billstevenson
Responses from billstevenson
| CJ's New ART88 Preamp I just bought one to replace my GATII. Listening to it as I write this note. It is only 1 day old and in my experience will require at least 200 hours of break-in before meaningful listening will be instructive. Right out of the box it sounds w... | |
| Meandering Pitch, Where’s The Problem? The first answer you got from Don is the best one and the first thing he told you bears repeating: If the spindle hole is off, you will get wow. That is pitch instability. Piano is the most sensitive instrument to this problem of any. Many pia... | |
| Hudson HI FI UV stylus cleaner Yes the Hudson device is effective. Moreso than other mechanical removal devices that I have tried such as the Ortofon brush, the Onzow gel, Magic Eraser and so forth. I use a high quality stereo-optic microscope to examine stylus and cantilever... | |
| VPI felt mat vs aftermarket To mat or not to mat. After a lot of experimenting I settled on the Origin Live on both my VPI HW-40 and my SL1200GAE although on the latter it is a two layer affair with a plastic disc first and then the Origin on top. That is because of a limi... | |
| Good (great?) cartridges with user replaceable styli Well you are on the right track. I happen to own all of those mentioned so far, plus a few more. Audio Technica AVN150 is also very nice and there are others. The Shure V15 is a favorite of mine too and then there is the possibility of picking ... | |
| VPI upgrade? VPI makes nice turntables. Always have. I presently have an HW40 that is quite the berries and am resurrecting my old HW19MkIII bought new in 198?. I have also owned but traded a fully pimped out Prime. No regrets, they all work just fine. My ... | |
| VPI Cyclone, causing pop in speakers Your speakers could be damaged and you are right to worry about it. It probably is a bad power switch on the Cyclone. Contact VPI to see what they say. Or contact a local electrician to see what can be done to isolate and buffer the circuit tha... | |
| End Game Turntable suggestions I know Sota and SME and Klipsch and others also have a reputation for long term, excellent after sales support. It might be fun and useful for us to put our collective experience together and make a list of companies that we have knowledge of who... | |
| End Game Turntable suggestions Mikey Fremer addressed the motor used in the HW40 in his review with very positive commentary. It is an very high grade motor. I know that Matt made a significant investment in inventory of motors to bring the price down on the product. VPI has... | |
| Have you heard a VAS cartridge? Clarification, I prefer the VAS Nova Mono over any other mono options currently available. | |
| Have you heard a VAS cartridge? I own two VAS Nova MC cartridges, one mono and one stereo. The mono one in particular is magic, easily the best of several monophonic cartridges that I own. A few days ago I reconfigured my phono pre set up for MM and had to switch from using th... | |
| End Game Turntable suggestions I own a VPI HW40 and am very happy with it. I have also listened extensively to a Rega 10 and would be quite happy to listen to either one forever. | |
| Mono Cartridge Question Hi Lewm, Definitions can get tricky. What I do is clean it and then play the damn record. If not sure, I play the record with a stereo cartridge first. That is always going to determine if it is mono or stereo. Next, I try a 0.07 mil mono. I... | |
| Mono Cartridge Question I can't answer all of the questions raised here, but I can add some light at least. First let me describe my mono vs. stereo cartridges a bit further. I have a VAS Mono MC, .07 mil elliptical diamond on aluminum cantilever and the brother in ste... | |
| TechDAS Reliability vs SME Difference is what makes horse races.-- Mark Twain I have a different opinion of SME and particularly of their tonearms. |