Location: New Forest
Posts: 100
I'm Clive.
Yes, I did try it myself and it sounded very good indeed, although surprisingly, the component that made the biggest difference to my ears when mounted on the RJC/AGrail was the Shindo SPU cartridge. Whilst I am always looking out for a Shindo bearing and platter for sale, the SPU is what I would really like to find.
Location: London Knightsbridge
Posts: 414
I'm Nari.
Yes it is very good indeed I actually have three shindo spu cartridges one is currently mounted on a FR66 on my Micro Seiki 8000 mk2 one on the Shindo Garrard and the other one is unused. I should have kept my Audio Grail 301 RJC Combo I owned it with a rather special build sme 3012r. I prefer other decks to the 301 overall but have a soft spot as far as Vintage decks go the EMT 927 and the Micro Seiki 8000 pip it by quite a margin
Last edited by Vrajbasi; 23-10-2018 at 07:48.
Most important and used Walker Black Diamond Etsuro Gold, Micro Seiki 8000mk2 Kondo special V12 Tiger Eye, Fidelity Research FR 66 Shindo spu, EMT 927, sme 312 aluminium. Fidelity research fr66, Sme 3012 mk1, Sme V, Ikeda 407 IT Sme Model 30/2/Dynavector 507 Kodo Beat Turntable Airtangent 10B modified Fidelity fr66s Etsuro Cartridge . Kondo Gakuoh Mk1 powers G70 Pre,Audio Tekne TFA-8695PCS pre Audio Tekne TEA 8695 Phono. Lfd Battery Phono Stage heavily custom rebuilt by Dr Richard Bews, Tharx Phono Stage. Lfd Master Dual Biamp power amp, Lfd Anniversary master preamp. Shindo Latour Field Coil. Rockport Cygnus Biamped, Voigt Domestic Corner Horns/ Feastex Fildcoils. LFD Custom silver Ribbons. LFD Diamond Vipor Mk2 interconnects, Lfd Golden Cobra interconnect. Koetsu blue lace mono special order, Koetsu burma jade mono special order.
"lack of passion is fatal"
Vinyl: Thorens TD-124mk2 / SME-312 Aluminium 'special' / SME M2-9R / STEREO: Etsuro Urushi Cobalt / Shure M3D / Ortofon SPU A95 / Cartridge Man Music Master / Shure - SC35C (US) / SAEC C3 MC MONO: Miyajima Zero B 0.7mil mono / Miyajima Premium 1.0 / Amps & SUTs: Radford STA25 mk3 / AD Audio 'Satchmo2' pre & LCR phono / Hashimoto HM-7 SUT / ETR-MONO SUT Digital: Audio Note 4.1 (with DAC5 upgrades) DAC / Roon / Tidal Speakers: Tannoy 12" MGs' in RFC custom 'Rutland' Cabinets with RFC crossovers / Tannoy ST-100 Super Tweeters Cables: LFD Grainless phono / RFC Mercury / Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper / Kimber 12TC / SW1X Audio Design USB-SPdif / Duelund DCA20GA interconnects / SW1X Audio SPDIF Aero 6 / Mains Power Conditioner / Box Furniture rack / Audiodesk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner / a very beautiful & understanding Wife!
Location: London Knightsbridge
Posts: 414
I'm Nari.
The Shindo 301 is around 22k so not cheap either thats why I feel the RJC audio grail combo is a steal and to my ears offers best value when trying to create and ultimate garrard combination. I have heard and owned many decks that dont do it for me I owned a tech das air force one and had a air force one premium at home which costs six figures I preferred the 927 and the Micoseiki by quite a margin so spending loads does not relate into musical enjoyment. I love the garrads but they do need a lot of care and attention isolation is vital I found an active air suspension works best but these are expensive and impractical for many.
Last edited by Vrajbasi; 23-10-2018 at 09:02.
Most important and used Walker Black Diamond Etsuro Gold, Micro Seiki 8000mk2 Kondo special V12 Tiger Eye, Fidelity Research FR 66 Shindo spu, EMT 927, sme 312 aluminium. Fidelity research fr66, Sme 3012 mk1, Sme V, Ikeda 407 IT Sme Model 30/2/Dynavector 507 Kodo Beat Turntable Airtangent 10B modified Fidelity fr66s Etsuro Cartridge . Kondo Gakuoh Mk1 powers G70 Pre,Audio Tekne TFA-8695PCS pre Audio Tekne TEA 8695 Phono. Lfd Battery Phono Stage heavily custom rebuilt by Dr Richard Bews, Tharx Phono Stage. Lfd Master Dual Biamp power amp, Lfd Anniversary master preamp. Shindo Latour Field Coil. Rockport Cygnus Biamped, Voigt Domestic Corner Horns/ Feastex Fildcoils. LFD Custom silver Ribbons. LFD Diamond Vipor Mk2 interconnects, Lfd Golden Cobra interconnect. Koetsu blue lace mono special order, Koetsu burma jade mono special order.