There was something just not quite right with the sound I was getting from my system and I could not put my finger on it. I hope you find the folowing interesting.
So as I am home getting used to the first of 2 new drugs and have the time I thought I would check something out. I decided to get the original Gyrodec platter down from the roof and do some back to back comparisons with the Orbe platter. So I chose a piece of music carefully that had lots of dynamics, bass, drums, cymbals and natural instruments. This was 2 tracks from St Germain - Tourist, So Flute and the beginning 30 secs of La Goutte D’Or.
Initial Listening findings
A bit of a shock the system with the Orbe platter sounded a bit flat and something was missing in definition, how could this be for an upgrade? Across the instruments it all sounded a bit dull to be honest, and the bottom end sound a little woolly, I’m struggling to describe it properly, but it still was not quite right IMO.
I carefully switched over to the Gyrodec platter and put on the same tracks. Hey an instant change and the music suddenly came to life, but why surely the platter cannot have such a dramatic effect and everything I had read was that the Orbe platter was supposed to be an improvement, although some do not like the it overall.
Investigations
I remembered at a friends recently a brief discussion on the affects of arm height on the affect on sound and so I decided to investigate this. As I had the Gyrodec platter on the turntable I measured to see if the arm was parallel to the record surface and I found it was about 0.25mm down at the rear. Now something I had already noticed was that I had slightly less thread available for the record clamp with this setup(with the same record). So this seems to indicate that the Gyrodec platter is slightly higher on the bearing.
I switched over to the Orbe platter and put on the same old record to measure the arm height and now I found that the arm was riding slightly high at the rear, about 0.3mm. So could this be the answer in the quite significant difference in sound. When I originally fitted the Orbe platter I thought I had checked and adjusted the arm height carefully, but maybe I got it wrong.
Next Steps
So what to do first? I adjusted the arm height very carefully with the Orbe platter in situ. On with the same tracks, yes there was a significant improvement, piano better defined (I could now pick out notes making chords), drums and cymbals had better attack, bass was better defined.
I decided to ring Michell and check that I could confidently use the spindle that came with the Orbe with the Gyrodec platter and they confirmed that you can. During the conversation I mentioned not having much thread with the clamp to do it up. They asked if I was using the small ring(about 2" diameter) which came with the Orbe platter and fits in centre, which I have been, they said that this was to be only used with thin vinyl as it then allows the clamp to pushdown on the record and clamp it down to the platter. I am not sure if this is in the instructions with an Orbe upgrade or with an Orbe for that matter, so a heads up if you have one of these.
Is the Orbe now better than the Gyrodec one?
To establish this I decided to refit the Orbe yet again and adjust the arm height specifically for it and re-listen. Result was that they now sounded very similar to each other but I thought that there are subtle differences.
I carried on with several listens, using more tracks and switching backwards and forwards between the platters.
Final Conclusion
Well its all very difficult to assess, but I have come to form an opinion based of the overall sound and musical impression coming from the system. I would say that the Gyrodec platter sounds more lively and gives the impression of a more open sound/feel to the music, maybe slightly more forward. The bass is still there in a controled and good way. With the Orbe platter it gives a rendition that can only be described as slightly laid back, perhaps a bit more low end bass (but very subjective to judge) , everything is there and it still sounds good just subtly different.
Which is better, a very hard question to answer, however I have decided to stay with the original Gyrodec platter for now, maybe I will tire of it and I will revert to the Orbe one, we shall see.
Lessons Learned
So one thing this has taught me is that small changes to a turntable setup can have big impact, getting the arm height right for example made a big improvement to the sound with both platters, even though I thought I had it right it wasn't. I suspect that with some careful tinkering with cartridge alignment and arm alignment that an optimum musical rendition could be reached, I did check them with the supplied Michel tools and it looks good. However I think I would like some very accurate measuring tools to undertake and know it was perfect.
With the risk of opening possible old discussions which is best pure Gyrodec or upgraded Gyrodec with Orbe platter upgrade I would be interested in any opinions on this.
Also any advise on accurate set up of a Gyrodec with SME IV would be useful.