Hana heaven

[ReggieB]

I've bought a Hana SL from MCRU (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/home/1295-hana-.html) and I'm very pleased with it. I've only used it for a few hours, and it's spread a huge smile across my face. At last my turntable (Linn LP12) sounds like a first class part of my Hi-Fi. It is significantly better than any of my previous cartridges (Ortofon OM10, Denon DL110, Goldring 1042).

I had wondered whether my Akito arm (old model) would make the most of a more expensive cartridge - but it seems to be fine. Perhaps a better arm would get more out of the Hana, but I'm very please with it as it is.

The Hana is much less susceptible to surface noise, than my previous cartridges. However, it is the wonderfully natural sound that I love so much. I'm close to coming to the decision that my analogue setup now betters my digital setup.

Analogue: Linn LP12, Akito arm, Heed Orbit 1, Trichord Dino II & Dino+, Hana SL.

Digital: Rega Apollo-R, Marantz NA7004, M2Tech Young DAC with MCRU PSU.

[montesquieu]

I've bought a Hana SL from MCRU (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/home/1295-hana-.html) and I'm very pleased with it. I've only used it for a few hours, and it's spread a huge smile across my face. At last my turntable (Linn LP12) sounds like a first class part of my Hi-Fi. It is significant better than any of my previous cartridges (Ortofon OM10, Denon DL110, Goldring 1042).

I had wondered whether my Akito arm (old model) would make the most of a more expensive cartridge - but it seems to be fine. Perhaps a better arm would get more out of the Hana.

The Hana is much less susceptible to surface noise, than my previous cartridges. However, it is the wonderfully natural sound that I love so much. I'm close to coming to the decision that my analogue setup now betters my digital setup.

Analogue: Linn LP12, Akito arm, Heed Orbit 1, Trichord Dino II & Dino+, Hana SL.

Digital: Rega Apollo-R, Marantz NA7004, M2Tech Young DAC with MCRU PSU.

Nice. Should indeed be quite a step up. I wouldn't be at all paranoid about the Akito, it's a decent arm and a good match for the SL in terms of mass. You could easily buy something more expensive that wouldn't be as good a pairing. The Dino is a solid peformer too.

[ReggieB]

Thanks Tom. To be honest, my next obvious change is probably a decent record cleaner.

[Clive197]

I also bought a Hana SL from David@MCRU. A fabulous cartridge which comes so close to my Ortofon Cadenza Black that I sat back with my mouth wide open in sheer surprise, specially after considering the price difference. The only thing I don't like about it is that is very light weight plastic but I suppose that is how they keep the price so low.

[moffer]

A big thumbs up for the Hana EH too. It's a cracking cartridge and a significant improvement on the Denon DL10 it recently replaced. I never thought my humble little set-up was capable of sounding so good.

[DSJR]

Shill central - hifi dave at Radlett Audio sells 'em too and he's *very* good to AOS members - cough!



A quick work about early Akito's - The materials used to make them, especially the pillar, were rather softer than Linn dealers were used to and the pillars were very easily crushed on tightening to 'Linn recommended tightness.' This will ruin the horizontal bearings and make them 'notchy,' preventing free movement from centre to rest position. This was changed in the mk2 model and Linn took the liberty of dramatically increasing the cost as a result. Sorry to mention it, but I damaged a good few early ones by over-tightening to start with, as did many Linn dealers and to be fair, Linn did replace them all at the time as it was mostly their fault in the 'training/brainwashing' we had, but thirty years on, who knows what state many of these early arms are in now....

[ReggieB]

I had the Heed power supply fitted about a year ago by AudioT in Cheltenham. While they were at it, they gave it a service. The fact that the arm showed no signs of over tightening was one of the things they commented on - they gave the deck a good bill of health.

One the reasons I was thinking of changing arms was to get a removable head shell so I could play with different cartridges more easily. I was thinking of a Jelco SA-750D. I'd started a conversation with Dave about that idea, and it was then that he suggested I might be better advised to look at the Hana cartridge instead of replacing the arm. I'm so happy with the Hana now that the arm change is unlikely (well for now ... you have to fiddle!).

[CageyH]

I bought my SL from HiFi Dave. Great service.

Out of interest, what loading are you guys running with the SL?

[ReggieB]

The Ear review (http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/hana-eh-and-sl-moving-coil-cartridges) included this advice:


The low output MCs deliver 0.5mV and need an impedance of over 400 Ohms for best results.

So I set my Dino to 1k. To be honest, it something I intended to fiddle with, but am so please with current results, that I haven't felt the need to fiddle.

[montesquieu]

They are 30 ohms impedance, I would say 500-1k should be about right, in the same area as a Denon 103 or most Dynavectors.

[CageyH]

I am currently running at 800 Ohms, but have read that around 500 seems to be the sweet spot.

[ReggieB]

I might have to get my slide rule out and work out how to set 500 Ohms via the switches on my Dino.

[ReggieB]

I used a bit of ruby code instead:



settings = [1.1, 33.0, 100.0, 1000.0]

(1..4).collect do |i|
settings.combination(i).each do |combination|
label = combination.inspect
fractions = combination.collect{|c| 1/c}
sum = fractions.inject &:+
puts "#{label} gives #{1 / sum}"
end
end


Which gave me all the resistances available by combinations of switches on a Trichord Dino:



[1.1] gives 1.1
[33.0] gives 33.0
[100.0] gives 100.0
[1000.0] gives 1000.0
[1.1, 33.0] gives 1.0645161290322582
[1.1, 100.0] gives 1.0880316518298714
[1.1, 1000.0] gives 1.0987913295375087
[33.0, 100.0] gives 24.81203007518797
[33.0, 1000.0] gives 31.945788964181993
[100.0, 1000.0] gives 90.90909090909092
[1.1, 33.0, 100.0] gives 1.053303542930099
[1.1, 33.0, 1000.0] gives 1.0633841394644412
[1.1, 100.0, 1000.0] gives 1.0868491255804762
[33.0, 100.0, 1000.0] gives 24.21129860601614
[1.1, 33.0, 100.0, 1000.0] gives 1.052195261932851



Looks like I'd have to get the soldering iron out to improve on 1000.0

Update: the calculations are right now. Checked via an on line calculator (http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-paralresist.htm).