Into the Voyd and back again

[Spectral Morn]

I wasn't aware of that

[Vrajbasi]

The hifi industry and market and general owes alot to likes of Peter q, Guy seargent and guy adams. The market was generally dominated by the flat earth approach and the likes of american esoterica at the time. They educated the world in a different way of listening with the likes of low powered valve amps with high effeciency loudspeakers many great products have come about from this simple concept. Audio by design at the time all controlled by peter q produced some wonderful sounds that many could realistically aspire too all I can say is well done to all of them.

[chris@panteg]

I need to replace the hinges on my Voyd dust cover, was thinking that the Linn hinges would fit, does anyone have any ideas?

[fordy]

Also checking in as a recent Voyd owner. I’ve had umpteen turntables over the years including some really special classics like the SP10 in original Obsidian plinth and for a very long time, the Pink Triangle Anniversary. Anyway, it’s a very long list of TT’s, arms and carts but in my short exposure to the Voyd, I know it to be right up there already.

Having begun to work from home last year, I’d been building a modest office system and the finishing touch would be a turntable as all my vinyl had moved to the office during some house remodelling around the same time. The main system and turntable is still just about intact (which is fronted by a TW Acustic Raven AC3/Graham Phantom/FR64s) but I find myself in the office quite a lot and its such a joy to have access to all your vinyl on long office days.

Anyway, in choosing a turntable for a second system I initially thought it would be something very modest and probably based on one of the many unfinished TT projects languishing in the garage. Then I thought I needed to be realistic on the chances of one of those happening soon (although there was a spate of rash ordering of parts for a few days anyway). So I decided on trying to pick up a classic deck again. But what? I’ve had many LP12’s, Pinks, Thorens, Gyros, Techies and all manner of idlers before but felt I wanted to try something new again. I ruled out more idlers and things that need mounting as they inevitable end up as projects in the garage so a bouncy British belt drive in nice nick with a decent arm would be just the ticket and so it was I initially focussed on a Xerxes. Nothing suitable come up though and so I’d turned my attention to the Voyd.

I’d always wanted to try one as I knew several forum types that had settled on them, having been through many of the TT’s I’d previously had. Then one came up that was the right price and was local too so a couple of hours later I had it on the rack.



Classic 3 motor Voyd with a silver wired Helius Orion II. Set up wasn’t too difficult and it was soon singing away. I wasn’t happy with the counterweights on the tone arm as it was missing the heaviest weight of the three that should come with it but it was at least working and showing potential. I’d also fairly recently picked up an SME V and had an FR64fx sat in the cupboard looking for a purpose so decided to get Simon (SJS) to make some new armboards for me. And an excellent job he’s done too. Simon made new drawings from his collection of original armboards and has them CNC machined and anodised to a nice finish. Great work.

Despite some very mixed reviews on the Voyd/SME combo I needed somewhere to park my new SME, if only for a little while, so decided to go for it anyway. I mounted it last week and have to say I am pleasantly surprised.



I don’t find it tonally grey at all (which the naysayers would have you believe) and its already a decent step up from the Orion for sure. More detail, more solid staging, better note decay etc. It sound very musical to my ears and looks the part too :-) Maybe its a good copy of the arm and it working well with the cart but either way I think its really very good so far.



I’m going to enjoy it for a few more weeks before the next steps in the Voyd adventure but lined up next is the FR64 armboard from Simon. I have the FR64fx in the wings and maybe the FR64s (from the Raven) to try and I read that these can make excellent combinations with the Voyd so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve also landed a Helius Cyalene recently too which is likely to be the most natural partner in the end. No rush though.

Anyway, just thought I’d lend some support to the Voyd love in :-)

[Vrajbasi]

Also checking in as a recent Voyd owner. I’ve had umpteen turntables over the years including some really special classics like the SP10 in original Obsidian plinth and for a very long time, the Pink Triangle Anniversary. Anyway, it’s a very long list of TT’s, arms and carts but in my short exposure to the Voyd, I know it to be right up there already.

Having begun to work from home last year, I’d been building a modest office system and the finishing touch would be a turntable as all my vinyl had moved to the office during some house remodelling around the same time. The main system and turntable is still just about intact (which is fronted by a TW Acustic Raven AC3/Graham Phantom/FR64s) but I find myself in the office quite a lot and its such a joy to have access to all your vinyl on long office days.

Anyway, in choosing a turntable for a second system I initially thought it would be something very modest and probably based on one of the many unfinished TT projects languishing in the garage. Then I thought I needed to be realistic on the chances of one of those happening soon (although there was a spate of rash ordering of parts for a few days anyway). So I decided on trying to pick up a classic deck again. But what? I’ve had many LP12’s, Pinks, Thorens, Gyros, Techies and all manner of idlers before but felt I wanted to try something new again. I ruled out more idlers and things that need mounting as they inevitable end up as projects in the garage so a bouncy British belt drive in nice nick with a decent arm would be just the ticket and so it was I initially focussed on a Xerxes. Nothing suitable come up though and so I’d turned my attention to the Voyd.

I’d always wanted to try one as I knew several forum types that had settled on them, having been through many of the TT’s I’d previously had. Then one came up that was the right price and was local too so a couple of hours later I had it on the rack.



Classic 3 motor Voyd with a silver wired Helius Orion II. Set up wasn’t too difficult and it was soon singing away. I wasn’t happy with the counterweights on the tone arm as it was missing the heaviest weight of the three that should come with it but it was at least working and showing potential. I’d also fairly recently picked up an SME V and had an FR64fx sat in the cupboard looking for a purpose so decided to get Simon (SJS) to make some new armboards for me. And an excellent job he’s done too. Simon made new drawings from his collection of original armboards and has them CNC machined and anodised to a nice finish. Great work.

Despite some very mixed reviews on the Voyd/SME combo I needed somewhere to park my new SME, if only for a little while, so decided to go for it anyway. I mounted it last week and have to say I am pleasantly surprised.



I don’t find it tonally grey at all (which the naysayers would have you believe) and its already a decent step up from the Orion for sure. More detail, more solid staging, better note decay etc. It sound very musical to my ears and looks the part too :-) Maybe its a good copy of the arm and it working well with the cart but either way I think its really very good so far.



I’m going to enjoy it for a few more weeks before the next steps in the Voyd adventure but lined up next is the FR64 armboard from Simon. I have the FR64fx in the wings and maybe the FR64s (from the Raven) to try and I read that these can make excellent combinations with the Voyd so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve also landed a Helius Cyalene recently too which is likely to be the most natural partner in the end. No rush though.

Anyway, just thought I’d lend some support to the Voyd love in :-)

Nice example you have with the harder to find, last generation power supply

[AJSki2fly]

Also checking in as a recent Voyd owner. I’ve had umpteen turntables over the years including some really special classics like the SP10 in original Obsidian plinth and for a very long time, the Pink Triangle Anniversary. Anyway, it’s a very long list of TT’s, arms and carts but in my short exposure to the Voyd, I know it to be right up there already.

Having begun to work from home last year, I’d been building a modest office system and the finishing touch would be a turntable as all my vinyl had moved to the office during some house remodelling around the same time. The main system and turntable is still just about intact (which is fronted by a TW Acustic Raven AC3/Graham Phantom/FR64s) but I find myself in the office quite a lot and its such a joy to have access to all your vinyl on long office days.

Anyway, in choosing a turntable for a second system I initially thought it would be something very modest and probably based on one of the many unfinished TT projects languishing in the garage. Then I thought I needed to be realistic on the chances of one of those happening soon (although there was a spate of rash ordering of parts for a few days anyway). So I decided on trying to pick up a classic deck again. But what? I’ve had many LP12’s, Pinks, Thorens, Gyros, Techies and all manner of idlers before but felt I wanted to try something new again. I ruled out more idlers and things that need mounting as they inevitable end up as projects in the garage so a bouncy British belt drive in nice nick with a decent arm would be just the ticket and so it was I initially focussed on a Xerxes. Nothing suitable come up though and so I’d turned my attention to the Voyd.

I’d always wanted to try one as I knew several forum types that had settled on them, having been through many of the TT’s I’d previously had. Then one came up that was the right price and was local too so a couple of hours later I had it on the rack.



Classic 3 motor Voyd with a silver wired Helius Orion II. Set up wasn’t too difficult and it was soon singing away. I wasn’t happy with the counterweights on the tone arm as it was missing the heaviest weight of the three that should come with it but it was at least working and showing potential. I’d also fairly recently picked up an SME V and had an FR64fx sat in the cupboard looking for a purpose so decided to get Simon (SJS) to make some new armboards for me. And an excellent job he’s done too. Simon made new drawings from his collection of original armboards and has them CNC machined and anodised to a nice finish. Great work.

Despite some very mixed reviews on the Voyd/SME combo I needed somewhere to park my new SME, if only for a little while, so decided to go for it anyway. I mounted it last week and have to say I am pleasantly surprised.



I don’t find it tonally grey at all (which the naysayers would have you believe) and its already a decent step up from the Orion for sure. More detail, more solid staging, better note decay etc. It sound very musical to my ears and looks the part too :-) Maybe its a good copy of the arm and it working well with the cart but either way I think its really very good so far.



I’m going to enjoy it for a few more weeks before the next steps in the Voyd adventure but lined up next is the FR64 armboard from Simon. I have the FR64fx in the wings and maybe the FR64s (from the Raven) to try and I read that these can make excellent combinations with the Voyd so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve also landed a Helius Cyalene recently too which is likely to be the most natural partner in the end. No rush though.

Anyway, just thought I’d lend some support to the Voyd love in :-)

Looks good, interesting you find the SME better, I’m about to try a Helius Orion to compare to my SME IV. I notice you hav3 a Shelter cart I was looking at there 9000, how do you find them?

[fordy]

I like Shelters as they are not especially fussy MC’s and they are a lot of bang for the buck. I had a 501 before and it was a really good solid mid range MC. They don’t really have any major vices or stand out over exaggerated attributes and are very easy to live with. This one is a Model 90c which was a Japan only domestic market special for Audio Union, a large Japanese hifi chain. As far as I understand it with my pigeon Japanese, it’s a Harmony generator in an ali 901 style body, ie. it forgoes the carbon fibre body of the Harmony. I bought it NOS when I lived there. I’ve had it a long time now. It’s usually the cart I throw onto any new turntable, arm, phono stage or SUT combo as it’s just so compatible and tends to sound great on everything.

[chris@panteg]

Lovely Voyd, Fordy, you have the same finish plinth as mine, really like it.
I might have an opportunity for an SME V in a few weeks, depends on a few things.
But enjoy your Voyd it's a great turntable.

[sjs]

I met up with chris@panteg yesterday and now have his PSU, so hopefully it will be back up and running soon.

Fordy's deck with the SME V looks nice, and good to see the new arm board looking the part.

I started with a Valdi and Helius tonearm back in 1990, then had a Voyd with a Tabriz ZI around '92, then went onto the 0.5 Ref in around '94, which I still have, initially with an SME 309, later a Wilson Benesh Act 2, and currently an FR64fx, but I also have an Audio Note AN1-S arm, and an FR64s I need to try out. I have also have a Reference I picked up a few years ago which has an Audio Note Arm1-3 v2.

Carts have been Goldring Eroica, Audio Note Soara (still don't know what happened to that during the house move), and I now have an Ortofon MC70 anniversary (Expert Cart rebuilt), and an Audio Note IO-1

I prefer to remove the base from the Voyd and run them with cone feet directly on the wooden frame, and whilst I generally preferred 2 belts on the Voyd, the 0.5 and Ref seem to work better with 1. As AJSki2Fly discovered, getting everything absolutely level also pays off.

[AJSki2fly]

I met up with chris@panteg yesterday and now have his PSU, so hopefully it will be back up and running soon.

Fordy's deck with the SME V looks nice, and good to see the new arm board looking the part.

I started with a Valdi and Helius tonearm back in 1990, then had a Voyd with a Tabriz ZI around '92, then went onto the 0.5 Ref in around '94, which I still have, initially with an SME 309, later a Wilson Benesh Act 2, and currently an FR64fx, but I also have an Audio Note AN1-S arm, and an FR64s I need to try out. I have also have a Reference I picked up a few years ago which has an Audio Note Arm1-3 v2.

Carts have been Goldring Eroica, Audio Note Soara (still don't know what happened to that during the house move), and I now have an Ortofon MC70 anniversary (Expert Cart rebuilt), and an Audio Note IO-1

I prefer to remove the base from the Voyd and run them with cone feet directly on the wooden frame, and whilst I generally preferred 2 belts on the Voyd, the 0.5 and Ref seem to work better with 1. As AJSki2Fly discovered, getting everything absolutely level also pays off.

Hi Simon, your Voyds look good. Out of interest what improvements do you think using cone feet have and what do you use? Do you remove the base to stop it acting like a guitar sound box?

Cheers

Adrian