' means. How this translates in your 'cm/Dyne', Raul will,I hope explain.
But then I got my new Reed L 2A (29gr.eff.mass) with Pernambucco tube (www.turntables.lt).
UNBELIEVABLE! Meanwhile my Triplanar got as present an new
Benz Ruby 3 but this combo is no match for the Reed l 2A-P3G.
So I now also understand why Dertonarm is so persistent about this,say,'concept' COMBO.
Regards, |
Thanks Raul. I have a Graham Phantom (Dynavector XV1-S on it), so this would be a second arm/setup. Will also get an SPU one day for fun, so would be great if the second arm could handle that.
Ikeda woud be great, but would only buy from someone I know well
Certainly the Dynavector 507 is a great option, high up there and can work with that SPU I refer to.
Any thoughts on the Ortofon 309D or the EMT 997 ? I worry a little about getting an EMT set up right - I'd hire a local turntable expert to help, but I'm not a DIU guy on electronics.
Cheers |
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1253376254&/Ikeda-It-407-12
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1251772631&/Dynavector-Dv-507mkii-best-9-in-the-world
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1254136405&/REGA-RB900
Raul. |
Dear Hatari: here you have good alternatives:
http://www.audionote.co.uk/products/analogue/arm_an-1s_01.shtml
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1251772631&/Dynavector-Dv-507mkii-best-9-in-the-world
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1253376254&/Ikeda-It-407-12
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtnrm&1252396573&/Micro-Seiki-max-282--original
Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul. |
Title should read "Consider", not "Cons". THx |
