Raven owners - how's your mid-range?

Midrange is back!!!
I suspect the Copperhead arm cabling needed more than 70 hours burn-in (who woulda thought?)...unless someone knows that the Dynavector DV1s needs that much?
The Raven/Copperhead/DV1s combo now outperforms any front end I have heard (and I have listened extensively to Rockport Sirius and Continuum Caliburn/Cobra).
Full review will follow in about 2 months........I'm off to put another record on!

What platform are you using underneath? Some decoupling can be important with an unsprung TT. A Raven owner turned me on to the Promethean-style platform that I use under my mass-loaded TT. The spring platform adds resolution to the treble while removing edginess, fleshes out the midrange, and improves bass articulation.

I auditioned a Raven one this week and was very impressed, detailed, dynamic, deep wide soundstage. It is made magnificently, the best German engineering standards. The UK importer I listened with, had quite strong views on arms. He did'nt think Rega based arms were a good match. In the UK, it can be sold with a very good Jelco Vivid arm, for just £300. Good matches were a new Ortofon arm, and the Graham Phantom. There is a useful thread on Pink Fish, the UK forum
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32706&highlight=raven

If mechanical isolaton of the table is insufficient, leading edge transients are smeared amd frequency bands will lack focus. I am not certain Halcro really meant that the mids were recessed or were unclear. Mecahnical isolation of the table was not the main point of my response. Set-up of the arm and cartridge were.

Elinor,can you please explain how using Stillpoints for feet can bring about the recessed mids Halcro was hearing.

As I recall, the Universe is very sensitive to VTA. This is where you should look first.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
Last night I listened till 1am and it was sounding very good.
I'm hoping the problem is with the new Copperhead arm and its brand new exotic wiring which has is still burning-in after about 60 hours.
I think the Hadcock is out of its league here and the massive shift in detail (especially in the high frequencies) that the Raven has delivered, has shocked my 30 years of 'easy-listening' reference and I need time to adjust.
Last night I caught a taste of the addiction for detail that the Raven delivers....and it was easy to take.
The Raven is like switching on ALL the floodlights on the stage of a theatre where before you were happily watching by candlelight.
I have a Schroeder Ref arm coming shortly and if the Copperhead arm cable (or arm itself) is a problem, the Schroeder should settle the argument.
For now, I can't wait to get home and put some vinyl on the Raven!

I have a Raven AC on order with Jeff Catalano. I live on the west coast and recently made a trip east. I took the time to visit Jeff in NYC and heard the AC with 3 tonearm / cartridge combos. The best sounding was a Dynavector Arm / Dynavector Mono top of the line cartridge. I did not hear a loss of mid-range character although the Graham Phantom / Myabi 47 and Tri-Planar / Zyx 4D certainly exhibited different characters. All sounded very good. I too am a long time owner of a Welltempered Classic and a Benz Ruby 2 as someone else posted so I have gobs of mid-range as my comparison model. You are not indicating what kind of platform you are using under the Raven or if you are using Still Points for the feet. What cable are you using with your arm? How adept are you at arm and cartridge set-up? Tracking force and VTA are paramount parameters to get right. I will leave electronics out of this since you are using the same arm and cartidge with the Raven as with the Rega. Have you contacted Jeff for help? Hope you get your answer soon.

Check the VTA.

Stuff happens. I had a Superscoutmaster with the 9 inch arm into which I had installed a Benz Ebony H. The sound was absolutely gorgeous with deep subteranean effortless lows, huge sound stage with layers of depth, air, and all the good stuff. You could make it earsplitting loud, and not be offended by distortion. Being a nutty audiphile, I upgraded by putting the 10.5i arm on the table and sold the H for the top of the Benz line LP. The sound is very good but not nearly as wonderful as the H in the 9 incher was. I've adjusted everything immaginable..I'm getting new resistors from Ayre to change the loading. I'm hoping its a matter of breakin, but its been a couple of months already. If I do find Nirvana I'm not touching this thing again.

Thanks for posting this. I have been very seriously thinking of buying the Raven One. I hope you get more feedback on this.

Wow - something is clearly amis.

I am running the Raven One, and really considered the Copperhead heavily, but since I had a Phantom sitting in a box, I just went and kept that.

I went from a Well Tempered table and arm to the Raven/Phantom and didn't notice the kind of spectral shift you are referring to. The Tonal balance was not different. I wish you luck - you have a remarkable LP playback system there and I hope you find it's magic.

Fjn - I highly suggest the Raven One with the best arm you can afford. If you buy it and don't like it I will furnish you with my address and you can come beat me to a bloody pulp. The above offer does not extend to you Halcro, since you have a pre-existing condition.

We're comparing apples to apples.
Rega Planar 3, Hadcock GH228, ZYX Universe.
Raven AC, Hadcock GH228, ZYX Universe.
With Rega, superb deep 3D midrange.
With Raven, recessed 2D unconvincing midrange.
For what it's worth, Halcro DM10 Preamp, Halcro DM58 monoblocks.

I have a Basis 2500 up for sale now, and the Raven one
was in the small handfull that I am considering. It may
be beneficial for Raven owners to know your amp, preamp,
speakers. I would think it would help them get a better
idea regarding your findings. Hope this will helps.