And I couldnt be more delighted
The last year and half has been the toughest part of my hi fidelity journey without question - They say the last hurdle is always the hardest - not flamin wrong.
Wont go into all the details but at long last, this evening I managed to fire up my pride and joy after what has felt like an eternity downtime.
So what's new since this http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...at-Gong-Towers
?
Well,
1.The completely rebuilt and upgraded Sansui AU 919 integrated has now been completely re-capped as well, the only thing that wasn't done in the initial rebuild.
2. The Micro Seiki MA 202 tonearm has been stripped, re-wired and had new hybrid ceramic bearings fitted.
3. My Techies been treated to Paul Hynes's SR7 external power supply, plus regulator modules, pure silver DC lead with Jaegar low impedance connector.
4. The ADC LM1 Magnesium headshell has been replaced by an Audio Technica AT MS-8 ( 8gram) Magnesium headshell, fully adjustable - lovely thing.
5. Bolted to the above is the Ortofon Cadenza Black, my dream cart - didnt think I'd have one until retirement but came across a deal I'd have been crazy to let pass.
Anyway.... I was out of work today faster than a starved greyhound out of the traps chasing a real rabbit
Once in I got the preliminaries out of the way then down to cart set up, alignment etc - took hours as meticulous tonearm / cart set up is a given in my book, take the time to get that right and your on the right way to the pleasure zone, hearing your system properly.
Out came my 'set up' reference album, we've all got one, the one you know and use for the final adjustments, vta on the fly adjust sweetspot searching
Took a while but when I heard it was in I got down to listening and I havnt stopped this evening right into the night !
Where do I start ?? My fear when this moment came was that it was going to be soooooo hard to evaluate this number of changes all all thrown in at once but hey ho! I can think of worse things to have to do
From the get go, my thoughts were neutrality ! very welcome and expected with the purity of sound you get with a Sansui 919 and then the Cadenza is known to be exceptionally neutral and smooth.
So far so good, the smoothness wasnt quite there from the off, but I wasnt worried.
I was conscious there'd be a lot of bedding in /burn in - the re-cap, the SR7 and regulator modules and so on. It's about getting some hours in.
The more I play, is the more I'm blown away by the way the system digs deep into the recording, pulling out the music. Each recording is 'individual' and honest. There's no gloss over which is how I've always wanted it.
Bass notation and texture is great, again within the context of the recording. Treble is the most natural I've ever heard in my system
I sense things are just going to get better and better asd the hours clock up and things really settle.
Curtis Mayfield sounded fabulous, Donny Hathaway Live - (The Ghetto) has taken up residence - beautiful !!!
It's gonna be a long long night - fortunately my daughters out with her mate and wont need picking up until after 2am .........
I've earned this ......... further update and more musings later