My "REAL SOUND" experiment.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Part XIX - A few thoughts on the system.

I've been listening to the system now for a few days and I've begun to understand it's strengths and weaknesses. The who system has just worked so well together that I'm having a blast listening to stuff, sure my other systems can do things better but this little system does fun in spades. Most people ask how the cabling sounds. Well, bass is abundant, it's not the most taut but rather tuneful. Vocals can sound very very good especially close mic'd MONO recordings, plenty of timbre to the vocal chords of most performers. The TT2 has been the biggest surprise, it really is a deck for all occasions and does every genre very well indeed. I've had everything on the deck over the last couple of days, classical, prog, heavy metal, jazz, female vocals, electronica, folk etc, all sound very good.

The Alphason + 2M Black have matched exceptionally well. The "black" cartridges have a house sound that is very analytical, bass abundant, PRaT, but not so good with surface noise. The 2MB is very critical when beening loaded and likes to see very specific levels of capacitance. My EAR 834P clone has the ability to use loading plugs, so far, I've used nothing with the 2MB and got the best results. A slightly darker noise floor but just with a little hiss, not bad for the 834P which is known to hum like a bugger (mine silent)!! I did make a tonearm cable out of Duelund cable for the Alphason, this replace a Nordost TYR + eichmann silver bullet cable, and I can honestly say that it not only equals it's performance but beats it! My soundstage is quite holographic and it's quite easy discern width and depth, yes each band member has their own space in the soundstage. I will at some point go into more depth about how things sound with the cabling but not tonight, it's been a long day. I will just end by saying that it's a very addicitive and emotionally captivating system.

Stay tuned...

[Jimbo]

Sounds like you are having fun and an interesting journey with the system. I bet the Alphason + 2M is extracting a lot from recordings. I get the holophonic soundstage especially with vocals out front and 3 dimentional.

The 2M will never be dead quiet, I just live with it for all the other amazing stuff it does.

[shane]

Brilliant! I'll try and not jolt you too much, I might need your advice again at some point in the future.

Don’t worry, I’m pretty jolt-proof! Always happy to help.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Part XX - Getting series.

For ages now I've had the "REAL SOUND" system just sitting in a corner and it's never been a system I've taken too seriously until now. The trigger was the need for my SME 3012 to be repaired due to it loosing one channel every now and then. I decided to organise my spare kit into a third system and make this a real system for the REAL SOUND system. The system is as follow :-

Garrard 401 in a Martin Bastin plinth, SME V-12 tonearm with shure SC35C cartridge and JICO SAS/R stylus.
Cables are Yannis Tome SPD-4 custom build tonearm cable, and then we have Real Sound IC's and speaker cable, all power cables are Belden + MS Audio pliugs. Pre Amp is a Radford Renaissance SC-25 powered with Mullard M8137, Power Amp is a Italian built 300b DIY jobbie with Genelex 300b valves, phonostage is a EAR 384P clone powered with Mullard M8137 valves. My speakers are a pair of fully restored, recapped and slightly modded IMF Supercompact Mk2.

Here's the system.



Now, a few things have been added and tweaked.

Firstly the cabling has been updated. All the power leads have decent pure copper furutech IEC's, all power leads are now screened Belden power cables with MS-Audio plugs. The achilles heel to this is that I'm using a Tesco 4 plug extension, maybe at some point in the future I'll change this.



All the RCA's on the IC's have been moved over from SwitchCraft brass/ gold plated jobbies to Duelund pure copper OHNO RCA's.





Weak link.... some of the cabling.



I have been investing some time with regards the "infrastructure" of the system. I decided I'd make some new bamboo and Sorbothane footers for all the various pieces of equipment to live on. A £3 bamboo mini chopping board proved very good for making footers.





And some Sorbothane from when I was messing around with the Technics 1210



You probably can't spot the changes so I'll tell you. More bamboo under the 401 and the preamp. I found these boards as a couple of spares in the garage. I thought they might help as the Quadraspire rack I own isn't the best. . And finally, probably the best addition so far to the REAL SOUND system, how about a pair of Duelund wired Batpure super tweeters for the IMF's ?






I'm still evaluating this system. The JICO SAS/S needs a few more hours before the cantilever has loosened a little to reveal it's true presentation, additional hours are being added onto all the other cables if you believe in the cable burn in process. I need to also assess that I've not over damped things. The SME V-12 is on the most minimal amount of damping. I think that Bamboo+Sorbothane footers could damp things too far so I'll evaluate over the next three weeks. I've also got a couple of other tweaks with the tonearm base and cartridge which might yield better results. So far things are sounding very very good.

Stay tuned..

[Jimbo]

Nice to see a vinylista still pushing things forward!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Nice to see a vinylista still pushing things forward!

Churz!

[vintagesteve]

A/B/X testing, that'll sort it out.

[Wakefield Turntables]

PART XXI - Tweak it baby!

The trials and tribulations of running several valve systems and loads of vintage gear! Tracking down a lost channel on one system is proving difficult, I think it could be a dodgy tonearm cable. I now have to repair a power amp, well replace some speaker binding posts which got damaged years ago and I decided to finally get around to replacing them, I honestly don't think they are the cause of the lost channel but it dosen't hurt to have new and get a job out of the way! My third system is sounding really really really good. I decided to try my Croft Epoch preamp in this system and it just didn't gel so the old Radford SC25 has gone back into place and things just sound correct. The new JICO stylus for the SC35C cartridge is now more or less run in. I think I've added 40-50 hours now so i'd say the suspension and stylus should be broken in. The new Croft phonostage sounds sublime, it just make music. I took a big gamble on this and I'm glad to say that it fits in well and is a keeper. The croft has replaced my old EAR834P clone (which I'll be keeping) I have a soft spot for that clone.

I have been experimentng with bamboo and sorbothane footers under all my equipment in System3. It's been quite weird as I think I've over damped in places and some of the vitality of presentation has been robbed. I have experimented with variations of these two materials and have to say that soundstage does appear to change depending on how and where I damp. Presently the power amp has 6mm sorbothane under it's feet whilst the preamp has 6mm sorbothane under its feet and then sits on a bamboo board. The croft has a similar setup to the preamp. My 401 is sitting on a bamboo board which has been treated with silent coat on the underside. All-in-all things sound very good. I would say that System3 is virtually complete but I need to do some further tweaks with turntable setup and maybe cable dressing (which isn't the best). I'll soon be able to sit down and make some notes about sonic presentation.

Toodle pip and stay tuned...

[Wakefield Turntables]

PART XXII - Sweatin the small stuff.

As I've grown older, I've learned to be patient. I've been looking at the 301 system again and think the loss of a channel might be a tonearm cable altough I can't prove this despite borrowing another tone arm cable last week from a forum member (you know who you are, thanks)! So, the cable is going back to it's builder to see if he can diagnose any problems. Meanwhile, things have been moving forward on System3 also known as the "REAL SOUND" system in that I decided to finally install my Panzerholz SME tonearm mount which I made ages ago. So, here's a pretty crappy shot of what it looks like.



And, yes I do think it makes a difference, subtle, but it all counts. System3 still needs tweaking and today hasn't been that day, unfortunately. I did manage to plug in my big Sondex S100 into the system for a quick couple of hours and have to say that KT88's in the system sound just as good as 300B's. I must keep things real and remember that System3 was cobbled together to explore Duelund products, old MM carts, and 300B valves. The Sondex has had a little repair work in that I had to replace a speaker binding post. Finally I thought I'd post this for all those that enjoy messing around with old MM carts. I love Shure carts and I think I'd like to try a Shure V15 VXmR at some point with a JICO SAS/(R) or (S) after market stylus. Ah well, that's for another day.



As ever, stay tuned..

[Wakefield Turntables]

PART XXIII - Sound update.

I've been listening to the REAL SOUND system now for several weeks and every week has added a few hours to the various components sitting in the system. I'm sure that the speaker cables, the caps on the rebuilt x-o's on the speakers, the new JICO stylus and all the power leads have now "BROKEN" in, if you believe in that sort of thing. The main hardware of pre-amp, phonostage and amp have had years of usage so I think it's safe to say that they are well and truly broken in. Overall the sound can only be described as vibrant and energetic. It plays plenty load on a few watts, that's for sure! I've found this system not to be as analytical in nature as my other systems and is in continual need of good quality recordings to get the very best sonics. It's probably the IMF speakers which are the weak link in the system but are the best of a bunch including Rogers JR149's, Heybrook HB2's and Celestion Ditton 15's which I have restored and sitting around the house. So the IMF's make up the reference speakers in this little system. I've been through two phonostages and was extremley lucky to drop on a 5691 based phonostage designed and built by Glenn Croft which has made things really come to life.

The system is not without it's faults and one of them being my quest to minimise vibration getting to the TT' I used what I thought were sparing small amounts of sorbothane in a few areas which I thought might be beneficial in this quest. It turns out I was completely wrong so I have removed bamboo and sorbothane footers and just have the TT and premap sitting on bamboo boards at this moment. I may have to do some experimentation with using bamboo under the power amp and phonostage but that's for another day. I'll finiish tonights update with a few basic thoughts on the soundstage.

The soundstage truly fills the entire width of the listening room and has a very lively presentation but not one that you will quickly fatigue. Detail is very very good indeed. Instrument placement is not quite as good as my other systems but perfectly adequate and very enjoyable. I could easily keep this as my only system and be extremely happy with it. I now have the really horrid task of listening to more vinyl over the weekend and trying to write some more detailed notes about how the thing sounds.

Stay tuned...