Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Hi Harvey, the solution is inelegant but effective: increase the effective mass of your tonearm. The easiest way is with Blu-tak and quarters on the headshell, then move the counterweight back to compensate to achieve the correct tracking force. If this works, then the Twl tweak is the way to go, with weights attached to the sides of the main bearing to increase mass, more elegant too once the experiment is confirmed. There are weights out there which are meant to increase trhe mas of the cartridge, which increases the tonearm's effective mass. Elegant-looking solution too.

Hi Mario: I did in fact try my RS-A1 very briefly, and with the tapped headshell I simply didn't have an untapped cartridge in my arsenal to compare with the Concerto or the Benz LP, all simply outclassed. So it was down to the SME IV/Concerto (in my system superior) or JMW/Concerto (in Rick's system superior). I will be reaming out the threads, finally. I do LOVE the combo of RS-A1/Denon DL-103"E", which is not only neutral tonally and extremely detailed, but ROCKS like all get-out with incredible PRaT!!! Of course, the Grado's richness and midrange magic will always be the Grado's signature: the MAS/Grado Woody combo will be reserved for my Electro-Voice system.

Have fun all!!

Don't know about the 103 but I had the 103R and sold it after about 60 hours, too much grain in my opinion. Hate to say it but I prefered my beat up DL-110.

Phill

Hi Phill: the 103s need the right tonearms in order not to sound aggressive, and this means mass. There are also all sorts of preamp issues as well. Given a sympathetic set-up they can sound utterly unaggressive and yet still slammin'! I have heard the 110, and it shares in much of the 103's sound, a great bargain in its own right!

Over here I have RE-discovered the Spendor BC-1 speakers, which mesh SO perfectly with my custom-made Pierre Amp (100 watts of SET-like push-pull SS power) that they have become my reference in-house speaker! The Pierre amp struggles with the high-sensitivity Klipsch Cornwall speakers, and yet makes the BC-1s, normally considered difficult to drive, into hugely dynamic slammin' rock-n roll speakers!! AND with amazing delicacy, detail, imaging and so forth, with surprisingly deep bass. Now I see why Malcolm is so enamoured of these: the right amp is required (high voltage?), the other amps I had in the past not enough to make them jump. These are now amazing at PRaT and gestalt, and amazing also in all traditional audiophile areas.

AND, in the Klipsch Cornwalls my rebuilt 12-watt Leak Stereo 20 now sounds like a Krell! Seemingly limitless power, with excellent bass and incredible dynamics and detail! NOW my garage system is set (simply too powerful for in-house....with a Lenco backing them up anyway ;-)), the Leak being too bright with the fab Electro-Voice, I hope to do swappies Cornwalls for the E-Vs, which are just right (the E-Vs being just right in my buddy's system).

I also scored an Ortofon 2M Black, will report on this presently!

Hope you're all having as much fun as I am!

thanks John, the twl is in place on my arm already, i added some mass to the tube, and am enjoying the 103 so much, im not even going to bother with the 103r just yet!

Hi all, hope you're enjoying the summer! Just reporting in on my Ortofon 2M Black phono cartrdige: it sounds GREAT!! It has the detail of a good (but not great) MC, but with the PALPABILITY, PRaT and gestalt traditionally (in the Audio Undergorund) the strength MMs.

Aw GAWD it feels good to be back in MM Land, at least for now (while my Clearaudio Concerto - the only MC I've heard which actually rivals the best MMs for PRaT and gestalt - goes for repairs as it was defective). The Ortofon is a fitting successor to the Shure V15Vx MR in the sense especially of PRaT, or Pace, Rhythm and Timing, an area where the Shure was unsurpassed in my opinion, and an area where too many audiophiles still have no idea which way is up. I believe many hear it, but since it isn't something as easily identifiable as raw detail - like tinkling bells in the background and so forth - they dismiss it as pleasing but not important (NOT!). Of course, prolonged exposure to idler wheel drives eventually leads to a state of NEED of PRaT and gestalt (all the musicians following the same beat at the same time to sound like a "tight" and communicative band/single element). Anyway, the Ortofon FIRST does these extremely important musical things right, THEN presents great detail, dynamics, deep tight bass and imnaging and so forth. Excellent. I'm running mine on the SME IV for now, as it turns out that so far the SME IV (and by extension the SME V) ALWAYS sounds great with MMs (PRaT, gestalt, dynamics), while being VERY hit and miss with MCs.

It turns out the incredible dynamics of a Lenco is too much for the Spendor BC-1's, which bottom out with a sharp CLACK! quite often, so I'm thinking of augmenting them with a Vandersteen subwoofer to preserve the excellent sense of transparency and PRAT the BC-1s do so well, and be able to beef up the sound without bottoming out the drivers.

And speaking of Lencos - of COURSE - the Lenco magic way with music - incredible gestalt, PRaT, flow, dynamics macro and micro, bass - is slowly percolating through my area and conquering folk willy-nilly, convincing them of the importance of MUSICALITY (as opposed to information, at which the Lenco is nevertheless superb/State of the Art)...and I have nothing to do with it (not much anyway apart from setting them up), as simple repeated exposure to Lencos allows them to work their musical magic and conquer by musical charms while I sit out in the country oblivious with a beer in my hand watching the lovely lasses ride by on their horses.

A fellow who had just bought an Ayre CX-7e CD player - considered one of the most musical CD players ever built by many - says he can no longer listen to it since setting up a Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lenco in his system, set up with a JMW 12/Van den Hul MC-10 combo. And another who had received the less-performant but still excellent Direct Coupled Technics SP-25 DD wrote the following, showing just how effective Direct Coupling, AND vinyl, is, also and especially in the area of musicality: "Hats off!! It was an absolute pleasure to listen to the turntable in my system. Everything from Beatles to Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony made music as never before. Even with a humble Cambridge Audio 640P phono amp and the table sitting on the floor the turntable beat the proverbial pants off my Stereophile Class A transport and DAC. I think the CDs are going to gather dust for some time. The turntable is giving me better sound than the Roksan Xerxes/Rega RB300/Dynavector DV10X and Dynavector P75 phono stage. Add to this the sheer ease of use and I would count this as one of my best..." Just goes to show the magial properties of Direct Coupling, and potential of both Idler and DD done right, and of course, the infinitely Mightier Musical Magic of Vinyl!! Vive la Vinyl!!

And I'm still working on my Mighty Vintage Garage system, centred at one end on the Lenco, and the other with the Leak Stereo Twenty/Klipsch Cornwall combo, still searching for just the right preamp. Right now with ANY preamp the POWER and ruler-flatness of the end result is awesome to behold, these Cornwalls REALLY are tonally neutral (not too bright, everything in its place, bass deep and awesome but not overwhelming), but neutral without being boring, they ROCK!! I'm thinking I'll have to score another ARC SP-8 soon, THE most musical phono preamp/preamp I've ever heard (the Kundalini Effect!!). Have fun all, more big news very soon with the Reinderspeter Lenco set up and playing in the garage system!!