Gromit's music centre...

[DSJR]

Shame there's no midrange on later baby Pro-Acs - summat like an ELEVEN db suckout on the Tablette Signature I remember - and several db exaggerated saddle-back on the standard article.....

Stilol, makes up for modern amps not having a loudness switch

[Gromit]

We're now Jelcofied.

[freefallrob]

Looking lovely!

Is it sounding lovely?

What are the improvements over the standard arm?

[Gromit]

Looking lovely!

Is it sounding lovely?

What are the improvements over the standard arm?

Hi Rob - thanks, it does look da bizz. Yes, the 750's a lovely looking bit of kit, and the finish on it is flawless as are the bearings which are amongst the most sensitive I've encountered in years. Balancing the arm to 'zero' once the cartridge is installed, give the headshell a very gentle tap with your finger and the arm will sway up and down for ages. This one's in virtually spotless condition too, with hardly a speck on it apart from the inevitable tightening collar marks on the pillar.

How does it sound?

This is where things start getting a little more difficult. Is it better than the std arm? Yes, of course. By much? No. There is more detail, more focus, and less bloom to the sound (it does sound a fair bit drier). I had a brief 20 mins listen to the std deck before doing the arm-swap and less than 30 mins later the Jelco was playing away.

What worries me is the lack of dynamic contrast; it's sounding strangled, fuzzy - 'dirty' even, as though a veil has been thrown over the music. Could the cartridge be to blame? Perhaps - maybe the Carbon/std arm is a synergistic bulls-eye which I've discovered purely by accident. The sense of motion, drive, damn it interest has gone. Musical phrase shape has gone - there's no build-up of tension, nor its release in that phrase (think of a long paragraph where the punctuation or full stops have been removed and you'll get my drift). The music's gone, basically. It was there before, in small doses admittedly, but present nonetheless. The Carbon woke the std deck up rather nicely.

Does the Jelco deserve a better cartridge? Of course it does - this beast will take pretty much anything that can be thrown at it. But surely it will be able to eek out every ounce of performance from the Carbon which is a stiff little blighter so in theory should like a bit of mass.

Is the Sony ES amp's phonostage not helping? Maybe. But, and here was a surprise; Jerry very kindly offered me the use of his NC-psu'd Trichord Dino at Scalford this year and on MM the difference between it and the Sony's built in one was too close to call. Seriously. Unless I can get my hands on a good stand-alone phonostage to beg steal or borrow I won't be able to rule this out though.

Is this adding even more weight to the 'for heaven's sake do the psu/feet/bearing etc etc before even thinking about changing the arm' method of approaching the SL12? Looks like it.

I haven't lost hope yet though, I've a full morning at home tomorrow to get this bugger singing where I'll go over a full set-up once again. I've a sneaking feeling that the Jelco (in the same way my AO-upgraded RB251 did) is finding fault in the turntable itself, allowing too much of its standard-condition colours to show though which puts an interesting slant on things. It's also made me wonder how a fully-AO-fettled RB251 (with Johnnie's new bearings in particular) might sound on a full-blown Marco-spec 1210.

[Gromit]

Well, this is all rather frustrating. Re-fitted and re-set the arm/cartridge this morning, taking absolute care over everything. Then had a play with different tracking weights and vta on the cartridge but cannot really inject any life into the system. I now have the opportunity to borrow another phonostage which will either rule out or blame my Sony amp.

It just sounds so dull and uninspiring. Sadly I don't really have the funds to start throwing another psu at the deck - not yet anyway - nor to spend out on a cartridge with more clarity.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Well, this is all rather frustrating. Sadly I don't really have the funds to start throwing another psu at the deck - not yet anyway - nor to spend out on a cartridge with more clarity.

Surely you shouldn't need to Richard. If the Techie sounded better, didn't sound strangled / dull etc with the STD arm and the Carbon then it must be purely an arm / cart synergy thing.

We know the arm works well on a Techie and nothing else has changed.

[Gromit]

Surely you shouldn't need to Richard. If the Techie sounded better, didn't sound strangled / dull etc with the STD arm and the Carbon then it must be purely an arm / cart synergy thing.

We know the arm works well on a Techie and nothing else has changed.

Think this is the case Mike - the Carbon was a nice'n'lively little thing in the std arm but it sounds disjointed/harsh with ploddy, almost thumpy bass in the Jelco. I'm going to stick with the arm though because it does leave scope in the future for a better, more demanding cartridge. A 103 beckons, but it would need a better phonostage.

Of course there's going to be a certain amount of expecation bias here, but the differences between the standard arm and the Jelco weren't as marked as I was hoping for.

[Ammonite Audio]

Have you tried tweaking the arm and armboard mounting bolts? Maybe slackening them off a touch will help.

[Gromit]

Have you tried tweaking the arm and armboard mounting bolts? Maybe slackening them off a touch will help.

Got to be worth a try - I didn't tighten them too much on installation but may back them off then just nip them slightly. I am still leaning towards the theory (aka 'clutching at straws' ) that the new arm is uncovering some cracks in the otherwise standard turntable's sound which the Tecchy arm is papering over.

[Idlewithnodrive]

Surely it's got to be the decent feet and mat route before cart etc ?