Roksan Xerxes & Tabriz Zi

[kenworthy100]

John that is most helpful indeed!

I'm going to PM you about a few other details if that's ok ...

No problem, reply sent this morning.

J

[The Grand Wazoo]

I auditioned the Gyro (basic AC ps) v the original Xerxes in the mid 90's. Conclusion was the Gyro was the better sounding deck.

Apart from the date (I was a bit earlier) that was my experience exactly.
Although the Xerxes had some clever aspects to it's design, it wasn't really particularly clever to rely on a cantilevered piece of veneered MDF not to fail. The fix is a bodge which obviates the original design principle, is it not?

[chris@panteg]

I always found the Xerxes a bit bright and zingy , I have Richard Black review from hifi choice 1991 , he was less than impressed with a Xerxes/ Artemis / Shiraz , still in the right system ? I remember Alvin Gold being it's biggest supporter and he probably still is .

[hifi_dave]

Apart from the date (I was a bit earlier) that was my experience exactly.
Although the Xerxes had some clever aspects to it's design, it wasn't really particularly clever to rely on a cantilevered piece of veneered MDF not to fail. The fix is a bodge which obviates the original design principle, is it not?

There are a couple of 'fixes' but they are not complete IMO. Putting shims under the platter seems a bit of a bodge and then you need to tilt the plinth to level the platter. The only complete fix is to replace the whole top plate but I'm not sure that is offered.

[julesd68]

The dreaded sag isn't really an issue if you can find a good example that hasn't been used with a high-mass tonearm, of which there seem to be plenty.

I'm looking at other options but in value-for-money terms I think the Xerxes deserves serious consideration.

[Audioman]

The dreaded sag isn't really an issue if you can find a good example that hasn't been used with a high-mass tonearm, of which there seem to be plenty.

I'm looking at other options but in value-for-money terms I think the Xerxes deserves serious consideration.

Why not look for a used Xerxes 10 or 20, which were redesigned to eliminate this problem, if you like the Roksan sound ? The 10 must be approaching 15 years old now and is pretty similar to the current model.

Paul.

[julesd68]

hi Paul,

I love the look of the 20 but way out of my price range sadly.

The 10 sounds an excellent idea but not seen any of these on the second-hand market so far ...

[Audioman]

hi Paul,

I love the look of the 20 but way out of my price range sadly.

The 10 sounds an excellent idea but not seen any of these on the second-hand market so far ...

There was one on Gumtree but it's now gone. They must be good as people don't appear to be selling them. Emporium have a new TMS3 for £4.5K which is much less than half retail !

[Pete The Cat]

I run an original Xerxes just for the hell of it as well as a Garrard 401. I'm in the camp of both are good, simply different (eg the 401's bass is untouchable, the Xerxes crisper at the top end). The Xerxes had an RB300 and the combination worked together well and now has an Origin Live RB300 which is an improvement. I feel it's an under-rated deck at the moment and if you get one with no / minimal sag and a working PSU you can feel pleased with yourself.

Pete

[Audioman]

I run an original Xerxes just for the hell of it as well as a Garrard 401. I'm in the camp of both are good, simply different (eg the 401's bass is untouchable, the Xerxes crisper at the top end). The Xerxes had an RB300 and the combination worked together well and now has an Origin Live RB300 which is an improvement. I feel it's an under-rated deck at the moment and if you get one with no / minimal sag and a working PSU you can feel pleased with yourself.

Pete

Agree as a used buy it's underpriced because of the sag issue. If this is more than marginal I can imagine it being a serious even terminal problem as parts are not availablle. That is why Roksan offered a conversion kit to reduce cost when the Xerxes 10 came out. Production of the original deck stopped some time before I believe when this problem became apparent on early decks.