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Continuation of my Thread on VPI, Basis, Origin...

....Graham etc.
First off thanks all for your help and advice.

So here is where I stand. I believe that I have a good unit...Aries/10.5/helikon/Benz M2 BUT my integration was not thought out well. Possibly better match with cartridges and arm. I also believe that the weakest point in my set up is the 10/5 arm. So I am leaning to an upgrade to the arm. I hope I can keep my cartridges...I like to use both (one or two months at a time). My candidates are Graham 2.2, Origin Live (high end version) and then possible the Vector.
Now the question. If I got this route, so I change the table? Will a Basis 2500 make a difference, a Big difference?? My advice in another thread says yes.

Finally, this afternoon I was listening to the EMI recording of Rachmaninov "The Bells" and toward the end of side one, close to the spindle, I began to hear low level rumble for about 3-4 revolutions. Is this the result of poor anti-skate, turntable feedback, poor isolation (I have a pretty good table for the set-up) poor recording??? I tried this section of the record on BOTH cartridges and same results.

Comments please....again, Thanks
rwd

Showing 3 responses by rwd

rwd OP
695 posts
 
Hi Zaikesman...my Aries was set up by a fairly knowledgeable person. The arm 10.5 cartridges as well. My concern is the arm....the 10.5. You see, I had tried the HR test record for anti-skate and the arm faired poorly....Many people have advise against the arm because of the unique anti-skate system (twisting the arm cable).
I listen to vinyl only and so my concern. As TWL said, this is a system and I believe I went too quickly and choose good gear but not matched good gear. So here I am.....
rwd OP
695 posts
 
Hi All...sorry for a brief delay (busy at work)...I would like to answer all...Zaikesman.....you make some very good and valid points! I am quite happy with the "sound" of my Benz m2 and Helikon cartridges. However, I began to notice some inconsistencies with my 10.5 arm and the Helikon...so see my posts below.....

OK...I just spent 2 hours with a very knowledgeable technician trying to figure out why my new (2 months old) Helikon (regular) runs in on the lead in groove on some records. My arm is a VPI 10.5 and the tech is quite good at set up and VTA etc. We tried playing with the tonearm cable on the VPI (this is the cable connected to arm tube and the rear arm connection and is also used for anti-skate). We checked the weight, VTA, and still on some records (yes some older Mer's) even newer records..it runs in for a few revolutions or grooves. It is very annoying but does not happen at the end of the record and it plays quit nicely overall. This should be a good question for Helikon/VPI arm 'goners.

Thanks for your help!
Rwd  (Threads | Answers)
03-10-02

.....and so I believe I began to notice a problem with the anit-skate. I did some twisting of my arm cable (this is the looped cable form the arm to the junction bos for the JMW arm....and the problem was solved.
Then I switched to my Benz cartridge. When I switch cartridges I remove the complete arm wand witch also contains the counter weight and that arm cable I referred to above....so you see...the arm twist position is now gone and has to be reset. The next problem I noticed was when I viewed a Thread by Sidssp....it addressed poor anti-skate problems with the JWM arm.....see below.....

11-19-02: Rwd
Sid, I just received my Hi-Fi teat record yesterday. I will test it on my Aries/VPI 10.5/Benz M2 and then my Helikon. I will report back.

TWL...your advice clearly seems as though you have great experience in this area. We all (vinyl lovers) thank you for your candid and straight forward remarks (although we sometimes don't want to hear the truth).
Let me check my cartridges out and get back to all.
Rwd  (Threads | Answers)

Finally....TWL has been very helpful.......I am happy with the should I am getting now, but if I can IMPROVE the sound with a better tracking cartridge/arm/table........??? Why not? If the JMW arm sounds fine with bad anit-skate.....what would a Graham or Origin or Vector arm sound like??????

(I hope you can follow the older threads that I cut and pasted into this one....)
rwd OP
695 posts
 
Id' like to close this thread by saying "thank you " to you all for your kind advice, especially TWL.
I plan now to do some research on more TT's and arms and cartridges...and I WILL get back to you when I have decided which way to go. You probably will know 'cause I'll be posting more questions in the future.
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