Dear sirspeedy,
This letter was written before I took off to the European Triode Festival from which I just returned. I had been contemplating the value of a reply, now your continueing references to me made me decide to react. Here ist my original reply from last Thursday:
Larry Howkins called me today and, among other things, mentioned that you had finally had a chance to visit him(isn't he the kindest guy!) and to give his system a listen, too. He also mentioned that you had posted some comments on audiogon, so, being interested to read about your impressions, I checked the thread.
I did find many very positive and personal remarks based on keen and (as much as that is possible)unbiased observation, nicely put and in good spirit. What I did (and do) have a problem with are your references to a "competing manufacturer", a "sort of celebrity" , which set up the Graham 2.2 arm the wrong way. As there was no other manufacturer of arms present during the often quoted weekend of comparing arms and cartridges, I must assume you're talking about me. If this is not the case, please skip the following sentences, or ignore them.
If it was me indeed you were refering to, then let me clarify a few points:
I did not set the antiskating to a value that would be appropriate for 3,5grams tracking force. In fact, the entire listening comparison was done with the arm set up as both Larry and Doug Deacon did it prior to my (very much delayed) arrival.
I do use the Ortofon 0002/3 testrecords when setting up arms with carts that come from someone else. That goes for antiskating as well, minuscule variatons are then checked by ear(at home, I also use a Namiki side force checker... to rare to loose it -or have it stolen- at trips or shows abroad).
When the last listening session was over and Larry needed the 2.2 to go back on the Teres360 he asked me to check the overhang and VTF setting, which I did. Intermittently I had also checked the tracking force on the Universe(1,93gr. at the time) , mainly to check the accuracy of my mechanical scale versus Doug's digital scale(both showed the same VTF).
Larry had told me that, upon checking the VTF quite some time later he found it too high(2,3gr.)on his Universe. Before I left, I had set it to 2,1 gr. , this value corresponding with a 300Hz tracking ability of 70microns for the Universe.
The antiskating was set correspondingly.
The fact that Larry ended up with an arm with the wrong VTF AND an incorrect antiskating setting cannot be attributed to anything I did. I'm not saying it was the cleaning lady, I simply don't know.
What I do know is that I would NEVER misalign or wrongly set up a competing product to gain an advantage. Any such implication is highly insulting. How stupid and easy to spot would such an attempt be with half a dozen people looking over my shoulder and Doug doing his own set up on the Triplanar ?
I am glad that you did check the set up and found out that the antiskating setting had gone out of whack.
Feel free to comment on the above, if you don't, I won't hold a grudge, but my desire to participate here on the audiogon forum by supplying information or just my perspective will go down even more than what it already has.
A merry set of holidays for you and your loved ones,
Frank Schröder
This letter was written before I took off to the European Triode Festival from which I just returned. I had been contemplating the value of a reply, now your continueing references to me made me decide to react. Here ist my original reply from last Thursday:
Larry Howkins called me today and, among other things, mentioned that you had finally had a chance to visit him(isn't he the kindest guy!) and to give his system a listen, too. He also mentioned that you had posted some comments on audiogon, so, being interested to read about your impressions, I checked the thread.
I did find many very positive and personal remarks based on keen and (as much as that is possible)unbiased observation, nicely put and in good spirit. What I did (and do) have a problem with are your references to a "competing manufacturer", a "sort of celebrity" , which set up the Graham 2.2 arm the wrong way. As there was no other manufacturer of arms present during the often quoted weekend of comparing arms and cartridges, I must assume you're talking about me. If this is not the case, please skip the following sentences, or ignore them.
If it was me indeed you were refering to, then let me clarify a few points:
I did not set the antiskating to a value that would be appropriate for 3,5grams tracking force. In fact, the entire listening comparison was done with the arm set up as both Larry and Doug Deacon did it prior to my (very much delayed) arrival.
I do use the Ortofon 0002/3 testrecords when setting up arms with carts that come from someone else. That goes for antiskating as well, minuscule variatons are then checked by ear(at home, I also use a Namiki side force checker... to rare to loose it -or have it stolen- at trips or shows abroad).
When the last listening session was over and Larry needed the 2.2 to go back on the Teres360 he asked me to check the overhang and VTF setting, which I did. Intermittently I had also checked the tracking force on the Universe(1,93gr. at the time) , mainly to check the accuracy of my mechanical scale versus Doug's digital scale(both showed the same VTF).
Larry had told me that, upon checking the VTF quite some time later he found it too high(2,3gr.)on his Universe. Before I left, I had set it to 2,1 gr. , this value corresponding with a 300Hz tracking ability of 70microns for the Universe.
The antiskating was set correspondingly.
The fact that Larry ended up with an arm with the wrong VTF AND an incorrect antiskating setting cannot be attributed to anything I did. I'm not saying it was the cleaning lady, I simply don't know.
What I do know is that I would NEVER misalign or wrongly set up a competing product to gain an advantage. Any such implication is highly insulting. How stupid and easy to spot would such an attempt be with half a dozen people looking over my shoulder and Doug doing his own set up on the Triplanar ?
I am glad that you did check the set up and found out that the antiskating setting had gone out of whack.
Feel free to comment on the above, if you don't, I won't hold a grudge, but my desire to participate here on the audiogon forum by supplying information or just my perspective will go down even more than what it already has.
A merry set of holidays for you and your loved ones,
Frank Schröder