simon e
18-11-2017, 23:36
Over the last few months I've been lucky enough to purchase two new arms. First was a Mission 774 purchased from Jamie after he upgraded to an Alphason HR100mcs. Then before I'd even managed to set up the 774 another Alphason HR100mcs came up for sale here and I couldn't resist it.
So I now have my original Rega RB300 which has been on the deck since I acquired it. A Mission 774 which is in great condition, supplied with two arm tubes one very original and the second rewired with silver wire if I remember correctly and finally an Alphason HR100mcs again in great original condition apart from having a Din plug fitted to the bottom of the pillar.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/a4fa3b683cd10368a4d629ca8abea471.jpg
My system consists of: Cartridge Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 High output Mc feeding a croft micro 25 followed by a Leak Stereo 20 (which I have restored) and finally a pair of Impulse H6's.
I decided I would first fit the 774 and listen to it for a few weeks before replacing it with the Alphason. So with a new armboard myself and my father who was visiting for the weekend set about installing the 774.
The 774 uses an sme type mount and the Alphason a Linn, but my Alphason was supplied with an ebony (I think) sme to linn adapter plate. So with lots of careful measurements we marked up the new armboard so we could fit either the 774 or Alphason on the same sme mounting holes. This was greatly helped by the great mounting template produced by Jamie and supplied with the 774. So a couple hours later we had the arm installed and ready to set up.
At this point we ran into a couple problems with the silver wired arm tube, first of all I didn't have any cartridge bolts long enough to mount it as the headshell was drilled through and on close inspection we found one of the very fine silver wires was broken between the arm tube and plug which connects to the base. So out came the spare original arm wand and the cartridge was mounted. We could begin to set up the arm which was fairly straightforward although the VTA and azimuth adjustment took a few attempts to get right.
Now for the moment of truth we popped a record on and sat back and listened. I'll be honest it took a few tracks to start getting an idea of what this arm was doing. The first thing I noticed was the bass, there was a lot more detail and tone going on than before and much better attack and slam, fine the little h6's are never going to pin you to the wall but there was great pace and control. The next big difference was in the upper mids we were hearing much better space and air and the sound stage was opening up.
So far I'm really impressed with this little arm I've been listening to it all week and it sounds great. Next task is to see it I can either repair I broken cable in the other arm wand. Or if there is enough slack to shorten the loom down without effecting the way the arm tracks. To hear the Mission at it's best before moving on to the Alphason. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/d6a1cb882c66ca9da867a4781a014776.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/bc7f34a6555f1f8165887b6179e847fb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/3412380bfa6e901c0a7a921602fb28da.jpg
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So I now have my original Rega RB300 which has been on the deck since I acquired it. A Mission 774 which is in great condition, supplied with two arm tubes one very original and the second rewired with silver wire if I remember correctly and finally an Alphason HR100mcs again in great original condition apart from having a Din plug fitted to the bottom of the pillar.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/a4fa3b683cd10368a4d629ca8abea471.jpg
My system consists of: Cartridge Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 High output Mc feeding a croft micro 25 followed by a Leak Stereo 20 (which I have restored) and finally a pair of Impulse H6's.
I decided I would first fit the 774 and listen to it for a few weeks before replacing it with the Alphason. So with a new armboard myself and my father who was visiting for the weekend set about installing the 774.
The 774 uses an sme type mount and the Alphason a Linn, but my Alphason was supplied with an ebony (I think) sme to linn adapter plate. So with lots of careful measurements we marked up the new armboard so we could fit either the 774 or Alphason on the same sme mounting holes. This was greatly helped by the great mounting template produced by Jamie and supplied with the 774. So a couple hours later we had the arm installed and ready to set up.
At this point we ran into a couple problems with the silver wired arm tube, first of all I didn't have any cartridge bolts long enough to mount it as the headshell was drilled through and on close inspection we found one of the very fine silver wires was broken between the arm tube and plug which connects to the base. So out came the spare original arm wand and the cartridge was mounted. We could begin to set up the arm which was fairly straightforward although the VTA and azimuth adjustment took a few attempts to get right.
Now for the moment of truth we popped a record on and sat back and listened. I'll be honest it took a few tracks to start getting an idea of what this arm was doing. The first thing I noticed was the bass, there was a lot more detail and tone going on than before and much better attack and slam, fine the little h6's are never going to pin you to the wall but there was great pace and control. The next big difference was in the upper mids we were hearing much better space and air and the sound stage was opening up.
So far I'm really impressed with this little arm I've been listening to it all week and it sounds great. Next task is to see it I can either repair I broken cable in the other arm wand. Or if there is enough slack to shorten the loom down without effecting the way the arm tracks. To hear the Mission at it's best before moving on to the Alphason. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/d6a1cb882c66ca9da867a4781a014776.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/bc7f34a6555f1f8165887b6179e847fb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171118/3412380bfa6e901c0a7a921602fb28da.jpg
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk