My SL-QL1 @ Vantage Audio service

[bubba45]

Hi Andy
I'd be interested to hear another view on the Achromat before I decide to buy one.

[MCRU]

l have an Achromat coming Thursday and can do a small review if anybody is interested

No....

[chris@panteg]

Never heard a Voyd but they do get very good reviews by former and current owners. AND an SME arm? Which model was it? I like the SME 309 / 310.....One day I'll get one..... But not for a very very long time probably.
Richards been in touch and is going to work his ways on the electronics, and the bearing of my SL7.
Richard's going to adjust the circuitry to remove the AC circuit so it will only run on a DC adaptor which should improve the decks performance.
I'm also getting the capacitor pack put in and he'll tidy up my hastily put together external phono cable while he's at it too.
Looking forward to its return.
I tried the cone shaped sorbothane feet he sells. They work a treat on my SP10. Depending on the cost of the SL-7 I'll try a set on one of my SL1210's too.

Hi Jason

It was the 310 , though it had an ali arm tube as opposed to the magnesium one in the current version ,the cart was Len Gregory's MusicMaker mk1 .

If you like i can bring along my Achromat when i come up to yours

As an aside , i've had to go back to using the AT3482 as the cheap conical stylus in the P22 has vertually given up after about 2 weeks use ' i did buy it 2 years ago , it just can't track anything taxing ! God i need that Jico .

[chris@panteg]

The Jico SAS stylus has arrived and was fitted in less than a couple of minutes.

I read somewhere on the VE , it had a berrylium cantilever ? not so ! Its actually pure Boron and on went my old original copy of ' Songs from the Wood ' and Velvet Green , now this is more like it , detail in bucket loads ' superb tracking , excellent bass and a very wide and deep soundstage !

I was hoping for an improvement , this is sounding very promising indeed , it may be only a p-mount cart but so far my impression is it could better than the DL160 .

More later

[chris@panteg]

Well i've had a good listen to the Jico stylus in my QL1 last night , and it sounds lovely ' a massive improvement over the cheap conical one i have , but that's not difficult in truth .

It didn't take long to break in , sounding great from the off , LP's used as well as the Tull album , Windham Hill Live , Cream ' best of , the Smiths ' hatful of hollow , XTC English Settlement , Depeche Mode ' speak and spell , Jacintha ' here's to ben , Van der graff generator ' still life , and Buddy Holly ' best of .

What was surprising was the much stronger and more solid bass , up to now i felt that perhaps the QL1 was a little light here and tended to sound a touch too lean , but not with the Jico stylus fitted to the P22 , be interesting to try an Ortofon or Pickering for a comparison .

It just sounds so smooth and has the sweetest top end i could wish for in a moving magnet cartridge , at 1st glance it doesn't look much different to the CS version ! But look closer and you can see its much better quality , service from Jico was excellent with good comms.

The cost was £67 delivered and i would say its worth it , if you have either P22/P23/P24 ,this stylus will fit all and visa versa , so if you have an SL5/6/7/10 or QL1/DL1 and have one of the above P-mounts , i strongly recommend a Jico SAS .

Oh and thanks to this lady for building it ! Well probably

Look at the TT , i think its an SL1510 mk2 ,er no make that an SL1500 mk2 its in silver

[Marco]

Hi Chris,

Would this be of interest for your SL-Q1:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Technicsl-P205CM...item45f92c8526

Apparently they're one of the best sounding P-mounts ever made

I reckon this Pickering would be also be superb: http://cgi.ebay.com/NOS-PICKERING-TL...item256128da28

Marco.

[chris@panteg]

Hi Marco

I see you have been doing your homework

Yes that 205 is the very same cartridge ' Richard brought with him and we had a brief listen on my QL1 , all i could say was ' bloody hell one of the best MM's i have ever heard , and as you can see from the auction , there will most likely be some frantic bidding it may go for as much as £300 ,these things are so rare .

The Pickering is something i have been looking at ! With its stereohedron tip it could an amazing cart ? Its something i want to try though as an alternative to my P22/Jico .

At the moment I'm looking more at my 1210/309 as in a straight A-B with my QL1 ,the result was alarming and a bit of shock , but and as this has been pointed out to me ' my 160 may well be very tired, so as a little experiment and because I'm not quite ready to blow £4-500 on a new cartridge (wifey says so) I'm trying an LPgearAT95HE in the 309 , it looks to be worth a try for not that much money and might be a surprise .

[bubba45]

I was looking at the Pickering too. Probably found it about the same time as you posted Marco but haven't got the funds right now as I'm going to get either a DL103r or DL301mk2. Haven't made my mind up which one yet.
I have a Pickering XV15 / 625e which I enjoy very very much even with a bog standard elliptical stylus so I am assuming this would also sound great.
Lovely cart the XV15 and a real keeper though if you keep the brush on it looks as weird as a 30ft purple budgie in a tutu.
Never heard a cart with a stereohedron stylus but have heard that Stanton & Pickering do them. What's supposed to be the sound difference between them, a HE, regular elliptical and a Micro line?

By the way I bought a Technics SL-DL1. DOH!!! Damn and curse this hobby!!!!

[chris@panteg]

I was looking at the Pickering too. Probably found it about the same time as you posted Marco but haven't got the funds right now as I'm going to get either a DL103r or DL301mk2. Haven't made my mind up which one yet.
I have a Pickering XV15 / 625e which I enjoy very very much even with a bog standard elliptical stylus so I am assuming this would also sound great.
Lovely cart the XV15 and a real keeper though if you keep the brush on it looks as weird as a 30ft purple budgie in a tutu.
Never heard a cart with a stereohedron stylus but have heard that Stanton & Pickering do them. What's supposed to be the sound difference between them, a HE, regular elliptical and a Micro line?

By the way I bought a Technics SL-DL1. DOH!!! Damn and curse this hobby!!!!

Hi Jason

If you go for the 103R , you might want to look at your phono stage and perhaps seek some advice on here .

I think with the Pickering carts, I'm just going to have to get one and find out for myself , it comes with an adapter so i can use it on both my decks , did you get the DL1 at a good price ! I sense more work for Richard

[bubba45]

If you don't want a P-mount Pickering there's always this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I think they're lovely carts.

I've just seen that my DL1 is due for delivery today. It cost £56 + £12 P&P, described as working and comes with an Ortofon OMP cart rather than a Technics. I will no doubt be fiddleing around with that later on.

Also just got a 370H arm set up on one of my 1210's. Sounds bloody marvellous so far.