Halcro are you still using your MS MA505 with all the other terrific tone arms you own? I don't think you would ever get an argument from anyone about its design features and like the Fidelity research just beautiful to use and look at. Something you may or maynot know about a set up fearture the first hole in the 505 head shell is for setting pivot to spindle distance, re: Graham Engineering's modern method for p to s. I use MM exclusively in the 505s and a vintage Accuphase ac2 and modern Lyra mc in my Fidelity research 64s. |
Dear Henry, 'the medical researcher and the lawyer' will never claim to have esthetical feelings or insight comparable to an architect. Besides they are sometimes pragmatic. More in particular about the money. BTW I already consulted my machinist about the black (knulred) knob. He can produce one that is 2mm larger in diameter from whatever substance I want for 20 Euro (labour). My dilemma is between gold or platinum. The part about Porsche I will gladly leave to Lew. I know nothing about those.
Regards, |
Oh yes In_shore, My MA-505s is my 'go-to' tonearm for any new MM cartridge I obtain......because it's so easy to find the correct VTF, and VTA which I can then transfer for this cartridge in all the other arms. And just like you......I also have only used MMs in my Micro. I'm a bit loathe to try the low compliance LOMCs in case I'm disappointed?! I'll have to do it some day I think. After all......the ZYX UNIverse sounded just fine in the low mass Hadcock GH-228 I used to have? I didn't know that about the Micro headshell? There is the 303X and 304X I think? One has the 2 holes and one doesn't. I have three of those that DON'T have the 2 holes. But does that mean there is a jig for setting the overhang of the cartridge a la Phantom? The only beaf I have with the 505.....is trying to find the centre of the pivot to measure spindle to pivot distance? There is simply no indication? :-( Other than that.....I believe this arm to be the other great bargain in used arm prices. It has never failed to extract the best performances from my MMs. And it's just sooo beautiful! :-) An important consideration......just ask Nandric! |
Halcro if you have laying around put a denon 103 or more better..103d ....you will be spoiled forever! a great sound altogether! another good match is P176 mm cartridge
I own one myself..
Lawrence Musical Arts |
Dear Henry/Halcro, I enjoy the banter, but in this case, I don't get the point. Are you trying to say that you find the additional screw-head on the surface of the repro B60 to be offensive to your sense of esthetics? Yes, I do find those fiber-glass 550 Spyder replicas also to be esthetically offensive compared to my late lamented original, but the replicas can be made to go much faster, with bigger more powerful engines, made by (yechhhh) Volkswagen. In the case of the B60, all I care about is that it works and does seem to be of high quality and therefore weighty enough to provide the added benefit to the tonearm of its mass.
Dover, I fear that I may seem contentious by posing this question, but believe me I do not intend it that way. We are all on the same yellow brick road. Do you suppose that the highs that go on forever, that you perceive with your FR64S, are in fact a symptom of a resonating arm tube, which may enhance upper harmonics? (I own one too, don't forget.) Or, maybe it is worth discussing what would be the expected effect on sonics of tonearm "resonance", a phrase that we all use and abuse. The gospel is also that MCs put much more energy into the headshell/tonearm compared to MMs, because of the typically lower compliance of their cantilevers. So that's a factor as well, if true.
What's interesting about the MA505 tonearm is that in chronologically successive versions they made the VTA adjustment less and less revolutionary and more and more conventional. I owned a Mk III version, and by then they had totally eschewed the adjuster you describe in favor of a functionally more usual one, albeit they retained the very useful lever for tightening. Do you suppose that the VTA adjuster on the Mk I was found to be prone to slippage? |
Lewm, just to clarify my comments on the FR64 - "highs go on forever" - I dont mean extended or highlighted. I am talking about the natural decay of each note. I'm sure others will have their own views, but if I was to try and describe a "resonance" in a hifi context I would say it is an excitement at a particular frequency. What I would expect to hear from a resonance would be a peak in the response at a particular frequency, time and phase distortions around that frequency, and masking of detail, natural overtones etc. I cant see any "resonance" being an enhancement. As I suggested at the outset, try it. I would expect it to produce quite a different set of outcomes than from your other arms. |
If we are engaging a little in the tonearm field after having covered the headshell questions ending up with the ultimate headshell we might not forget one of the best designs ever, the Old Ortofon Arms, e.g. RMA 309 or the Mono version RF 297. These were ingenious designs, looking very simple but they are not and sound like heaven... |
According to the review in the German Magazine 'Das Ohr' (The ear; nr.7, 1984) there are two 'tiny faults' by the FR-64S. In the higher midds there is a 'tiny roughness' by vocals with a small accentuation of the guttural(sound). The second is by the low frequenties by which there is a tendency to reproduce bass darker and more voluminous than one would call 'natural'. To prevent a further accentuation of those 'faults' one should be careful to fasten the screws on the counterweight, lift and anti-skate weight. I was not able to notice any 'guttural' faults with my FR-64/ FR-7 combo but by switching the pre from 100 to 50 Ohm I noticed well the reduction of the 'voluminous' bass to a more 'natural' kind.
Regards, |
Nandric -if I was looking for criticism, yes I would say the bass is slightly "fat", but it is quick and without loss of information. The female vocal roughness, cant hear that. Thucan - how do these vintage arms work without antiskate ? |
Hello, Lharasim, Sorry to be a little late. I was interested to see your arm, but am confused by you saying: We(Musical Arts) have a non damped arm Do you mean you prefer a resonant arm tube? Also, I don't see from your picture how your arm has 100 times larger bearings . J . |
Lharasim,
"Halcro if you have laying around put a denon 103 or more better..103d ....you will be spoiled forever! a great sound altogether!"
Have you ever heard the 103d on the Grace P660 tonearm? I know that the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation used this combination as their stock choice. The Grace is not that easy to get hold of at present but, should the opportunity arise, I would strongly recommend you give it an audition. I no longer have my Denons but still own that gem of an arm.
Hope that helps
As always... |
Dear Dover, I was not sure how to translate German 'higher midds' and was also not sure if the 'upper midds' is a more adequate English expression. But assuming that technical persons among us can determine this frequency range then the kind of the needed demping will be also more clear(?). Regarding the 'fatness' of the bass I am very curious if Henry also experimented with loading by his FR-64/66 /FR-7 combos? In my second system my choice is limited to 50, 100, 250 and 500 Ohm. I started with 100 , then 50 Ohm and prefer the later.
Regards, |
Dear Nikola, Not hearing any 'fatness' with the FR-7f(mod) in the FR-66s on the Raven......however, with my UNIverse in the FR-64s on the TT-101.....I am currently experiencing what seems like another half octave as well as a widened soundstage. There seems to be an anomaly here as the UNIverse has never sounded quite like this......nor has any arm/cartridge combination? I'll see if it's the hashish when I listen tomorrow? My MC loading is fixed at 220 Ohms in the Halcro DM10. The loadings and capacitance are only variable on the MM input. |
Hello John...Thank you for your interest... I cannot go into much detail about the arms resonate quality's or lack there of...but I will tell you Being non dampened in the conventional sense does not mean its not damped in a unconventional sense....I hope this helps..
our bearing comparing to other arms are greatly substantial they are huge by comparison! possibly not 100 times but none the less they are large
Lawrence Musical Arts |
Dear Henry, You already know that I am a sick person in connection with the tonearms. Add to that the paradox of an not technical guy fond of technical specs. To my mind the FR-7 and FR-7 f differ only qua styli. FR-7 line contact, FR-7f conical stylus. The FR-7fz has a higher output(0,22 mV) which should mean more wire in the coil. But their valuation make no sense to me.Those should be the other way round. That is to say I am so fond of my FR-7 that I WANT this one to be the best.
Ragards, |
Dear Nikola, I know you wish to have the best....especially regarding cartridges......however I think there must be differences between the FR-7, FR-7f and FR-7fz which go beyond the stylus profile used? If not.....I would be inclined to consider my FR-7f(Mod) to be an FR-7fz because of the change to a line-contact stylus? But the output voltage,load impedance and output impedance are different between them both. And that's only the specifications which are published? The output impedance and dynamic compliance...as well as the stylus profile....are all different between the 7 and 7f (not to mention the colour of the body from silver to black :-)) I daresay there would be many cartridges which share similar specifications to each other....yet are different animals in terms of motor, coils, magnets etc...and also sound completely differently? Perhaps there are others here who know more about the intrinsic differences between these Fidelity Research models? In any case.....the main thing is how happy you are with the sound of your FR-7? And from the sounds of it....the answer is....VERY?! Regards Henry |
Hi Raul et al,
I know subjects have taken a loftier turn here lately, but would anyone like to comment on their experiences with the A & R Cambridge and Jico SAS-1 stylus combo. I just purchased the cartridge without a stylus and am wondering if the Jico is a good choice.
Thanks, John |
Dear Henry, 'history repeats itself' it seems. As was the case with the B-60 'original' versus 'replica', for the price difference between FR-7 versus 7f or 7fz I am happy with my FR-7. Besides I wish and grant my Aussie friend the best of the best. The jealousy is like your boomerang. And the Serbian joke about this instrument is: an Aussie got a new boomernag for his birthday and was 2 years busy to trow the old one away. |
Jbethree,
Conceder yourself lucky. I'm sure you must of got that (body only), rather cheap. For another approximately $100, you are going to have a cartridge that will be as good as, and in most cases, better than just about every cartridge that has been auditioned in this thread. I have the Garrott Bros. P77. I have set aside the original stylus and only use the SAS-1. It took the already great cartridge to another level! Stop wasting time and get that stylus ordered. Once you have it in play, you will not be able to wipe that smile off of your face. Regards, Don |
Dear Don, At last one classless, proletarian cart of high quality for the people. That is to say if the valuation by some capitalist can be trusted. I thought that there is 'some' difference between the A&R Cambridge/ Jico and the one which is tweaked by the Aussie brothers.
Regards, |
Yes Dear Comrade, The Aussie's did tweak the A&R's. Some slight internal tweaks but mostly the stylus was improved. Concedering the leap the SAS-1 made on the already improved stylus on my Aussie version, the impovements should be even greater on the stock A&R. Nandric, I don't understand how Jico can manufacture these and sell them for approx. $100 when you conceder a retipper will charge 3-4 time that amount using your stylus housing. Must be the capitalist profit multiplifer effect. Each person in the chain of delivery must double or triple price to continue the profit gravy train. Jico selling direct must cut out alot of middle man profits. |
Dear Don, I am not sure if I and Raul are on 'speaking terms' so you should inform him about the Jico alternative to the retip adventure. He already made Axel rich but intend to make also Van den Hul even richer than this guy already is. If Raul however decide for the Jico those retip prices must go down. At least according to the known economic principles. Alas for the MC's there is no alternative. I just posted to Axel some strange looking Roksan Shiraz 'reincarnation' of the 'good old' EMT cart. Looks as terrifying as those Van den Hul birds. But there is nothing wrong with the stylus or the cantilver but 'only' with a piece of wire from the coils to the connector. If this is actually the case this will be my 'best bay' on ebay.
Regards, |
Dear Jbthree: I own the PR-77, the AR Cambridge and the Jico SAS-1 stylus replacement but till today I did not give me a time to test all these and its stylus interchanges in between but reading what Griffithds posted seems to me that the Jico one is very good alternative and I think the only you have and for 100.00: could you ask more?
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Dover, these Ortofon arms were developed for broadcasting, in the beginning Mono only. Therefore you needed no antiskating when you were using high tracking forces, long tonearms and conical polishing. As antiskating is set to reduce the stylus being dragged to the centre due to friction of stylus contact with the vinyl and offset arm geometry the longer your arm, the heavier the tonearm you are using and the more you are going for heavy tracking weights the less important is antiskating. When Stereo became popular the then developed SME arms 3012 und 3009 needed a antiskating for the shure v15. It happened very often that people put their antiskating to high levels with the result that the records got damaged. We are the victims of this "Antiskating Period" when sometimes buying used records. Listening to these arms in a well balanced setting I am pretty sure you will love it and forget all you have heard about antiskating issues. But don't get me wrong, I am not saying antiskating in certain environments is not necessary anymore. |
Halcro, you're right there is quite a difference among the FR-7 variants. we had a thread on this topic to which I refer. The thread was started by T-Bone who I miss on Audiogon. you'll find it under: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1243274438&read&keyw&zzfr-7fz
Nandric, maybe you should not close your FR cartridge chapter :-) |
Dear Thuchan, The FR-cartridge chapter will need to wait because, to use Lew's excuse 'the price was such that it was impossible to resist' so I just bought: Benz LP S, Roksan Shiraz (EMT) and Glanz 5 . |
Link to a short video of "Axel" performing some of his cartridge repairs!
http://www.wdr.de/mediathek/html/regional/2012/10/23/lokalzeit-suedwestfalen-tonkoepfe.xml
Regards, Don |
Thuchan, Thanks for the Link. I'd forgotten about that thread? Great info and comments. I too miss T_bone. Last I heard....he had bought The Beat turntable and was moving to a boat-house in Japan. Then someone wrote that he was moving to another country?
Don, Thanks for the Axel Link. I keep playing it over and over again....hoping that somehow the German will be understandable? |
Halcro,
Perhaps someone (Comrade Nickola), could give us the Readers Digest version of what is being said and perhaps how this video came about? I had a mental image of Axel, hunched over, slaving in some dark dingy closet replacing stylus's. Video was an eye opener for me. Glad you and I hope others liked it. Regards, Don |
Dear Nikola, Here in Australia.....when someone is sick......he normally seeks treatment to effect a recovery? From your behaviour on the 'cartridge' pages of EBay......I would proffer the opinion that you are 'hooked'....and as an 'addict'....you should either go 'cold turkey' or find a chemical substitute? :^} Having interchangeable headshells I fear......has merely fed your obsession? Regards |
Dear Don, I got Axel's video from Mario , one of our members who introduced himself as a friend of Daniel. The text by the video has as title: 'The stylus pope from Geseke' . Axel is described as a former radio-technician, 69 years old and as known in the whole world thanks to the internet. He himself declared to enjoy his work and explained what is involved by the repair of carts. Some of the repairs are so complex that he need to think about even in his bed but when he find the solution he can hardly wait to try out his finding. By some carts he needs 10-14 days to finish the job .By the most carts the suspension , cantilever and stylus are exchanged while each cart is tested afterwars with an oscyloscoop and by listening to a violin piece by which he can recognise if the repair was succesful. For many old carts he need to buy the carts on ebay (for the parts) and this way he accumulated a huge stock with parts. He is very suprised to see inferior work done by some expensive new carts.
Regards,
|
Dear Don & Raul,
I have ordered the Jico SAS-1 stylus and hope to have it within 10 days or so. Thanks for the information. FYI Nandric, $160 all in for new cartridge body and stylus. I believe a goodly amount of break-in will be required.
John |
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Dear Henry, For a long time I thought to have just one single but serious deviation: the tonearms. But the reason was esthetical not practical. I admire the 'mechanical beauty' of those objects of art. But you are the last person in the known universe to make joks about that. BTW no shrink in the same universe would bother about such a kind of deviation. They would probable reacts as: 'just one? I myself have at least 3 and all of them are described in the criminal law.' The new (cart)deviation is not caused by my owm 'internal inclination' but by some bad invluence from the so called 'comrades' who were in search for the Nirvana for cheap. The first 'bad guy' is from Mexico, the second from Australia. The last one 'seduced' me to install my FR-64S on an TT instead to keep this tonearm on a pedestal in my living room. Why should some bronze or plaster objects be prefered? Anyway by following your advice I was able to change 4-5 carts each day in seconds rather than mess for 3-4 days with all those adjustments which involve fractions of 1 mm while I can hardly see the difference between 2 and 1 mm. But if one can change 4 carts in a single day than one obvious problem appears: whatever your collection you are done in ,say, 10 days. So that is why . The strange thing however is how our mind works. Everyone would think that I am most 'aroused' by the Benz LP S. This however was not the case. I was most glad to find this damn Glanz 5 about which our comrade Dgob is showing off since 09-10-09. I got him at last; I mean both.
Regards, |
Jbethree,
You will enjoy the SAS-1 from the 1st note that comes out of your speakers. Break-in was nearly nonexistent. $160! You have one hell of a bargain. Regards, Don |
Dear Thuchan, I would never dream to call you a 'bad guy' but in the context of this 'cart sickness' I may, by a way of speaking. To follow all your carts recommendation I would need to marry some of the (old) Rockeffeler widows first. But for the same money they can get someone much younger. However your mentioning of this misterious EMT TDS 15 LZI made me very curious. If one looks at those EMT carts one can hardly understand what the fuss is about. They look like some surgury instruments from the 18 centure. But they provoced Van den Hul, Brinkmann and others as a chalenge of some kind. Touray Moghaddam ( I am glad that I don't need to pronounce his name) is also one of those curious guys. He seems to care only about the music so I thought whay not try his Shiraz?
Regards, |
Dear Nandric, You truly are a gentleman. Thank you for the narrative of Axel's video. Regards, Don |
Dear nandric: An important part of our hobby is to achieve some FUN and regarding cartridges this thread gives all of us additional fun and additiopnal learning level. Yes, we have the risk that this fun makes some of us addict to it but the life is so short that we have to take it as it comes.
I remember one months/years ago Lewm post in the thread, something like this: " I don't will buy another vintage MM/MI cartridge because I have some than even I don't touched yet ", now we now that he did not stop as was his desire. It's not easy.
Many times I sware that was my last one and at the end what I have is: "" that's one was de last of that day ""!!!!!
We are not only learning and having fun but I think we are helping many people about alternatives to enjoy our music hobby.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Gentlemans: How any one can't be tempted by a 160.00 cartridge that performs so good: where can we invest 160.00 in our systems that can gives us something near or that surpass the enjoying that that cartridge will gives to Jbthree?
and what about those 8.00 big dollars that was paid for that marvelous Astatic MF-200 that now we know outperforms cartridges ( today ones. ) with a price in the 4K ( now ) Big Dollars!!!
I think almost no one can say: NO.
R. |
Dear Raul, Four or five years ago Lew wrote in an answer to my post: 'Nandric messing with our gear is fun!' I think that this need to experiment and try is typical for man; the 'guys thing'. But there are also old expressions with the same meaning: homo ludens and homo faber. At my age I would die from boredom if I had no hobby. From my long term experience with our hobby I know that money is not the issue. One can enjoy a $ 2000 system as intensive as one of one million dollar. But the the funy thing about this thread is the 'art' to get a very good cart for cheap. And this possibility as well as the reality is your merit dear Raul.
Regards, |
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Dear Thuchan, If I owned Léw's home and cellar I would also own at least 5 TT's. But those that I own , the Kuzma Stabi Reference and the SP 10 mk II (with new capacitors) are not inferior in any comparison. If you want a war with a Serbian warrior you should watch out.
Regards, |
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Dear Temptation sometimes is bigger that what we can resist. Yesterday my latest acquisition the JVC 4MD-20X.
What move me to bought it?, well: browsing ebay I found out in the same page the same model at two different prices, one at 247.00 and the other ( the one I bought. ) at 120.00. As I said: I can't resist!
This cartridge is made by Audio Technica for and according needs/specs of JVC.
In its time the JVC top of the line, so: why not? and now I own it. This is the endless history of an addict analog audiophile!.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Morning Raul, Thanks for advice, I just couldn´t resist to grab that bargain for £124 ! I gladly say YES to JVC´s flagship cart with Shibata/beryllium, rf. 20 - 60 kHz, 35 cu. The most interesting thing will be to compare it to it´s "big cousin" the AT20SLa (with ATN20SS). Analog audio can be very tempting and also fun ! |
Dear Raul, From your logic it follows: the more one knows about carts the more carts one need to buy. But will you be so kind to write dollar prices without those 2 added zero's? BTW with our kind of resistance to carts no kind of resistance would want us as a member. |
Dear Harold-not-the-barrel: Yes, that's the idea. I could think a-priori that even that both cartridges were made by AT maybe ( even that has very similar specs and cantilever/stylus. ) performs more different that we can think because the 4MD-20X was made on the JVC " needs ", we will see.
What is clear to me is that this cartridge ( with those two ceros. ) could be as the G-800 the today bargain.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
Dear nandric: ++++ " be so kind to write dollar prices without those 2 added zero's? " +++++
as all we know those " old " times never come back but we can find out additional today " bargain prices " cartridges like the Goldrings, A&Rs or that JVCs. I think that all of us are learning about and no one of us know everything on every single vintage cartridge designed so I'm sure we will " discover " more gems in the near future and for this can happen we have to buy and test unknow cartridges for us.
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |
An interesting cartridge of obscure origin can be a "bargain" to someone who owns no or only a few other cartridges, but what is it to those of us (notice I include myself) who have more than a dozen other cartridges of similar or better pedigree? Fortunately, Raul admits his is an obsession.
This question may seem OT, but I am thinking where there could be a better place to get advice on digital from guys whom I know love analog above all else, like me. My beloved and much modified Sony SCD777ES cdp seems to have suffered a catastrophic failure in one of its irreplaceable chips. This forces me to consider buying a new digital source, and I am thinking about a separate DAC, so I can benefit from hi-rez downloads off the internet. Has anyone here had any experience with a good USB DAC? I am considering the PS Audio Perfectwave2, the NAD 51, and the Wyred4Sound DAC2, at this point, but I have an open mind. Thanks. |
Dear Lewm: For digital exist " thousands " of alternatives at any range price, one of them could be: http://www.oppodigital.com/
Regards and enjoy the music, R. |