The Alphason has landed!

[Bigman80]

Oddly enough Oliver. I just had a feeling you might come to that conclusion. We each try various gear and sometimes it 'clicks' and you feel happy and other times, as you say, the love does not develop. Could be worth experimenting further. Or just bunging the 774 back on and seeing how that works for you.

I had the same with my Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk.II speakers some years ago. I bought them new for around £1200 after everybody was saying they were the best compacts about, but just did not come to terms with them. All part of the Hi-Fi experience mate.

If you do part with the Alphason, keep the mounting plate. You never know, you may want to try a Linn arm on the Tosh sometime.

There was a moment with the Mission, very early on and I thought "oh my god, what magic is this!"

I do think it's a personal thing. A mate of mine offered me £500 after the first few bars of "When I'm 64" He adores it. I don't know what it is.

I don't want to throw in the towel just yet. I'll bung the mission back on just to see if I'm remembering it with rose tinted glasses and the Alphason is better.

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[karma67]

lol you seem to be doing the same as i did but i reverse re the 2 tonearms,i did just that,rewired the 774 and it just wasn't there,i took putting the hr100 back on to confirm which one i thought was better,fingers crossed you get relief what ever arm you prefer .

[walpurgis]

I'll bung the mission back on just to see if I'm remembering it with rose tinted glasses

I doubt it. I've used loads of arms, but whenever I bung the 774 back on, I just get a grin on my face and think 'this sounds right'. It's not the greatest arm in the world, but it does have some magic.

[Bigman80]

lol you seem to be doing the same as i did but i reverse re the 2 tonearms,i did just that,rewired the 774 and it just wasn't there,i took putting the hr100 back on to confirm which one i thought was better,fingers crossed you get relief what ever arm you prefer .

Lol, who knows. I'll see what happens. If the Alphason doesn't do it for me then it will for someone else.

And yes Geoff. There is a "rightness" about it.

Bloody tonearms lol

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[Jimbo]

Maybe the Mission has certain synergy with particular decks? I heard it on a 401 and it was stunning.

The Alphason is a class tonearm but I would say quite a different beast from the Mission which has great damping ability.
I am not a fan of gimbal bearing tone arms but done well like these two arms are shows they can perform very well. I would always be worried about the bearing assembly being out of spec both regarding wear or torque, but that's just my paranoia

Ultimately I suppose you have to go with your ears and deck compatibility etc but I think I would choose the Mission just because of the extra damping ability. Maybe tough decision?

[Bigman80]

The Mission is back on. I've fitted some Van Damme cable (not my favourite stuff) to it as I have used my only bit of Klotz on the Alphason!

And the enjoyment is back. First song "He ain't heavy" and I'm pulled in to listening to the Snare and following drum roll and it's made goose bumps pop up.

I can only imagine there is some kind of synergy at work with the TT and Arm that just isn't happening with the Alphason.

Looks like it's off the the Private exhibitions area.



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[Bigman80]

I refitted the Alphason this morning, left the headshell weight off and set it up according to the manual.

There's a change in the sound!

Feels a bit more agile and quick now. The bass has improved and the soundstage is larger.

I like it a bit more now. Hmm. I'm sick of tonearms lol

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[walpurgis]

I'm sick of tonearms

It'll drive you nuts Oliver.

[Bigman80]

It'll drive you nuts Oliver.

You're right, Geoff. I think I've been looking at it in the wrong way. The truth is neither is better than the other really, they just do things in a different way. I think the Mission is more analytical and I fingers myself listening to individual instruments of a song rather than the song itself but the Alphason seems to dig deeper into the bass and goes a bit higher in the treble but I'm listening to the whole song.

It's crazy how everything sounds so entirely different and I think the new approach will be to not find better but to find what's to my taste.

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[walpurgis]

The truth is neither is better than the other really, they just do things in a different way.

I suspect that may be the case. And if you borrow Alan's Denon, that will confuse the issue further. Worth a try though, Denon MC's like the 774.