Listening has been progressing nicely - in fact, my other kit hasn't really had a look in of late. I've been really quite impressed with this turntable - I've corresponded with a few owners over the last few years, and can say that the majority really rate it; there was one chap in America who had been employed by Sansui in Japan in the 70s, who felt that the PX-100M was better with MMs than MCs; I'll speak as I find...Shure V15 V XMR versus Lyra Delos...Delos wins hands down (as I think most of us would expect! ).
I think it was Frank Schroeder (sp) that described the PX as the quietest turntable he had (not) heard - I must concur - rock solid and super quiet springs to mind. What's really grabbed me is the sense of dynamic scale and musicality. Okay, I'm sure that the Lyra has something to do with this, but the Onkyo is not getting in the way of the music making, or sucking the very lifeblood out of the music...
Theophile - you've hit the nail on the head here - I own several turntables, all from Japan and all from the co-operative school of turntable making and I must say that they are all superb in their own way...and without exception, beautifully made.
The Onkyo is an interesting beast...Richard (Vantage Audio) and I have discussed how it came to be on many occasions. We think that the basic design/circuit idea was Onkyo's, but they gave it to Micro Seiki to turn into reality - very much like Etsuro Nakamichi did with his design for the TX-1000. I really take my hat off to the Micro Seiki organisation; brilliantly clever electronics engineers and sublime machinists.
That said, I think they signed the PX-100M off after a heavy night on the saki at the karaoke bar The design is clever if not, as we have identified earlier in this thread, a true linear motor. What it does make for is a super smooth, stable rotation, which benefits stability and imaging no end. As you will see from the image of the circuit boards attached, there are quite a few of them and there are rather a lot of connecting wires...complicated. A couple of owners have reported that, changing earthing arrangements with the cartridge has caused the turntable to work its way up the speeds, of its own accord. Whilst I have never seen this phenomenon, it does hint at a certain fragility to things.
My philosophy will be simple - when its in situ and doing what I want, then leave well alone! So far, the combination of Lyra Delos, SME 312 and Onkyo PX-100M has been sublime, so I'm in no rush to change.
I've uploaded a few images - some of the bespoke armboard made by Vantage Audio out of bronze - this is a facsimilie of the original (image also included) but in my opinion is even better than the one originally supplied. There is a picture of the coils - a linear motor manufacturer I know saw these and said; "interesting, I bet that cost a fortune to develop and manufacture"...probably why we don't see this sort of thing around today - at least not within the reach of most mortals
There's also a Japanese magazine cover and an American advert...I'll post some pictures of the Onkyo in the context of the rest of my system soon...
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The design is clever if not, as we have identified earlier in this thread, a true linear motor. What it does make for is a super smooth, stable rotation, which benefits stability and imaging no end. As you will see from the image of the circuit boards attached, there are quite a few of them and there are rather a lot of connecting wires...complicated. A couple of owners have reported that, changing earthing arrangements with the cartridge has caused the turntable to work its way up the speeds, of its own accord. Whilst I have never seen this phenomenon, it does hint at a certain fragility to things.
So far, the combination of Lyra Delos, SME 312 and Onkyo PX-100M has been sublime, so I'm in no rush to change.
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