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Hi Jason
Well perhaps , when you get your SL7 back , maybe i could bring it over to your's ? or even a bake off with the QL1 .
Richard is very interested too as he doesn't have a Jico stylus as of yet .
Glad the herbie is hitting the spot :) its a fine mat , i did want to keep it but there is no need to change the QL1 mat , it just needs that crazy treatment :scratch: which is still baffling me .
Hi Chris,
I've been following this thread with great interest...I have an old tangential tracking turntable manufactured by Sony. It presently has an Ortofon 2M Blue mounted on it, and most folks would be surprised at how competent a player it is.
I'm very glad your upgrades went well...I do think the day this player stops performing perfectly I will hand it over to someone to see what they can do with it. But at present it works like the day it was new.
Gotta love vinyl..well...LP's...I didn't mean anything else of course!! :doh:
Hi
Looks a nice deck , i wonder if Adam has one of those in his vast collection .
Yes and part of the appeal of these decks for me (as well as sounding better than you expect) is the quirky fully automated Linear tracking arm , a slight drawback is your records need to be scrupilously clean and free of dust and fluff :).
When i get the Jico stylus , i'm going to pitch it against my Timestep1210/309/D160 or hopefully a rebodied 103R , i expect it to lose of course but hoping its not disgraced.
Enjoy your sony , that Luxman of yours looks a bit tasty:)
Hi Chris
How are you?
Still enjoying your QL1?
Apologies for the delayed reply - too busy reading posts, enjoying music and rearranging my lounge.
You're more than welcome to come down with your QL1 once my SL7 returns - I should have finished decorating and sorting out the seating / listening area in my lounge by then.
Richards taking a good long look at it before he gives me a quote and as I have 3 other working decks I can wait a while for him to finish it.
Have you seen he Digitrac carts on William Thakker? They look interesting for comparatively little cash.
By the way if possible as you've had both how would you characterise the difference between a Herbie's mat and an Achromat?
Jason
A quick update while i'm waiting for the Jico stylus to arrive .
Also on order from LPgear is the hyper eliptical stylus they do for my P22 as a back up.
1st of all ,a top tip if you have one of these old P-mount carts is clean the pins with good old Isopropanol;) sounds better, much better for it .
The stylus i have at the moment is a 202CS and it actually cost £13 from Me and Lurch on ebay , a friendly lady and good seller to boot !
It sounds good , in fact damn good but struggles on well recorded piano like my copy of Jacintha ' Here's to Ben ' i'm thinking its the conical stylus tip ?
But when the Jico turn's up , that will go straight on the platter and see what happen's .
The AT3482 is now banished as a last resort cart ! it suffer's from poor tracking and a tonal balance which is bleached white to my ear's , yes its good value at around £16 or whatever it is now but i would urge anyone interested in one of these descks and P-mount carts to invest in a bit more , if you have an original Technics P-mount ' don't ditch it try either the Jico or the LP gear HE stylus , i actually think the latter maybe all i need to be honest :)
Very happy with the QL1 , Richard has done a fantastic job , i would urge anyone with an old DD turntable to investigate what he can do with it , even if its completely crocked , take a look at the LO7D's he has refurbed on his site :eek: .
More when the Jico arrives.
Hi JasonQuote:
Originally Posted by bubba45
I'm fine and thanks for asking , yes that Digitrac does look interesting , i think Marco may have spotted it too ? not sure .
Achromat vs Herbie's , mmm to be honest i like em both , but there is a difference , to my ear's the Herbie's sounds a little laid back or reticent , but i think what cart your using with it may be crucial , like an AT OC9 for example may sound just right with the Herbie's , but i'm guessing to be honest , the Achromat seems to bring greater clarity and detail and perhaps is more forward but i prefer it ! .
Bass also seems tighter and a touch leaner , but also i had the plastic cover off with the Hebie's and now with the Achromat i prefer the cover back on :scratch: ,don't know why but its staying on :).
Would love to come up and listen to your SP10 and can certainly bring my QL1 , Richard told me you been through something like 40 TT's in recent times :eek:
Hi Chris
Yeah probably about that many TT's to be honest. About 15 years ago I dropped all my LP's off at a local charity shop because CD was the way to go.......DOH!!!!!
Anyway about 6 years ago a friend who's a DJ convinced me to buy an old Rega Planar 3 with R200 arm and a few 2nd LP's thrown in for £50 and hey presto Bob's your uncle, Marco's your aunt and I've been through numerous TT's looking for the 'right one' for me. About 40 in that time is my last estimate.
I've done quite a few tweaks and restoration jobs in that time and managed to convert at least 2 sets of friends to slowly building up a small collection of LP's. I've loved most of the TT's I've had and would recommend most of them to folk depending on their budget, etc.
I am OK at swapping capacitors etc for simple decks like AC motor/ belt drives but the Technics DD's are an altogether different ball game.
I've learnt to rewire arms and can do a pretty good job - not J7 standard ofcourse - even though the job I did on my SL7 was a quick & dirty just to check all was working.
I THINK the SP10 is the one for me, but the Pink Triangle PT1's I owned were absolutely fabulous especially with either a Mission 774 Original or 774 SM arm. Just a lovely lovely sound. Gave me goosbumps at times listening to music on them. Very neutral & detailed but somehow a little light in PRaT to my ears. Still the best TT I've ever heard except the SP10 which does seem to have PRaT to spare.
You ever owned a PT? If not if you ever get the chance to own, borrow or just have a damn good listening session then take it.
I'd like to hear a well set up PT1 and an SP10 side by side as they are both miraculous sounding 'tables.
As SatanFriendly can probably testify I do get itchy feet with TT's so who knows I may change my mind agin in a while. I doubt it though.
I'm probably looking to get an Achromat then if it brings a bit more detail. The set up I have is not dull and muddied but a bit more detail is always welcome! I like laid back too. We shall see.
Jason
Ahem Jason , the pink triangle decks could sound very good indeed , however i used to own one of these beautie's :)
[IMG]http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...0/DSCF0153.jpg[/IMG]
With this psu ,what a deck it was and why did i sell it on you may ask , because i convinced myself it was for the best :doh: :doh: a great deck and i miss it .
[IMG]http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...0/DSCF0216.jpg[/IMG]
and a rare and jolly nice pre amp:) from Doug Dunlop ,god bless him .
[IMG]http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...0/DSCF0155.jpg[/IMG]
l have an Achromat coming Thursday and can do a small review if anybody is interested:)
Never heard a Voyd but they do get very good reviews by former and current owners. AND an SME arm? Which model was it? I like the SME 309 / 310.....One day I'll get one..... But not for a very very long time probably.
Richards been in touch and is going to work his ways on the electronics, and the bearing of my SL7.
Richard's going to adjust the circuitry to remove the AC circuit so it will only run on a DC adaptor which should improve the decks performance.
I'm also getting the capacitor pack put in and he'll tidy up my hastily put together external phono cable while he's at it too.
Looking forward to its return.
I tried the cone shaped sorbothane feet he sells. They work a treat on my SP10. Depending on the cost of the SL-7 I'll try a set on one of my SL1210's too.
Hi Andy
I'd be interested to hear another view on the Achromat before I decide to buy one.
No....:ner:Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarzan
Hi JasonQuote:
Originally Posted by bubba45
It was the 310 , though it had an ali arm tube as opposed to the magnesium one in the current version ,the cart was Len Gregory's MusicMaker mk1 .
If you like i can bring along my Achromat when i come up to yours :)
As an aside , i've had to go back to using the AT3482 as the cheap conical stylus in the P22 has vertually given up after about 2 weeks use ' i did buy it 2 years ago , it just can't track anything taxing ! God i need that Jico .
The Jico SAS stylus has arrived:) and was fitted in less than a couple of minutes.
I read somewhere on the VE , it had a berrylium cantilever ? not so ! Its actually pure Boron :youtheman: and on went my old original copy of ' Songs from the Wood ' and Velvet Green , now this is more like it , detail in bucket loads ' superb tracking , excellent bass and a very wide and deep soundstage !
I was hoping for an improvement , this is sounding very promising indeed , it may be only a p-mount cart but so far my impression is it could better than the DL160 .
More later :)
Well i've had a good listen to the Jico stylus in my QL1 last night , and it sounds lovely ' a massive improvement over the cheap conical one i have , but that's not difficult in truth .
It didn't take long to break in , sounding great from the off , LP's used as well as the Tull album , Windham Hill Live , Cream ' best of , the Smiths ' hatful of hollow , XTC English Settlement , Depeche Mode ' speak and spell , Jacintha ' here's to ben , Van der graff generator ' still life , and Buddy Holly ' best of .
What was surprising was the much stronger and more solid bass , up to now i felt that perhaps the QL1 was a little light here and tended to sound a touch too lean , but not with the Jico stylus fitted to the P22 , be interesting to try an Ortofon or Pickering for a comparison .
It just sounds so smooth and has the sweetest top end i could wish for in a moving magnet cartridge , at 1st glance it doesn't look much different to the CS version ! But look closer and you can see its much better quality , service from Jico was excellent with good comms.
The cost was £67 delivered and i would say its worth it , if you have either P22/P23/P24 ,this stylus will fit all and visa versa , so if you have an SL5/6/7/10 or QL1/DL1 and have one of the above P-mounts , i strongly recommend a Jico SAS .
Oh and thanks to this lady for building it ! Well probably:)
Look at the TT , i think its an SL1510 mk2 ,er no make that an SL1500 mk2 its in silver :doh:
http://stylus.export-japan.com/image...s/worker01.jpg
Hi Chris,
Would this be of interest for your SL-Q1:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Technicsl-P205CM...item45f92c8526
Apparently they're one of the best sounding P-mounts ever made :)
I reckon this Pickering would be also be superb: http://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-PICKERING-TL...item256128da28
Marco.
Hi Marco
I see you have been doing your homework ;)
Yes that 205 is the very same cartridge ' Richard brought with him and we had a brief listen on my QL1 , all i could say was ' bloody hell :eek: one of the best MM's i have ever heard , and as you can see from the auction , there will most likely be some frantic bidding :( it may go for as much as £300 ,these things are so rare .
The Pickering is something i have been looking at ! With its stereohedron tip it could an amazing cart ? Its something i want to try though as an alternative to my P22/Jico .
At the moment I'm looking more at my 1210/309 as in a straight A-B with my QL1 ,the result was alarming and a bit of shock , but and as this has been pointed out to me ' my 160 may well be very tired, so as a little experiment and because I'm not quite ready to blow £4-500 on a new cartridge (wifey says so) I'm trying an LPgearAT95HE in the 309 , it looks to be worth a try for not that much money and might be a surprise .
I was looking at the Pickering too. Probably found it about the same time as you posted Marco but haven't got the funds right now as I'm going to get either a DL103r or DL301mk2. Haven't made my mind up which one yet.
I have a Pickering XV15 / 625e which I enjoy very very much even with a bog standard elliptical stylus so I am assuming this would also sound great.
Lovely cart the XV15 and a real keeper though if you keep the brush on it looks as weird as a 30ft purple budgie in a tutu.
Never heard a cart with a stereohedron stylus but have heard that Stanton & Pickering do them. What's supposed to be the sound difference between them, a HE, regular elliptical and a Micro line?
By the way I bought a Technics SL-DL1. DOH!!! Damn and curse this hobby!!!!
Hi JasonQuote:
Originally Posted by bubba45
If you go for the 103R , you might want to look at your phono stage and perhaps seek some advice on here .
I think with the Pickering carts, I'm just going to have to get one and find out for myself , it comes with an adapter so i can use it on both my decks , did you get the DL1 at a good price ! I sense more work for Richard ;)
If you don't want a P-mount Pickering there's always this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
I think they're lovely carts.
I've just seen that my DL1 is due for delivery today. It cost £56 + £12 P&P, described as working and comes with an Ortofon OMP cart rather than a Technics. I will no doubt be fiddleing around with that later on.
Also just got a 370H arm set up on one of my 1210's. Sounds bloody marvellous so far.
You can still buy new V15's , funny looking thing though .
They are weird looking things, what with the funny Stanton / Pickering 'ears' and that odd brush effort they ain't pretty or elegant.
The DL1 arrived today. Set it up and it's working pretty darned well considering. Needs a damn good clean, hasd a few cosmetic scratches to the chassis but there is a slight problem which suggests it is in need of a service by Richard - the speed is running slightly slow even with the pitch control turned to its highest.
I'm going to see if there's a service manual for the DL1 or similar and look for a further speed pot in side. Otherwise I'm a very happy man with this.
As for the DL103r / DL301 I'm going to get a Trichord Dino which will have enough gain for these carts and also adjustable impedance etc so a definite upgrade over my 640P's.
I'll most likely sell one of them off after to recoup a bit of cash.
Looking around at various posts on various forums the Dino seems able to handle a low output MC like these and is very highly rated. It's about the maximum of my budget though.
I was going to try the Ortofon T5's I own but hell may as well go the whole hog!!
Jason , in my QL1 there are 2 trim pots , i would ask Richard as to what to do ' but a service is mandatory with these deck's considering its 27 years old (only made between 1982-83)
If you can Jason , try and get the same mods as i had Richard do to my deck ! even if it means waiting a while , i think its worth it :) i think performance wise it should be very close to my QL1 .
The Dino is nice phono stage , have you found one 2nd hand ? like the Diablo it really comes alive with either the PSU+ or NC though .
That's quite a selection of Techies you have now :)
Hi Chris
Yeah its a 2nd hand Dino, a MK1 with the Dino+ PSU.It cost just over £200. There's a MK2 with Dino+ PSU for about £50 more starting price and no bids yet, but even the start price was just out of reach for me.
I'd read that the Dino+ PSU was a minimum requirement to really get these singing and the MK1 was the most I could afford. I've wanted one for a while and decided to take the plunge and go ahead. Its comes with all boxes and instructions, from a dealer with good fedback, etc etc. Anyway they have a better reputation than the 640P's which I still think are remarkable pieces of kit for the price, but at least going forward I can have a bit more flexibility with MC carts.
You're right I do have a nice Technics collection but will most likely let one of the SL1210's go in the not too distant future and just settle for 2 x 1210's, 1x SP10, 1x SL-7 and the DL1. Should be enough to keep me going!!!!!
Still can't make a definitive choice between a DL103r or a DL301. I'm leaning towards the latter to be honest. The 103r sounds to be much more sensitive to set up and the few posts I've found where people have tried both they slightly favour the 301.
But back on topic undoubtedly Richard will get a call to service and mod my DL1 and I'd like him to do the same mods for the DL1 as he did for your QL1. However my next few priorities will be for my SP10 - PSU(Richard), cart DL103r or DL301, Plinth(? Russ Collinson).
I do like these linear trackers though. Good design, robust build and great asthetic qualities even if they are very much of their time.
How's the QL1 going? Still giving your 1210 a run for its money?
Hi Jason
The QL1 is going very nicely , and yes its giving my 1210/SME a scare but perhaps when i have the LPgearAT95HE it may be a very different story , will see:) i have to say never in my wildest dreams did i think it would end up sounding as good as it does , as standard it sounds good , respectable would be the best way to describe it perhaps , but a very different beast now , the stylus replacement for the supplied P22 cartridge is critical though as the cheap conical CS version's you can buy on ebay are not much cop and can give a false impression to the deck's performance ! Also the AT3482 i have been running is quite a harsh and crude sounding thing ' though LPgear can supply an upgraded stylus for it .
If anything the QL1 is sounding better now , the Jico has run in and the bits that Richard fitted have bedded down , i feel it desperately needs better feet though and Richard was telling me about a special sub-base for the deck which could be very interesting.
One must remember though that back in 1983 the DL1 was about £200 and the QL1 was about £270-80 ish , the 1200mk2 was around £220-30 , these deck's must not be confused with the cheap plastic afairs ' that technics started selling a couple of years later ! They seemed to have given up from 1986 onwards , the QL1/DL1/SL7/SL10 and the rare SL15 were all very solid and well built decks .
The Dino with PSU+ sounds like a good deal , and yes the 640p is still a cracking good budget/starter phono stage .
The 301 is a cart that i don't know much about to be honest but the 103R does have some magical qualities , it may well work superbly in your Jelco/LAD arm on the SP10 , again you can ask Richard as he knows the 103 and its variants very well .
I need resurrect this thread to make a very important point !
And that is the work carried out by Vantage Audio on my SL-QL1 has been of a high standard and the service and communications with ' Richard ' curteous and friendly , but to add my deck was a relatively simple project to undertake ! On the other hand an LO7D as an example , which has been badly damaged could take many months , even up to a year ! I can imagine this would be frustating for the owner , but i feel the wait will be worthwhile .
Just another update , new feet and phono leads fitted to my SL-QL1 .
The are identical to the Origin Live conical footers , and very good too.
The previous Vantage Audio phono leads had some kind of earth fault ? So Richard replaced them with a new and different design with better plugs to boot.
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1312034113