Initial impressions of my modified analogue system

[machtman]

Hi
I joined this forum several months ago but have been waiting for some new components and my move to the UK before posting.

I've moved (Warwickshire) and the new components in the Analogue part are up and running, although the speaker placement is somewhat random and determined mostly by the (4.5 m) length of the speaker cables.


Mark

[YNWaN]

Erm OK. but what actually are your first impressions?

[machtman]

Sorry I got interrupted.

What is left over from the old system are silver lutz (Deco/Heretic Audio) between phono stage (Nick Gorham/Long Dog Audio JFET/5687 valve hybrid) and preamp and to the Conrad-Johnson (L66S 6189/E188CC/6550 pushpull) and Chris Sommervigo Neo-Morpheus speaker cables to the Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento speakers.

What is new and what I will be describing here are

1. Deco Audio Something Solid stand
2. Aschenborn Verdier Nouvelle TT (about 6 years old) with an Aschenborn A23 mat and a brass armboard with NextGen WBT silver RCA jacks
carrying an
3. SME 3012 R arm (also 6 years old) rewired internally with Ikeda silver wiring
using a
4. Ortofon 90. Anniversary SPU cartridge
and connected by a new phono cable from
5. Yannis Tome silver litz with NextGen jacks

The preamp is a DIY project I tried because I got interested in soldering microelectonics and consists of a John Broskie all in one 5687 board with cryo-treated Tung Sol 5687 valves with copper coolers (both Pearl in the USA) and internal silver wiring, NextGen WBT jacks connected to Drummond transformers and running at 300 V. I soldered the board myself but got Nick Gorham to connect the TXs and sockets and Anthony Cresswell to make a wooden case for it.

Fotos available if anybody is interested.

My previous system differed because:
1. components were on Ikea oak tables and were supported by Gingko Audio clouds except for the

2. TT which is an Notts Analogue TT with heavy upgrade, a Martin Bastin Wave Mechanic power supply, and an SME IV arm (also internal Ikeda wiring) plus a Dynavector XX2 cartridge connected with Audio Note AN-V phono cable

3. a custom built S&B TVC preamp (Nick Gorham) which I had built in an attempt to improve the sound on digital streaming from a Linn Renew DS (not yet installed in the new system).

If you've gotten this far, you might be curious how it sounds. I certainly was, and I've been waiting for months for the move to happen because the TT and arm and phono cable were in the UK and I was in Ireland. And I was struggling with trying to get the Aikido soldered because I was needing to learn how to apply Ohm's law to calculate required wattage through the resistors and distortion through RC circuits. On top of which I ended up listening to advice from people who had built Aikido boards before and recommended different voltage from what Broskie was recommending. The board has about 8 resistors on pins to allow replacement in order to allow a comparison of 300, 240 and 150 V. And I've bought a selection of high quality resistors to see whether that makes a difference as well. But I haven't gotten that far yet. In fact, the input selector is lying loose in the case because I haven't yet had the time to fix it to the case. Too many boxes to unpack and things to install. And the garden in front of the house is meadow-sized and I've bought my first lawnmower and garden hoses.

When Nick with moral support from me built the Aikido board into the case, we were both impressed that it sounded so good. There is a slight hum on one channel that I still need to chase, but it disappears for my ears about 1 m away from the speakers. So I was hoping that the system might sound good, and simply installed all the new components to try it out rather than doing A/B comparisons one component at a time.

The result of this combination is flabbergasting! My records sound totally different than ever before. I had thought that the Guarneri Mementos were somewhat cold and the sound was previously dominated by extemely clear trebles. The trebles are still there but are now part of a dramatic bass and very impressive mid-range. Previously, the system yielded superb separation between individual instruments and projected about 1-2 m to the sides of each speaker and into the wall behind them. At the moment, I am not hearing that clear separation and the speakers are the side boundaries. However, I haven't yet started to tune the room. Not only are its dimensions very different but the previous room had a floor to ceiling bookcase full of books and vinyl and the current room has a much smaller bookcase, which is still largely empty. And the cartridge, phono cable, and valves have only been used for a few hours and are still burning in.

The sound is so different that I tried to do some simple A/B comparisons to see if any one component was the primary difference. Indeed, simply replacing the Aikido with the TVC preamp goes back a long way to the previous sound. With the TVC it sounds clean, analytical, emphasises the trebles. It also sounds digital and the music is gone.

I should possibly note that I replaced a Klyne s.s. preamp with the TVC preamp for a dramatic improvement in sound. The current difference with the Aikido is not an improvement but a totally drastic change in sound. And previously I would have been focusing on how clean the system sounded whereas with the new system I am focused on the music.

For example, I had bought Martin Stephenson and the Daintees Gladsome Humour Blues because it was recommended as a good test record for bass reproduction in the track Wholly Humble Heart. It sounded good on the old system. Now the drums sound live and my diaphragm is feeling the beat rather than just my ears. Recently, I coughed up the money for the vinyl version of Alison Kraus New Favorite. I had previously only heard the CD, which I know well. The CD sounds screechy in comparison to the vinyl. And turning the volume up makes the music louder but not unpleasant.

I've tried replacing the Yannis cables with a separate pair of WE original tinned-copper phone wire cables that were highly recommended. I prefer the Yannis cables although the differences are minor. I first learned about the Yannis cables on this forum, which is why I'm posting the review here.

I've tried using my Stillpoints record clamp. It now kills the music similarly to the TVC preamp. Anybody want to buy a Stillpoints clamp?

If there is anybody still reading at this point, and wants fotos and subsequent impressions, I'll be happy to supply them. And if anybody is in the vicinity of Stratford/Leamington/Banbury I'd love to show the system to them and let them listen for themselves.

best regards
Mark




Mark

[Stubies]

Photos, definately! please post :)

[machtman]

Here are some fotos of the setup and then of the Aikido board.

The left rack has the Verdier on top, the CJ amp in the middle and the Aikido at the bottom (missing the input select knob). The Ikea rack at the right has the phono stage on top and the currently unused TVC preamp underneath.

All comments welcome.

Mark

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[The Grand Wazoo]

Here's my comment Mark (and it's one made with the best of intentions):
Is there any chance you could get your photos onto this thread? It's so much better than linking to another site, especially when there's a detailed description of the content, such as you have provided.
If you don't know how to do it, there's a 'How To' thread here (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?7549-How-To). If you need help, then shout & I'm sure someone will lend a hand with some advice.

[machtman]

Thanks and images are now posted.

Mark

[Barry]

Love the look of the SPU/SME 3012R combination. I occasionally use an SPU GM/SME 3012 II combination myself.

If I read your post correctly, you seem to be saying that your new system connects you with the music more, despite displaying a poorer separation between the instruments. Is that right? Anything which reduces the 'distance' between the listener and the performance, in my opinion, is to be applauded.

[machtman]

Barry
This is still confusing me because it us less analytical but more musical. But it is still running in and is more and more captivating.
Mark

[Ali Tait]

For me, this is what valves do so well, done well they make you forget all about the kit and leave you free to glory in the music.

Lovely system BTW, Nick's kit is very good indeed is it not?

[machtman]

For me, this is what valves do so well, done well they make you forget all about the kit and leave you free to glory in the music.

Lovely system BTW, Nick's kit is very good indeed is it not?

Hi, I was already using valves in the phono stage and the amp and didn't expect additional valves in the preamp to make such a huge difference. In fact, until I heard this system, I kept thinking everybody else's HiFi was overemphasising the bass and that I was the only one who like high clear trebles. I've recently heard a Linn high end system at in Edinburgh and then heard Nick's system with his new valve DAC connected to a s.s. amp at his house while he was building the Aikido board into the case. The Aikido changed the sound of his system as well, bringing much more music to my ears than was coming through the DAC alone. His comment was that the DAC was intended to be as neutral as possible and the Aikido was bring warmth in. But that was with digital music and everything was different from my own system. So I was expecting the Aikido to sound good, but wasn't prepared for this total change in emphasis.

As to Nick's gear, I'm wild about the phono stage, which is an improved version over the standard that he sells, including better caps and resistors and internal AN-V silver wiring and Furutech sockets. I was also absolutely wild about the S&B TVC preamp because it has remote control via IR with an Apple remote, magnetic relays and I thought it was the closest thing to a simple wire between input and output. But the Aikido has convinced me that an active pre can have enormous benefits. And although I'm still struggling to define what the differences are, I've now come to realise that I was artificially reducing bass and mid range, and that those do help the music.

I still haven't assembled the NOTTs to see just what the Verdier and Ortofon and 3012 are bringing to the mix. Nor have I tried what difference the new stands are making. But I should be able to come back within a week with a report on how well the system now sounds with digital sound and what my impressions of the two turntables and stands are.

Thanks for the kind words on the system. The last three years since I started up again on HiFi have been a series of very dramatic revelations, of which this set is among the most dramatic.

all my best
Mark


Mark

[YNWaN]

The plywood stand your deck sits on is a funky construction :).

Your Verdier TT also interests me. I've not seen one with a veneered plinth before (can't remember any way) - they usually seem to a stone composite (or similar). I also wonder what the semi-circular cutout in the plinth is for (near the arm base)? Is it so that the arm cable does not fowl the plinth when the armboard is rotated to accommodate nine inch arms?

[machtman]

The plywood stand your deck sits on is a funky construction :).
This is the new version of the Something Solid stand being made by Mark at Deco Audio. Mark also made a beautiful wall mount for the motor which is hidden behind the stand and is running the Verdier via a black cotton thread.
I had read extremely positive reviews about the Something Solid stands, which were previously made from black steel bars welded together. My contact at Deco Audio, Peter Empson, has continued to give me superb advice and seems to have similar tastes to me. In fact, he was so kind to keep the Verdier at his shop since Christmas after I bought it in Germany to avoid having to ship it again from Ireland. Peter also adjusted the arm and arranged for the rewiriing of the arm, and adjusted the VTA and tracking force. Based on Peter's recommendations of the Something Solid stands and my wife actually liking their appearance, I went for the stand without ever hearing one.
The construction is plywood held together by taut ropes but the boards that things sit on are balsa for the resonance qualities. Until now I've been very happy with having Gingo Audio clouds under my gear, which you can still see under the phono stage and TVC pre. Again I haven't made any comparisons but although the floor is springy, you can stamp on it right next to the stand and nothing happens at the stylus at all.



Your Verdier TT also interests me. I've not seen one with a veneered plinth before (can't remember any way)
This is the Aschenborn, Germany version of the Verdier which is made with explicit approval by Verdier himself. It comes in beech veneer in natural and various colours, and this is the natural color. It also comes with the solid brass armboard but the TT also came with several other armboards if I wanted to play with other arms. The Aschenborn version sells in Germany and in the US. They also have a dealer in the UK but according to Aschenborn that dealer is neither interested nor competent to handle turntables.
Finally, the mat is the Aschenborn A23 mat, which has had rave reviews for various TTs in the US, made of textile. Peter at Deco compared it to the mats they recommend for the Verdier and thought it sounded better.


I also wonder what the semi-circular cutout in the plinth is for (near the arm base)? Is it so that the arm cable does not fowl the plinth when the armboard is rotated to accommodate nine inch arms?
Exactly. With the cutout, you can simply rotate the same armboard into the cutout and mount a nine inch arm.

There is another difference between the Aschenborn Verdier and the original one, namely the suspension is an Aschenborn construction. I have no idea how springy the Verdier is but this one is extremely springy, very different from the NOTTs which is rock solid. One result is that Eschenborn does not recommend mounting a second arm, unlike the Verdier itself, just because the suspension wouldn't be able to handle it. Even the 3012 arm seems to be held together by a wish and a prayer and the rotational angle of the cartridge goes off every so often and needs to be adjusted by twisting back to horizontal.

One very minor problem I'm having is the arm drop, which is too fast if I simply let the lever drop, leading to skipping into the record. When I lower it slowly, waiting for the stylus to touch the vinyl, everything is fine. Does anybody with experience with a 3012 know of a way to slightly stiffen the hydraulic resistance on the arm drop?

Mark

Mark

[DSJR]

Remember, Mark Orr (lovely chap and a keen wind-surfer I understand) does use scientific common sense as well as his and many others' ears to design and fine-tune his stands and they DO work really well. I should add that I sold his earlier models myself and his space-frame speaker stands are absolutely PERFECT for thin-wall style speakers by Spendor, Harbeth, Stirling etc. he also makes some single pillar speaker stands for smaller stand mount speakers which work really well. Obviously, the Sonus Fabers are conceived as a visual thing as much as anything else, so should be used with their own stands for good results :)

Advert over, but I speak from personal experience where Something Solid is concerned and am happy to plug them :)

[machtman]

I haven't had the chance to meet Mark Orr yet, although I've talked to him on the phone. But his ad hoc wall mount for the motor is a work of art and was quite inexpensive. And I'm extremely impressed with the sonic and vibrational isolation of the stands. PS they're sitting on Mark's Missing Link feet, which consist of metal circular frames supporting more taut cables under a small tripod sitting in the cables with a hard (plastic?) filling that the spikes go into. Very ingenious design.
Mark

[YNWaN]

Thank you Mark for answering my questions so clearly - very interesting.


Even the 3012 arm seems to be held together by a wish and a prayer and the rotational angle of the cartridge goes off every so often and needs to be adjusted by twisting back to horizontal.

That shouldn't be happening though - the connection between headshell and arm tube must be very loose!

[SquireC]

Great post. Always interesting to hear about different approaches to getting the best sound.

Bit worried about that swivelling cartridge though.

:rolleyes:

[machtman]

That shouldn't be happening though - the connection between headshell and arm tube must be very loose!

How do I tighten it?
Mark

[YNWaN]

Sorry, I'm not sufficiently familiar with your arm and cartridge/headshell to tell you. GT audio sell your deck, arm and cart - perhaps they could tell you.

[Stratmangler]

One very minor problem I'm having is the arm drop, which is too fast if I simply let the lever drop, leading to skipping into the record. When I lower it slowly, waiting for the stylus to touch the vinyl, everything is fine. Does anybody with experience with a 3012 know of a way to slightly stiffen the hydraulic resistance on the arm drop?

It's a common problem with the early SME arms, and SME no longer service these arms.
It's something to do with the damping fluid leaking out over time.

[DSJR]

SME's can easily be stripped out for service, although the cueing assembly is a pain to remove (on later arms at least). Once stripped and cleaned out, I'm sure SME or Rega would/could supply a phial of fresh silicone damping fluid to re-charge the piston.

As for swivelling headshells, a bodge could be to get some stud-lock type liquid (the green stuff used to lock tape head setting screws amongst other things) or similar. A drop or three of this around the headshell socket will stay tacky long enough to set correctly and then, if left for a few hours, should all but glue it in this position, not tightly, but enough to firmly hold the shell in correct azimuth. I'm sure though, that there are still people at SME who could advise on a correct course of action and they might even have some parts left!

[machtman]

It's a common problem with the early SME arms, and SME no longer service these arms.
It's something to do with the damping fluid leaking out over time.

Thanks very much. This arm is only six years old but it looks as if it were much older. I can live with slowly lowering the lever which then works quite well.

Mark

[machtman]

SME's can easily be stripped out for service, although the cueing assembly is a pain to remove (on later arms at least). Once stripped and cleaned out, I'm sure SME or Rega would/could supply a phial of fresh silicone damping fluid to re-charge the piston.

Thanks for the advice and I will keep it in mind. But I think I should first get everything to a basic level of function before I start making improvements. Among other issues having a loose input switch in the Aikido running at 300 V is more urgent.


As for swivelling headshells, a bodge could be to get some stud-lock type liquid (the green stuff used to lock tape head setting screws amongst other things) or similar.
I love Lock-Tite and has used it regularly on my motorcycle and also to keep screws on the drivers in speakers from vibrating loose. I'll see just how often I have to adjust the angle though before I start bodging around with an arm that I have no manual for.

Mark

[Barry]

How do I tighten it?
Mark

There is a slotted grub screw underneath the arm, just behind the headshell socket. It is obviously loose - use a jeweller's screwdriver to tighten it.

[machtman]

Update on sonic comparisons:

Yesterday was busy.
1. Getting a very heavy self-propelled petrol lawn mower assembled. It's not as obvious as I would have hoped but I eventually got it together. Luckily, after I had it assembled and figured out how to start it, my wife decided she had been waiting forever to mow a lawn and then mowed most of our 900 m2 meadow in front of the house. The grass bag is 60 l size and was emptied 3 times over the next couple of hours. She was exhausted from fighting the mower, which wants to mow faster than she wants to walk. but the lawn is moved and the composting bin is full. And I had time to worry about the wireless connections.

2. I went for BT broadband because they were the cheapest I could readily find and supposedly reliable. The installation was performed professionally 10 days ago and after minor initial confusion the BT Hub was up and running with wireless connections and a pair of Siemens Gigaset VOIP telephones running over it. I was even able to find good VOIP apps for telephoning over a wireless connection when I am roaming outside the UK. But despite the claims, the wireless speed I was getting on a notebook was only 64 MB/s and quite slow connection times to the internet on iOS devices. So I knew I wanted to install my Cisco Linksys E4200 router, especially because all of the devices in the home were working on it in Cork. And I also expected problems, which is exactly what happened.
The solution in the end was to switch the BT hub to a non-default IP range, 192.168.2.xxx and do an automatic DHPL connection on the Cisco which was setup for 192.168.1.xxx. But it took a couple of hours to figure that out and help from Briain in Edinburgh. Once you know what to do on the hub's website for administration and have finally figured out what password you were using on the Cisco, things were simple enough. But doing non-default settings on the BT is not necessarily obvious. At any rate, I'm back to 300 MB/s on the notebook and the NetGear bridge to the main computer is working and everything is now functional for digital streaming, which was my main motivation for bothering.

3. Digital streaming. I have ripped all the CDs I own, as well as buying lots more and downloading HiRes over the last few years. This is all on a small QNAP with an 8 TB raid 6 array. It also contains backups of all the rips as well as ripped DVDs of all my DVDs, which are streamed to the a Dune device connected to the TV. Everything works well except that I put industrial level HDs into the QNAP and you can hear them chuckling almost continuously. However, as part of the move, I bought a larger QNAP to make a copy of the entire cluster at work, and once that cluster is up and running again at work, that QNAP is coming home with its 12 TB and it doesn't make any noise at all.
The QNAP is connected to the Linksys and a second ethernet cable runs to a Linn Renew. When I started digital streaming, I improved the DS from a PopCorn to a Linn Sneaky and then to a Renew. For those who don't know the Renew, it is a reboxed Klimax 0, which was the top of Linn's DS range until they came up with the Klimax 1. Each step up was a major improvement in SQ but something was still missing. I improved the Renew by putting it on a variety of supports until I settled on a Gingko Audio cloud. I also improved the sound with Meicord Ethernet cables and an MCRU 8 gang mains block and power cables. Finally, I played with ICs until I settled on some that sound reasonable. But after today, I'm going to order another pair from Yannis Tome, because his phono cable sounds better than any of the others I just tried. But in the end it still sounded lousy compared to vinyl. Thin and reedy. Too little music.
Linn aficionados claim that the Klimax 1 sounds indistinguishable from vinyl and it was a major step up from the Klimax 0. I've heard a Klimax 1, but not in my system. And 14,000 GBP for a new unit is a lot more money than I am willing to spend, especially after I paid 3400 for the Renew.
The initial problem with the Renew is that it puts out a 2 V signal whereas the CJ amp only needs 1 V. Thus a pre is used purely an attenuator. I tried using an attenuator on the end of the IC, but that killed the sound. Nick helped me to demonstrate that all I needed was attenuatation by building an ad hoc Alps Blue volume control with input and output sockets. That also killed the sound but at least it showed that I didn't need any amplification whatever. Which explains why I had Nick build the custom-built TVC pre which is a pure attenuator. And it did sound better. But a simple comparison with the Rega Planar 2 with a Shure MM cartridge that I had kept for >30 years convinced me that vinyl was better, which started me on the vinyl upgrade path.

However, this still left the question whether the Renew was working as well as it could, and helps to explain why I built the Aikido.

4. Comparisons. To my great pleasure, once I had the router up and running and the electrical components installed, the Renew started playing music immediately. I have now compared it with various ICs, between the Aikido and the TVC pre, and also compared it to the TT.

For those who don't know (and I had forgotten), the connections between neutral and live on a mains plug are not necessarily optimal for HiFi gear. I have been told that this depends on which side of the input transformer is connected to live but don't know for sure whether that is the correct explanation. When I was still living in Germany (pre-2007), the availability of Euro plugs made life easy. You simply tried them in both orientations and chose the orientation with the best soundstage. The difference is very dramatic and in one orientation, sound is flat and in the other you get additional depth. Every single mains cable has to be tested to get the best soundstage.
But UK plugs don't allow such simple changes. And each mains plug has a fuse that all the current is going through, which is not necessarily helping the sound. There are audiophile fuses (which I have in the 8 gang mains block) and will have in the Aikido once I remember to finally put it back in but the simplest solution is no fuses beyond the wall socket. Therefore the 8 gang mains block has Schuko (Euro) sockets and all my mains cables have Shuko plugs, which are unfused. Thanks to David Brook from MCRU for suggesting this simple trick. And indeed changing the orientation of the plugs on both the Aikido and Renew has given me a deeper soundstage than I started with.

The comparison between the Aikido and the TVC pre was not as dramatic as for the TT. The TVC pre sounds good but somewhat sterile. The Aikido sounds richer and has better bass, and sounds a bit more like vinyl. So the TVC is now banished from my main system.

The test pieces were ripped CDs:
Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Calling, Twilight
(nice voice, both treble and bass)
The Chieftains, Tears of Stone, Track 3 The Magdalene Laundries, Joni Mitchell)
(fantastic voice, great text)
John Cage, Works for Percussion external, Second Construction
(the most amazing experimental percussion, including bells, sheets of metal, sirens, and multiple unidentifiable sounds, doesn't sound musical at all until the system is at a very high level, deep soundstage, enormous variation in volume)
Nickel Creek, Nickel Creek, Ode to a Butterfly
(instrumental, voice, blues, thanks to Nick for recommending this group, great sound)
Crooked Still, Some Strange Country, Sometimes in the Country
(fantastic bluegrass, great twangy instruments, thanks to my older daughter for sending me the CD)
Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Session, Misguided Angel
(I love Cowboy Junkies and this is one of their best)

On all of them the Aikido sounds better, richer, better bass, more musical. And the TVCs sound digital, distant, less involving.

Then I started comparing the TT with the Renew. The unfortunate problem is that the TOCOS input selector is lying loose inside the case. So for every trial, I have to turn everything off, lift the lid of the case, stick my clumsy fingers into a case with hot valves and turn a slightly stiff selector switch without damaging the soldered connections. And then try to remember the sonic qualities from the previous source afterwards. And my wife who was helping to listen claims that she needs to hear each track on vinyl and digital for comparisons rather than hearing several tracks on each before switching. I really need to get the input selector extension installed before I do this again.

The result is that both digital and vinyl sound good, just different. The digital sound is colder and slightly more distant. Less bass, clearer separation between instruments. I had the impression that the sound floor is lower with vinyl (!!!!!?????), which was totally unexpected. But the Verdier does have an amazingly low sound floor, with nothing in between sounds. On the Trinity sessions which was recorded in an empty church, the first track, Mining for Gold, has a very clear echo from the church which is very dramatic on the digital recording. At first I thought it was missing on the vinyl, but it just sounds different, possibly less dramatic. But it is definitely there on vinyl as well. So once I have the input selector mounted, I expect to go back and forth more often whereas previously I only listened to digital music when the TT was giving problems. Which is good because I have several CDs that were never produced on vinyl and which I love (such as Crooked Still).

I also did some comparisons for digital music with different ICs, and between NextGen silver input sockets and high quality silver plated sockets from HiFi Collective. Those differences were not as dramatic, although I will now order Yannis Tome ICs and go for all NextGen sockets.

Summary, the Renew is sounding more like I had hoped for when I bought it about 18 months ago.

Next comparison, Verdier/SME 3012/Ortofon SPU versus Notts/SME IV/Dynavector XX2. Any predictions? My 69 year old back is already hurting in advance from thinking about lifting these behemoths from the stands.

Mark

[machtman]

There is a slotted grub screw underneath the arm, just behind the headshell socket. It is obviously loose - use a jeweller's screwdriver to tighten it.

Barry, thanks very much for the information. Unfortunately, I can't find a grub screw just behind the headshell socket. I even put on my Optivizor's so I could see something and twisted my neck to an impossible angle to see whether there was any grub screw in the slot underneath the arm running behind the headshell socket. I took the headshell off and tried to move the socket. No grub screw. The only grub screws I can see are at the back of the arm over the knife bearings.

The movement is of the whole headshell socket. The arm itself doesn't seem to move at all. And this arm was just overhauled by Peter Empson at Deco Audio who told me that I had to turn it against slight resistance to make the stylus vertical if it went out of alignment. Is it possible that the 3102R is different from the 3012 model you have experience with?

Mark

[MCRU]

No Jennifer Warnes "The Well" then chief? :lol:

Thought you would have given that an outing on the new system.

[machtman]

No Jennifer Warnes "The Well" then chief? :lol:

Hi Dude
I gave your power cables and the 8 gang mains block a plug in my descriptions. But the only thing I want to do with the luxury box of The Well is to sell it.
Mark

[MCRU]

The box it comes in is wood, why not put some cones underneath and use it as an equipment support :)

[machtman]

Final part of the review:
Contestant 1:
Nottingham Analogue Space Deck with heavy upgrade platter, Martin Bastin Wave Mechanic power supply, rewired SME_IV arm with Ikeda silver tonearm wires, Dynavector XX2 retipped by van den Hul, AN-V silver phono cable with AN jacks. There is also an Oyaide aluminium mat and I play it with a Stillpoints clamp.

This is the system that I have been wild about for 18 months. It has great resolution between individual voices, although it may be a bit weak on bass and strong on treble. Everybody who has heard it has been totally amazed that a turntable can sound this clear and natural.

Contestant 2:
I've been listening for slightly over a week to the Aschenborn Verdier Nouvelle with an SME 3012 arm and an Ortofon 90. anniversary cartridge. That arm has also been rewired with Ikeda silver wires and the phono cable is a Yannis Tome silver litz. It is using the Aschenborn A23 textile mat. And it is sitting on the Something Solid Stand while the Notts is on a slate platter in an oak table.

Two tracks of Alison Kraus New Favorite were enough to convince me that I'm selling the Notts. The music that comes from the Verdier is much, much more convincing and the Notts is just slightly edgy on this record.

I will probably put the Notts on the Something Solid stands just to be sure that it's not the stand. And I may well compare more records. But the Notts sounds just like it always did, and the Verdier is producing a sound that I hadn't realised I was lacking until now.

Mark

[Barry]

Yes, it is entirely possible that the grub screw was omitted from the 3012R - with SME providing and relying on a friction fit between the headshell socket and the arm tube. If that is the case then the friction should be sufficiently stiff so the azimuth is not disturbed (that is, the headshell won't rotate) when the arm is handled normally.

I would refer back to Deco Audio for their comment/advice and failing that give SME themselves a call; they're very helpful. http://www.sme.ltd.uk

SME Limited, Mill Road, Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3GY, England
Telephone: +44(0) 1903 814321
Fax: +44(0) 1903 814269
E-mail: info@sme.ltd.uk

[machtman]

Yes, it is entirely possible that the grub screw was omitted from the 3012R - with SME providing and relying on a friction fit between the headshell socket and the arm tube. If that is the case then the friction should be sufficiently stiff so the azimuth is not disturbed (that is, the headshell won't rotate) when the arm is handled normally.
I would refer back to Deco Audio for their comment/advice

Barry, I followed your advice and checked with Peter Empson at Deco Audio. Peter had adjusted the arm on the Verdier, fitted new NextGen WBT silver sockets to the armboard, and adjusted the Ortofon cartridge. His comment was that the 3012 arm cuing device was not as precise as the more modern arms and that one needed to guide the stylus down, which is what I was doing. He indicated that if it were a problem, putting in more hydraulic fluid was possible but that this was typical of these arms after use. Since my wife and I have now gotten used to guiding it down, I don't think it is worth worrying about.

He also indicated that the 3012R arm no longer had a grub screw and the tightness of the headshell on the arm was dependent on the degree of crimping the headshell during assembly. He thought that it was tight enough for normal, careful use and would not need to be adjusted often. I transported the assembled TT including arm and cartridge in my car from Aylesbury to Kineton, and then levelled it on the stand. Over the last 8 days, I have needed to adjust the angle of the headshell once although I have looked at it several times to see whether it went out of adjustment. So, I suspect this is me being overly cautious and I can live with a headshell that is sensitive to turning if I put torque on it. Simply lifting the arm into and out of the arm rest has not been distorting it so it does seem to be fit for purpose.

I also mentioned the fact to Peter that the hanging bob on the anti-skating device was vibrating at bit during play. He was surprised at that and suggested that the thread may have come off the bearing during transport, so I will look at that this evening once I am home from work.

Thank you very much for your concern but it seems like the problem is me being overly cautious and the 3012 arm requiring a greater degree of care than the more modern SME-IV arm I am experienced with.

best regards
Mark

[machtman]

Follow up regarding the Something Solid stands:

As promised, I compared the Notts on the oak stand with slate plinth and on the Something Solid Stands made by Mark Orr. To my great surprise, a considerable part of the sonic improvement I had heard with the Verdier is due to the stands. The Notts gains dramatically on musicality, clearer and more dramatic bass and mid-range. No loss of treble or clarity. I still clearly prefer the Verdier/SME 3012/SPU and will still sell the Notts, but the difference is now qualitative, and no longer a day and night difference as it was before. So I can very highly recommend the stands, and lucked out in listening to the recommendations by Peter Empson and trusting the reviews I had seen on these stands.

I'm quite surprised because I had previously compared difference with the Notts using oak cones and Gingko Audio clouds, and neither of them had improved the sound this dramatically before. Mark Orr has clearly created something special with these stands.

Mark