lewm

Responses from lewm

Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
They vary from unit to unit in internal resistance. Therefore, a 47K ohm load would be good for some and not for others. Mine has a relatively high internal resistance. (Cannot recall the number.) vdH recommends "200 ohms to 47K ohms" for the load... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
I am surprised that no one has pointed out that there really is NO one Colibri. Each one seems to have been custom made with variations in cartridge body construction, wire used for windings, voltage output, internal impedance, etc, etc. So none o... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
Fmpnd, After I posted about VTA, etc, I felt silly, because it is obvious that someone as knowledgable as yourself would know enough to play with all the variables. I guess the only point of contention is that you seem to attribute your dissatisfa... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
Lutenist, The tonearm "effective mass" is a mathematical entity that describes the average of the mass in relation to the square of its distance from the stylus tip. (I am writing this without access to the actual formula, so I may be leaving out ... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
Fmpnd, Sounds like your (negative) experience was pretty convincing to you. The only explanation that might exonerate the Colibri is that there was some suboptimal interaction between your tonearm and the cartridge, a la Raul's point. My Colibri i... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
I meant to add that if you are looking at a used Colibri, especially one that has recently been "readjusted" by van den Hul, then any fears of manufacturing defects should be ameliorated. Someone else has done the beta testing for you. Therefore t... 
Should I buy a VDH Colibri or Black Beauty?
In my similar inquiry a few months ago, I found that many of the guys who post here and who have the most experience with a wide variety of high end cartridges were in awe of the Colibri, but all said that it was a cartridge that will reveal the "... 
Which phonostage is a heavenly match for a XV-1S
Dan_ed, It is hard to argue with your proposition, but in the case of inside vs outside, I personally far prefer built-in, for two reasons: (1) In-built phono stages, if properly designed, will usually not require a buffer stage (cathode-follower ... 
Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC?
Dear Tobes, Your data would seem to be essentially in agreement with my statement. At all loads of 100R or higher, the voltage output varies very little, altho it does get a little better with each increment above 100R, by an amount which would be... 
Can anyone provide Denon DP service manuals?
Go to Vinyl Engine. That's where I got one for the Denon DP80. 
Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC?
Dear Raul, If there is a real measurable difference in SPL when one goes from 100R to 47K load, this indicates to me that 100R is too low for the particular cartridge, because some signal voltage is being lost to ground with that load. There is a ... 
TUBE NOOB: ADVICE NEEDED ON REPLACEMENT TUBE
Check with Antique Electronic Supply in Arizona. They are very reliable nice people who will not sell bad tubes, and they have a huge inventory. 
New vinyl's noisy little secret
Bosrt, You have evidently adopted a very onerous way to clean your LPs. With my VPI HW17, it never takes more than a total of 5-6 minutes to clean both sides, using my conventional cleaner (dilute non-ionic detergent in a water/alcohol mix). If I ... 
Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC?
This is all off-topic, but once back in the day I also tried 47K with an MC, and it WAS bright. However, my present system and the system I had back then have nothing in common. In one way, this subject may indeed have relevance to the present dis... 
Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC?
Raul, Your point that the match between tonearm and cartridge depends on more than just the resonant frequency is an excellent one and does run thru my mind when I read such mathematical treatments. I guess the idea is that once you make sure that...