David: Would I be correct in assuming your Ortofon arm has a pretty neutral sound? If so, yes I would imagine that combined with the Raven and Benz, it would provide a nice balance tonally speaking. I don't know what kind of music you mostly listen to, but have you detected any kind of roll off as far as presence information from anything related to the influence of Raven One itself? |
I have the Raven One and use the Benz LP, which is on your list of cartridges. I can't comment on the Reed arm I'm afraid, but did E-mail Thomas at TW re arm choice. At that time, he used and strongly recommended the Ortofon 309D arm, on the Raven one, which I bought.
I must say it seems to be a very good match with the Benz LP, tracking well and making a beautiful sound. I used a second hand Koetsu Onyx which was a poor match, due to compliance mismatch. Unfortunate, because I love the Koetsu sound |
Opus88, I have 12" cocobolo arm. Right now I have Air Tight and Koetsu Onyx cartridge and Reed recommended cocobolo so I can use it with either cartridge.
My dealer also got a 2p with Cocobolo arm to use with his Miyajima Kansui. I have the C37 silver/WBT RCA cable. My dealer got one with copper wire. |
Suteetat...I'm curious about what type of arm material your Reed is made of. If it is wood, which type did you get? Also, is the arm internally wired with the C37 copper or silver, and do you have the copper or silver Eichmann Bullet ends or one of the other types of RCA plugs offered for the Reed? Thank you very much. |
I just took a delivery of Q3 a couple of weeks ago. I plan to use it on Raven AC which I should get in a couple of month.In the mean time, I mount it on Reed's base to use with VPI Classic. Very very nice. All the adjustments are very easy to do. May be not quite as dynamic, bold or as big sounding as JMW 10.5 but more quiet, smoother, better control and more detail. My Reed dealer should have his Reed arm installed on Raven one pretty soon. I am curious to hear how it would go as well. |
The Reed 3Q will be my next arm in addition to my beloved Clearaudio Universal arm. |
Dover: I really prefer to stick with only one tonearm, and lean toward the more compact Raven One. However, I do intend to think a little more about possibly staying with my SME IV.Vi. I just had the pros at SME in England rewire it with the very fine Audio Note internal tonearm wire, and it does sound quite good. Nonetheless, the Reed does rank high on my desire list, and I very much like its looks and features as well as being impressed by what I've heard regarding its sound. |
Vertigo: Unfortunately, getting the opportunity to audition this combination in my own system is as difficult as reversing Earth's rotation. |
Hi there, I think the Raven 1 is great value for money and will work with the Talia ( yes I've heard the Raven ). However given you've already got a good arm, you might want to consider going up to the Raven AC 1 and stay with the SME which is excellent. Your system is very good and will easily deliver the upgrade in sound quality the AC offers over the model 1. |
*** Reed tonearm w/ Raven One table-how's the match ? ***
I have never heard a reed arm but they must be some of the BEST arms available. I like that they use a wood arm tube. I also like the fact that they have fine adjustments and to my eyes they are beautiful to look at too.
The acustic one table must be very quiet,well designed and neutral table.
This combo should at the very least be a great combo. Generally speaking, it is a superb combo but if you go past speaking generally and you move into 'aficionado sonic tasting' ultimately you must taste it yourself, contemplate it, spend some time with the combo and provide your own opinion based upon the taste buds that god gave YOU. This sonic tasting should be viewed as a pleasure and not a chore!
So, I dont think there is anyway that you wouldnt basically like the combo since they are great pieces, eventually the question will arise, is the sound i am getting with this combo more than i could ever want or expect from a turntable/combo? or will the sound eventually make me eye wander elswhere?
Im not assuming the answer one way or the other and no one can definitively answer it for you.
Is it a good combo?
Generally, yes, you can expect to get a high degree of sonic virtues from this combo.
Definitively, you'll have to try and see.
There are many flavours out there. Try as many as you can and find a way to enjoy them all as you are trying them.
With that said, I would venture to say, yes indeed that would be a very good combo! |
Thank you very much for your comments, Mike. I greatly appreciate your informative and very helpful answer. It's refreshing getting a direct answer about a component's sound rather than one ignoring or dodging it and advising, "why don't you try component "x-y-z" instead, or "It's entirely system dependent." And yes,'sounds natural and easy on the ears' aptly describes what I had in mind, though when I mentioned "slightly soft-edged" I was trying to distance myself from the sort of super tight/clean sound I associate with hi fi-ish sounding equipment and which is virtually non existent at live orchestral concerts...Sincere thanks once more. |
i have seen and heard the Raven One at shows, seems like a fine tt that plays above it's price point. i cannot imagine why the Reed 2A (i've owned one of those) or the Reed 2P (i currently own 2) would not work quite well with the Raven One. neither the Raven One nor the Reed have any 'non-linearities' which would cause any balance issues. and both your cartridges are slightly on the warm/dark side of neutral.
being more specific on the Reed 2P's. it's a very lively arm, highly detailed....with very dynamic bass performance. it does not have any mid range bloat some arms can have, i would call it a precise, finely focused arm.......and it does space and note decay.....and blooms nicely.
soft-edged? maybe not.....but that should be more a cartridge issue. lower price range arms with less precise bearings tend to be a bit 'blunt' and dull......you could call them 'soft edged'. maybe the term you want is 'sounds natural and easy on the ears'......the Reed 2P is that!
the Reed 2P is one of the best arms i've ever heard. better, to my ears, than the Graham Phantom, the Triplaner VII, any of the SME's, or even the Schroeder Ref SQ. i've had the Ref SQ and Triplaner in my system directly compared to the 2P. |
