Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
I will concede one thing, the old Croft of mine has a still lovely phono stage, no-label ECC83's and all...
I had a great session with the turntable yesterday (I was out today and couldn't listen to anything).
I've been looking for an Ortofon MC2000 I once bought from HiFi dave with a glued up body (over-tightening fractured the mounting lug(s)) and I can't find it anywhere. I'm visualising an M3D body in my boxes of bits as well - Damn..................... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
I just wished you lived nearer, Dave - that's all, so you could hear this for yourself!!
I think part of the benefit I'm hearing is in simplifying the signal path... By using the M3D I've removed an SUT and also a pair of interconnects, which is bound to make a difference.
That's also the beauty of having a tube phono stage hard-wired into the internal preamp circuit, rather than a separate box (external phono stage) and interconnects in the signal path.
Yes, Croft tube phono stages are lovely and a bit special
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: east yorkshire
Posts: 527
I'm steve.
Glad its worked out for you marco, i'm very happy with mine i have four now, i picked another up last weekend
.. i have a couple of lp's that it strugles with the tracking, but the stylus are very very important..
i had an orgininal shure one retipped at great expense, but it did not track as well as some of the replacements that are available now...
the n21d tracks at less than 3 grams ok
mine has moved out an expensive mc..
nobody complained about lack of top end at my room at the wigwam show ..quite the opposite.. it was the m3d playing most of the day
they make the music room filling and sweet sounding.. and the bass is like nothing else i've heard..
i'm glad lots of people think they crap.. otherwise they would cost more than £80 marco..
i would say one needs a good system and a specific turntable/tonearm set up to get what they are capable of producing
collector and DIY user of old british triode valves
Open baffles / single ended diy px4 and px25 valve amps
Cheers, Steve - I'm lovin' it
Good point about the Wigwam show!
Btw, can you mail or PM me that link which showed replacement NOS styli available for the M3D?
Cheers!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
And I now have a brand new Shure NOS stylus winging its way to me.....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stylus-for-Shu...742.m153.l1262
It'll be interesting to see what difference that makes. The one in the cartridge seems pretty good, but you never know how much use it's had
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
£80 for something that we shoved unloved into a drawer and forgot....WHY didn't I smuggle one home for "the collection" when I could
I know it's going to be TD125 based, but I have an arm from a Trio KD750 coming which seems it should be ok once it's re-wired and the Nagaoka headshell I've found (with w@nky headshell wires and looking very like the Sumiko) is crying out for a lower compliance cartridge to go with it, as none of my mm's will be ideal..
Marco, you're a VERY naughty man..............................................
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex
Posts: 7,090
I'm Dave.
Dave,
When (when ?) you come over, you can have a rummage through my 'old cartridge' box. I've probably got at least a couple of M3D - we used to use them as paperweights.
Location: California (San Francisco Bay Area)
Posts: 170
I'm Mark.
"Originally Posted by NRG
Response to 15Khz and min 3g tracking force:"
http://www.cartridgedb.com/docs/shure_m3d.pdf
Had a look at the data sheet above and it makes me think that the shure M3D is not
really a high fidelity cart isn't the spec for hifi 20 -20Khz.
Dave, LOL!
I've been doing some A/B comparisons between the DL-103SA and M3D... It's interesting going back to the Denon after being accustomed to the presentation of the Shure.
The difference is quite apparent, with the Denon definitely having more 'polish' and fine detail retrieval at the top end - traits of a good moving coil. However, the M3D has got more power in the lower registers and greater clarity through the midrange; the 103SA isn't exactly lacking in this area but its MM counterpart definitely has the edge, giving vocals in particular more of a 'hear through' quality with marginally more air and space surrounding instruments.
I could live with both, and indeed intend to. It'll be interesting to see what the new stylus brings to the M3D - I am expecting special things as goodness knows how much use the one in mine has had over the years.
Incidentally I tried the SC35C - only a quick listen though, and that definitely has potential. It doesn't have the sheer 'balls', scale, and midrange finesse of the M3D but for £25 it seems quite remarkable. I will be playing with it again at the weekend and optimising its set-up, so will report back in more detail then.
Right now, I must prepare for the arrival of Steve (Aquapiranha), who's coming round for a sesh, so much later, chaps!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!