Hi everyone,
I'd like to know if you guys with the Micro-Seiki CU-180 mat had to readjust the speed of your SP-10 mkII after adding it to your setup. Did you?
Sébastien |
I was thinking to move this thread to the "Tech talk" section. Is this a good idea? If so, please feel free to do it.
Thanks,
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm,
You were right. I think that Audiogon is not the more technicaly oriented site. Let me tell you that DIY Audio surprised me because I don't have any answer there.
Then, about some email I send to companies, M. Weiss explain the answer he gave me by his personnal email to me.
With the search I've done I was looking for:
1) get an answer from the community;
2) get an answer from a company with a sense of community in it.
The winner is M. Bill Thalmann. He answered to my audio technician with professionnalism and a great sense of share.
In the end, like an old university teacher once said
"We don't teach what we know. We teach who we are."
I know that there is still a great sense of community left in our hobby and passion.
Have a good day,
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm,
I think that I wasn't clear in my first post when I said:
"We already asked Bill Thalmann, Artisan Fidelity and Oswald Mill audio..."
I meaned that we had contacted them, but at that time, we haven't received any answer from them. Finally, I learned that Bill already contact my technician who emailed him before me. Just a bit of confusion there.
Sébastien |
Sonofjim,
I was not able to send you a private message, so I ask you the question via the thread. What is the turntable mat that you have on your SP-10 mkII in your "System" picture?
Thanks,
Sébastien |
Hi Sonofjim,
I was considering the Micro-Seiki CU-180 seriously and someone just offered me one today at a fair price.
Could you explain me more about the "better weight for the mkII" when you compare the Boston mat to the Micro-Seiki? I have read many comments regarding the good match between the Micro-Seiki CU-180 and the SP-10 mkII. The latest seems to have enough torque for the heavy Micro-Seiki copper mat.
Well, I'll be glad to know your opinion on that subject.
Sébastien |
As I said above, I am considering the Micro-Seiki CU-180 mat from a seller who's serious and from whom I already bought. The seller tell me that the mat is brand new and was made in 2011. I'm a little bit surprised because I was sure that Micro-Seiki was not in the business anymore and this mat not in production for already few years. Is there some of you that can confirm the time that the production of the CU-180 ended?
Thanks,
Sébastien |
Regarding my first post of this thread, I must inform you guys that the upgrades for the PSU have been done and the speed adjustment of the SP-10 mkII also. Thanks to Bill Thalmann for his help.
Now everything is in order and the speed is chirurgicaly spot on, like my technician said. Plus, I assembled the turnatable in an Albert Porter panzerholz plinth last Friday, also installed the SME 312S, the Denon DL-103R. I'm still looking for a new mat and waiting for 4 Stillpoints cones and risers to complete it all.
If I tell that I was moving from a Rega P3 to this set-up, you will imagine that is a completely other world of music reproduction and it is.
Sébastien |
Well, I'm not going to commit myself for the purchase of the CU-180 mat for the moment. It looks like this seller, even with many positives feed-back regarding other items, have already sold two counterfeit CU-180 mat to Audiogon member. By the way, I still consider the Boston mat 1 or there's the option to look for another CU-180 at a good price.
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm,
It's impossible that you saw my mkII at Bill's place. Bill only helped by email my audio technician here in Montreal for the detail regarding a probe to take a mesure.
To give anybody an estimated of the job done and the cost, here it is:
-PSU upgrade (all capacitors with high end ones, new IEC plug, new led in front);
-Have done all in new silver solders;
-Checked all the capacitors values in the turntable;
-Adjust the speed;
-Lubricate it with original oil.
It costed me $150.
Sébastien |
To Micro-Seiki CU-180 owners:
Do you use your CU-180 nude or with another mat on it?
Sébastien |
Sonofjim and Lewm,
There is one way to adjust your SP-10 mkII speed, it is with an adjustable capacitor inside the turntable. My audio technician show me where it is and he has adjusted the speed to be spot on. Plus, yes, there is also the quartz that can be also adjusted and reseted.
Sébastien |
Back on track with the mat. I'm wondering which were the original turntables designed to used the 4 pounds Micro-Seiki CU-180 mat. If we have those informations, we can have another kind of feed-back by comparing their specs lists. Anyone know about those turntables?
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm,
I think that I haven't express myself correctly. I was meaning that by comparing the specs of the turntables that were designed to used the Micro-Seiki CU-180, there are some chances to see turntables with specs similar to the SP-10 mkII.
Anyway, I respect both parties in this discussion and I hesitated a while between Boston Audio mat and Micro-Seiki CU-180 mat. Inspired by certain critics, I finally commited myself and just bought a CU-180 new in box at a good price.
This said, I'm still interested to try one day the Boston Audio mat.
Sébastien |
I just received my Micro-Seiki CU-180 mat and the improvement over the original mat is amazing! I can't believe it. I had to call my friend Francis to tell him the feeling that I've got. It's like moving from a $2000 amplifier to a $15 000 one. I was not ready for this. Imagine, Albert Porter told me that he hesitated at first to go with that mat that, we must admit, is pretty expensive. I bought mine new in box for $680 USD, more than twice the price of the Boston Audio mat 2.
Here's the improvement: better bass response, more dynamic, high that are more present and natural and all these advantages even at low volume. Also, it seems to bring a slightly wider soundstage.
Concerning the speed issue with this 4 lbs mat, I can't notice any significant change. The speed is still spot on. I was expecting the start and the stop motion to be considerably more slower but it is not the case .
I highly recommend that uprgrade to every Technics SP-10 mkII or mkIII owners.
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm and Sonofjim,
Yes, I'm considering the purchase of the Boston Audio mat 2 for the future to compare it with the Micro-Seiki CU-180.
Sébastien |
Hi Tagheuer,
I bought my Micro-Seiki CU-180 from 2juki, based in Honk-Kong. He is a regular seller on eBay and already sold on Audiogon. I also bought from him a SME 312S tonearm and a Denon DL-103R cartridge. I was very satisfied with my transaction of the SME and the Denon. Good communication, fast shipping, extremely well packed and at a very competitive price.
For the Micro-Seiki CU-180, two persons reported that he already sold fakes one so I asked for pictures. It proves to be authentic with the original box and the Japanese sticker on the mat. It was described as "new in box" but I realized afterward that it has some light scratches on it, impossible to see them on the pictures. Finally, I judged it to be in very good condition, but it was not mint and it makes an incredible improvement in my analogue set-up.
Regards, and like Raul says, enjoy the music!
Sébastien |
Hi Lewm,
Regarding the modifications discussed above:
"Albert is ecstatic about the new modifications, but he really did not know much about what was done. I then talked to Bill about it. Mostly it is about dampening vibrations and firming up the stator supports. Bill notes that as the servo system corrects for speed errors, some of the energy of the motor is used up in micro movements of the stators, predicted by Newton's Third Law (For every action, etc...) (Ideally, all motor energy would go into moving the rotor/platter.) These tiny wiggles of the stator then in turn produce a tiny correction error sensed by the servo, which senses the fact that some of the torque went into moving the stators instead of the platter. This begets another correction from the servo. And so on. With the modification to the stator mounts, there is less energy dissipated in moving the stators, more precise speed correction by the servo, and far fewer events that trigger the servo...."
Do you know if you can do them on the SP-10 mkII?
Sébastien |
|
Hi Lewm,
Funny, I was just about to ask Dover what's his reference turntable.
Have a nice week-end,
Sébastien |
Well same for me. I think that's also interesting to have somebody's reference to better understand any critic formulated.
I too respect everyone choice. After all, they are personnal preferences. In the audio world, you have components for every taste.
Sébastien |
