Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702
Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2
You'll notice that they're quite a bit thicker than the standard GAC-1s (if you remember what they looked like). Btw, if the plugs are a slightly loose fit on the sockets of your kit, as they are on mine, simply crimp the ends a bit with some pliers. It makes a difference having nice snug connections
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Darren
KORUS CUSTOM SERVER
TECHNICS 1200 MKII_JELCO 750D_SHURE SC35C (with NOS and NEO SAS styli)
CAIMAN SEG + DORADO PSU
CROFT MEGA MICRO
PARADIGM REFERENCE ACTIVE/40'S
PARADIGM SERVO 15 SUBWOOFER X 2
''The theory of relativity is a mass of error and deceptive ideas violently opposed to the teachings of great men of science of the past and even to common sense''
I plugged the CuSat50 in last night before going to bed, and left the CD player spinning all night.
The sound is much better than I remember on first listen. It's now sounding very good indeed. Almost as good as the Mercury (similar to the Pluto).
I am really intrigued by current happenings, as when I begun, I didn't believe that cables would make that much difference, nor did I believe that a cable could "run in", but the sound has opened up so much more from what I remember.
I don't think it lets as much detail through in comparison to the Mercury, but it's reasonably close. It's a nice sounding cable. It's a really tough choice between this and the Pluto, but I think I would buy the Pluto, as it's cheaper, and more than likely based on the same cable. The only difference is the plugs. (My GSP forum members 10% discount makes it even tougher choice between the two).
I still keep going back to the Mercury though. Now I just need to figure out where in my system I should put my cables to maximise the sound quality.
So, from what I have heard during my auditions, my preferences in order for sound quality (ignoring price) are as follows:
RFC Mercury
MG G2000HD
RFC Pluto & GSP CuSat50 - Hard to separate these two.
SSC - (very close behind the two above).
Black Rhodium Coda
VFM wise, the list would look completely different, with the SSC topping the list for me. It's a really good IC for the money.
Kevin
Too busy enjoying the music....
European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..
I have answered my original question, and I have also managed to remove all of the VDH cables from my system.
It's sounding sweet now, but I am thinking of rearranging my room to shorten the length of speaker cable runs I currently use. I have currently got 10m runs of cable, but with a cunning bit of planning, I can probably get that down to 3m, so I can buy some better cable. That will have to wait a while though...
I have a RFC cable to pay for.
Kevin
Too busy enjoying the music....
European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..
These comparisons are all very well but surely it makes more sense to try and get a "full loom" of the same cable in your system to make a real meaningfull test of any interconnect. I have only done this once, and this was with Yannis IC's, and cos I've got active speakers I didnt need any speaker cable. I'd personally love a whole loom of RFC IC's, I dont think Paul would be too happy doing that though.
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
I'm glad you've said that, because I use Mercurys twixt pre and power in a 3m length. This was a huge upgrade over some old Maplin Thor cable, unsurprisingly. I rate it highly - it really is fantastically well resolved stuff. I tried some seriously expensive ICs from a chap who used to do cables for AN UK. the other week This was twixt pre and DAC versus some Nordost Red Dawn. I was really surprised how well the Red Dawn stood up, though the mystery cables were 2m+ as opposed to the 0.6m length of Red Dawn with Eichmanns. Mind you, Nordost seem to think longer ICs sound better. I wonder why, LOL. What really surprised me, if I am totally honest, is I could hear bugger all difference between the Red Dawn and the expensive stuff. Well, really incredibly small differences might have been heard, if you know what I mean.
I totally agree, but one cable at a time for me. My next purchase is likely to be another cable of the same type to go to the headphone amp. This is what I use the most. I'm also likely to ask Paul if he can do a much shorter cable, as I have a 0.5m cable between my amps, and it's far too long.
For my "testing", the IC connected the source component to my headphone amp, so I could hear what each cable was doing without interference from anything else. It's the only way I could achieve a meaningful audition.
Kevin
Too busy enjoying the music....
European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..
Have those of you who ordered the Gotham GAC-1 Ultra Pros received them yet, and if so, what are your impressions?
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!