Should I speak my mind, and get my butt handed to me? I find direct-drives(I've only heard cheaper ones.)to have a relentless quality to them. Does anyone else hear this? Do the more expensive, or well-sorted ones, eliminate this quality? |
Hello,
I can confirm Unoear's description.
When I was his guest in late November 2011, we tried real hard getting the Sirius III to track a whole record side.
It proofed impossible - due to the original stock tonearm wire.
No matter what we tried - the tonearm wire is way too stiff and does heavily influence the tangential movement after about 2 inches into the record.
And there were 3 seasoned audiophiles trying their luck real hard - all of them with intimate personal experience with several air-bearing tonearms.
Cheers,
D. |
Dear Unoear: Can I understand from your post that that Sirius owner was hearing not the real performance in the Sirius but only a " bad copy "?
Is hard to imagine some one that invest on that great TT and that he as the Sirius manufacturer can't took in count that wrong set-up!?!?!???, but things happen.
Regards and enjoy the music,
R. |
Hello,
I have had the Sirius System lll in my room. The same Sirius that JTinn is discussing. As JTinn has told me, the Sirius, as it was setup by its previous owner, was not able to successfully navigate the inner groves. Therefore, I do not believe that JTinn has heard the Rockport as it was designed to present music that is recorded on vinyl. The Rockport Sirius System lll, is a system, a finely-tuned machine and as such, requires a careful focused understanding of how all of the constituent parts come together to make a whole.
Tim Sheridan, the designer of the Sirius motor drive, was here last month. Eventhough the Rockport is out of production, there appears that there may up to an additional sixteen pristine Sirius System lll TTs that are patiently waiting to spin sometime in the distant future.
I have heard Lloyd Walker's machine. It is an all out assault by the resident mad genius of our hobby; currently in production and universally loved by their owners...definitely a loyal fan group! No hidden secret sauce, just a well-designed machine and a transparent window to the
source.
...and I do like string-driven machines; such as, the big Micro Seikis. |
Dear Danhirsh: IMHO I think that a precise bis a bis comparison between these great TTs is something almost impossible to have because both use two different dedicated tonearms and we have to remember that the cartridge/tonearm relationship is so close that makes a unit where the quality performance level and differences resides mainly in this tonearm/cartridge relationship.
This not means that the TT is not important or that it does not add its own signature because it did.
For me to make a comparison a fair comparison could be only if both TT share the same tonearm. In this way we can really have and know the real contribution by each TT in the overall quality performance level.
Anyway, the ones with experiences on both sides as Jtinn or M.Lavigne are very good and the only " approach " about.
Regards and enjoy the music,
R. |
Hi everyone, very interesting topic! I have obtained a used ET2 with Bruces upgrade 2.5 bearing, but have yet to set it up.
I am very interested in the discussion on the I-beam compliance. As far as I can tell, the arm on the Walker Proscenium turntable (which is of similar design to the ET2) has a direct couple counterweight. Since the Walker is being regarded as one of the best, I was thinking of modifying the ET2 in such manner.
I wonder what are the pros and cons to the 2 different approaches. |
I took a look at Continuum website. Never heard of them before. Serious people; and unexpectedly they are in Melbourne, Australia.
How little we know about other places. |
Inna: Good question. At times I have heard the Continuum Caliburn surpass the sound of the Rockport and at other times, it did not sound close. I would definitely consider it right there or even possibly better.
Other than the Continuum, I have not heard a belt drive that comes close. |
Jtinn, can you think of any belt drive design that could touch Rockport? I am just curious. |
Hi Dan,
Two very different takes on vinyl. They are not close in any way that I hear.
I prefer the pace, timing and clarity of the Rockport. There is a solidity that I do not hear with the Walker. This is not meant in any way as a slight on the Walker, it is just a different approach and to my ears, direct drive, properly implemented, cannot be touched by most belt drive systems
I really like Lloyd and he works very hard at making his turntable sound great and I have heard the Walker sound magical, but the Rockport approach is much more elegant and simpler and that, to me, transfers sonically.
Regards,
Jonathan |
Or Albertporter; he heard them both too. |
you might want to pm member mikelavigne, who owned a rockport for quite a while and has heard/owned most other bleeding edge tables and arms. |
