drbond

Responses from drbond

Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?
@mijostyn  The Linn Krystal has a aluminum tube cantilever, with a vital fine line stylus (whatever that means).  It seems like aluminum would be the reasonable replacement option from Sound Smith: Aluminum Alloy Cantilever; Nude Hyper-... 
Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?
@whart  Thanks for the input.  I inquired at the shop that I bought the Linn cartridge from, and they seemed to indicate that Linn does not re-tip or repair cartridges. . . I put in an inquiry to Linn factory, but haven't received a response yet.... 
Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?
@whart  How did the stylus change affect the sound quality? Thanks.   
It comes with a balance knob?!?! I'll take it!
I think all Lamm pre-amplifiers come with "balance" adjustment, in the form of a volume knob for the left channel, and a completely separate volume knob for the right channel.   
Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction?
I received some Vibrasystems rubber pads, and incorporating them into my Rega P8 turntable footers, they are definitely superior to the sponge puck / hockey puck stack: I stacked a standard hockey puck on a Vibrasystems pad under each footer, and ... 
Do good power cords have to be stiff?
@carlsbad 12G or 14G should suffice for most: 15A outlets have 14G single strand copper, whereas 20A outlets have 12G single strand copper providing power to the outlets. That’s your bottleneck: having 10G power cable feeding from a 14G wire sho... 
Do good power cords have to be stiff?
Unless your equipment is very poorly designed, I don't think you should be able to tell any difference between any power cords, assuming a decent construction baseline.  I can't tell a difference in my system, and the only blind test that I know o... 
Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction?
Here's an observation:  my system is set up on a concrete slab; other systems are set up on a suspended wooden/particle board floor.  On a concrete slab, you can jump as much as you want right next to the components, including turntable, and you ... 
Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction?
@chorus  Interesting:  worth a shot at 1.60-1.80 per pad from Vibrasystems. . . they have EVA-BRF pads and EVA-BFP pads, which appear to be similar, but obviously different is some aspect:  maybe they'll be better than my puck stands!  
Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction?
@jerryg123  Yes, real hockey pucks are under most components, all of which sit on a concrete foundation (as those on suspended floors may find more suspension/spring elements work better than they did for me).  Lighter components (turntable, phon... 
Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction?
In my very limited experience, I found that hockey pucks, sometimes stacked on sponge pucks, have offered satisfactory isolation of a component.  However, it would certainly depend on your environment:  my components are on a concrete slab, not a ... 
Record clamp
While I haven't (and probably won't) try millercarbon's recommendation of the Origin Live One Gravity record weight, I have tried two tweaks on my Rega P8, which I plan on upgrading soon:   Firstly, the P8 without any weight or clamp did have qui... 
Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other
@sokogear What particular specifications in the phono stage do I look at to match with the pre-amplifier and the cartridge? (I learned the hard way (from @dover pointing out to me in another thread) that one very important specification to be m... 
Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other
@tms0425  Thanks for sharing.  My plan is to first upgrade my phono stage from the Manley Steelhead to something else.  I expect a more detailed phono stage will allow me to better distinguish the differences between various TT.  With the clamp a... 
Another turntable
Sounds like you're looking at about the same options as I was.  Here's an extensive thread that outlines some options: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/turntable-upgrade-recommendations-sme-vs-amg-vs-technics-vs-other Audiogon Discuss...