coogy
17-02-2010, 13:02
Hi guys, I`m new to this forum but already now I can see there is a lot of knowledge floating about here and better still, first hand experience which often equates with wisdom. So hopefully someone can graciously help with the following question but first a little background. I am using a modified Lenco L75....removed from the original plinth and placed on pillars consisting of a combination of brass, aluminium, stainless steel and ebony wood. The arm is a Jelco SA750D and it is fitted to a block of nylon with a stainless steel base and once again ebony damping and with no contact with the TT. My current cart is a low compliance Pickering XV-15 with two styli..a 625E and an original line contact version 757S. So far so good, this combo seems to play very well and is tracking fine although I don`t have a lot to compare it with. A friend with much more experience with these matters is sceptical though as he says the arm with its resonance of 20 and the carts low compliance should not be compatible. Maybe its a bumble bee that doesn`t know it can`t fly....but does so anyway. With the thought that things could be even better still and my general preference (admitidly with a limited budget and field of experience) for mm and moving iron carts due to what I hear as good tonality, warmth and body, I have ordered a boxwood headshell from Yamamoto which is lighter than the original Jelco headshell. Am I on the right track? Now the main question. Recently I bought a used Nagaoka MP-110 to accertain to some degree what these mm experts were offering in the price/performance optic. The problem is that when I align it prorperly in the headshell the contacts at the back of the cart are very far back and touching the contacts at the back of the Jelco headshell, with unbearable humming as a result. I can see that the contacts a also very close on the pickering but because its body slopes downwards they fall slightly under the back headshell muffers and thus get away with it. Whats going on? This is my first arm with sme type removable headshell and have never come across this problem with other arms. I have tried the Nagaoaka in the original Lenco arm where the is space for it and was very impressed, even better than the pickering in this arm, at least for rock and blues, so I would love to hear it in the Jelco. So is there any way around this problem?
My arm is placed with a spindle to pivot distance of 214 mm which should be correct. Thanks for reading this rather long winded query and any help offered will be greatly appreciated. By the way the pickering in the Jelco is vastly superior to the same cart in the Leco arm.
For those interested here is the rest of my current system.
Quad 303 power amp
custom built tube pre with massve tube regulated power supply and mm riaa
Studer A727 cd player
Quad ELS 57 or Klipsch Heresy 1
All cables are Oyaide
A word of advice on the Klipsch Heresy`s
These extremely dynamic speakers have qualities I`ve not heard in any other speaker but are unbearable to listen to in my system at least if untamed. Just like an untamed Mike Tyson is just as useless as a heavy weight professional. Here is a way to bring them to an entirely new level where they are absolute over performers and play way above their price bracket.
First of all remove the back panel and never again replace. The 12" woofer is in a way too small undamped cabinet which leads to a slightly tubby bass and hardness in the lower mids. Removing the back panel and with experimenting with distance to the back wall gives a more extended and delicate "expansive" bass without effecting dynamics...VERY NICE
The woofers Qt is fine with this
Secondly and I know some horn experts will curl their toes at this....I covered the mid horn with 1mm thick leather, seude side up. Maybe the bumble bee thing going on again, because it works and removes the last graininess from the mids. Now this speaker plays warm, big, extended, with imaging levels beyond what I expected from a horn construction without giving up their original virtues. A mike Tyson turned into a choir boy is also useless in the ring. If your system requires more refinement in the mids you can damp the driver with a resistor as in the original crossover configuration it goes straight through without any damping whatsoever. Or you can try other paper and oil caps than the originals. The result .....speakers that blow most of what I`ve ever heard out of the water for almost no money.By the way I have reinforced the now open cabinet with walnut bracing and the distance to my back wall from the front of the enclosure is 1 meter. Hope this can be useful to someone. I listen regularly to friends setups with Magnepan 20.1, 3.6, 1.6 have for some years had magnepan 2.5r and you get some of their bass quality with the added bonus of real, live hammer in the mid bass and absolutely no booooooom. Best regards Jim and remember
your milage may vary according to setup and synergy effect.
My arm is placed with a spindle to pivot distance of 214 mm which should be correct. Thanks for reading this rather long winded query and any help offered will be greatly appreciated. By the way the pickering in the Jelco is vastly superior to the same cart in the Leco arm.
For those interested here is the rest of my current system.
Quad 303 power amp
custom built tube pre with massve tube regulated power supply and mm riaa
Studer A727 cd player
Quad ELS 57 or Klipsch Heresy 1
All cables are Oyaide
A word of advice on the Klipsch Heresy`s
These extremely dynamic speakers have qualities I`ve not heard in any other speaker but are unbearable to listen to in my system at least if untamed. Just like an untamed Mike Tyson is just as useless as a heavy weight professional. Here is a way to bring them to an entirely new level where they are absolute over performers and play way above their price bracket.
First of all remove the back panel and never again replace. The 12" woofer is in a way too small undamped cabinet which leads to a slightly tubby bass and hardness in the lower mids. Removing the back panel and with experimenting with distance to the back wall gives a more extended and delicate "expansive" bass without effecting dynamics...VERY NICE
The woofers Qt is fine with this
Secondly and I know some horn experts will curl their toes at this....I covered the mid horn with 1mm thick leather, seude side up. Maybe the bumble bee thing going on again, because it works and removes the last graininess from the mids. Now this speaker plays warm, big, extended, with imaging levels beyond what I expected from a horn construction without giving up their original virtues. A mike Tyson turned into a choir boy is also useless in the ring. If your system requires more refinement in the mids you can damp the driver with a resistor as in the original crossover configuration it goes straight through without any damping whatsoever. Or you can try other paper and oil caps than the originals. The result .....speakers that blow most of what I`ve ever heard out of the water for almost no money.By the way I have reinforced the now open cabinet with walnut bracing and the distance to my back wall from the front of the enclosure is 1 meter. Hope this can be useful to someone. I listen regularly to friends setups with Magnepan 20.1, 3.6, 1.6 have for some years had magnepan 2.5r and you get some of their bass quality with the added bonus of real, live hammer in the mid bass and absolutely no booooooom. Best regards Jim and remember
your milage may vary according to setup and synergy effect.