I could have asked Brooks...however, It was easier posting the question here and getting feedback from different members of the group along with their individual opinions. You are correct, Brooks is a nice guy and very busy...he did answer all the questions that I asked of him, however, as busy as he always is, I didn't feel comfortable engaging him in casual conversation...once I post something here, I get varying opinons that I value. I work in Pasadena and Brook's shop is 10 minutes down the road in Monrovia. Yeah, the place looks like a shrine to turntables and cartriges...he let me tour the whole place, the back room and all. Kind of intimidating though, I don't have ultra high-end stuff. You know that he is a disciple of tubes....I almost felt I had to apologize for having solid state gear. He has some pretty exotic and off the chart priced items. You can buy a new turntable there for $300 or for $25,000. When he completed the work on my Oracle...I bought a $40 Grado cartridge as a replacement for my Music Hall 2.1 table so I could get rid of it...he installed that too! The rebuilt Oracle sounds great in my system...my system is below:
Preamp..............Audio Research LS-10 solid state (no phono input)
Preamp..............Carver C-19 Tube (I have it connected to the AR LS-10 and use it for a phono preamp)
Speakers............Infinity Kappa 9 (bi-amped)
Amp.................Carver Silver 9-t monoblocks (low pass)
Amp.................Sunfire Signature (high pass)
Phonograph..........Oracle Delphi Mk-I
Cartridge...........Grado Reference Platinum
CD Player...........Carver SDA/360 5 disc changer
I also have a pair of Infinity Rennaisance 90 speakers that I switch into the system periodically.
Preamp..............Audio Research LS-10 solid state (no phono input)
Preamp..............Carver C-19 Tube (I have it connected to the AR LS-10 and use it for a phono preamp)
Speakers............Infinity Kappa 9 (bi-amped)
Amp.................Carver Silver 9-t monoblocks (low pass)
Amp.................Sunfire Signature (high pass)
Phonograph..........Oracle Delphi Mk-I
Cartridge...........Grado Reference Platinum
CD Player...........Carver SDA/360 5 disc changer
I also have a pair of Infinity Rennaisance 90 speakers that I switch into the system periodically.