Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Aug 11, 2016 14:57:21 GMT
EMT 930st with EMT 929 arm and various TSD cartridges (plus a Denon DL103 and a Decca Mk.V both mounted in TSD-G headshells).
Three Thorens TD124/II decks with various arms:
SME 3009/S2, 3009/S2 (improved), 3012/S2 Breuer Dynamic 5A Decca ffss Mk.II Infinity 'Black Widow' (used with an ADC25 cartridge)
and my latest acquisition: a Brinkmann 10.5 arm (not yet fitted).
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Aug 11, 2016 14:42:56 GMT
Numerous examples of having material on both vinyl and CD. At least four versions of 'Kind of Blue' and a few instances of having two copies of a title on vinyl. Oh, and two copies (mastered at different times) of 'Sticky Fingers' on CD.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jul 21, 2016 19:42:21 GMT
Colin, can you give us an idea of the capacitance per metre so that owners can check with their amplifier specifications? it could be has high as 10nf/M not a problem for short runs but AVI installs may have problems. 10nF/m ! Is that a typo? Have you measured the capacitance per metre?
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jul 14, 2016 9:47:47 GMT
Here’s mine (a Studer-Revox C221) without its clothes on! I also have a Sony CDP XB-930 player, but she's shy and won't undress for strangers to gawp at her!
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 30, 2016 10:16:59 GMT
I'd love to even see a Breuer arm in real life. They are rare, and sadly since Herr Breuer is no longer with us, they will become even rarer. However the Brinkmann arms are heavily influenced by the Breuer, especially the Brinkmann 10.5 arm. I would go for the 10.5 over the Type 8C, mainly for the availability. Not cheap though!
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 29, 2016 17:13:43 GMT
My interest in Hi Fi goes back over forty five years. Not surprisingly it was some time before I could realise my aspirations, as I couldn't afford them at the time.
The 'ticks':
Thorens TD124/II turntable(s) EMT 930st turntable, 929 arm and several EMT cartridges
SME 3009/S2, SME 3009 (improved)/S2, SME 3009 (improved)/FH and SME 3012 arms Breuer Dynamic Type 5A arm Decca ffss arm Audio & Design (aka Keith Monks) M9BA arm Infinity 'Black Widow' arm
ADC 25, ADC 10E/IV, AKG P8ES B&O SP6, B&O MMC20S, MMC20E, MMC20EN Decca Mk. III, Mk. V and Mk. VI EMT XSD15, TSD15, EMT15(sfl) Denon DL103 Grado FTE+1 Ortofon SPU, SL15E, SL15E Mk.II, MC20, MC200, MC25FL Shure M3D, M55E, M75E, V15 Mk.II (improved), V15 Mk.III cartridges
Ferrograph 632 (T) Revox G36 Nagra IV-S reel-to-reel machines
Nakamichi BX-2 and BX-125 cassette machines
Quad AM1, AM3, FM1, FM2, FM3 and FM4 B&O 1700 Cambridge T55 Leak 'Troughline 3' tuners
Philips CD104 Studer Revox C221 Sony CDP 930XB players
Quad 22 Quad 33 Quad 44 Hafler DH101 Mark Levinson ML10/A Mark Levinson Ml25/26 and ML28 Sugden C51 preamps
Quad II monoblocks Quad 303 Quad 50E monoblocks Quad 405 and 405-2 Quad 510 monoblocks Quad 520 Mark Levinson ML2 monoblocks Electrocompaniet 'The Two Channel Amplifier' Mullard 5-10 monoblocks Cambridge P50 integrated amp Radford STA15/III
Quad ESL (57) B&W DM2a speakers Wharfedale RS8/DD drivers in 1.5 cu ft distributed port enclosures.
That's about it. Some of the above are no longer with me, having been sold on, or given away.
Still on the 'wish list':
Breuer Dynamic Type 8C Mk. III arm SME M2-12R arm Brinkmann 10.5 arm
Various cartridges: Ortofon SPU GME/II, an original SPU-GTE, SPU 'Royal N', or 'Silver Meister' Breuer Dynamic cartridge (an EMT generator, modified and re-housed by Breuer) Transfiguration 'Orpheus' Lyra 'Parnassus' Koetsu Rosewood Signature Mk.II Fidelity Research FR201, FR7 Audio Note 'Io' Van den Hul 'One (Special)' (a Swiss Benz generator modified by Van den Hul)
Studer B62 or A80-RC reel-to-reel machine (ideally a Mark Levinson modified Studer A80, the ML-5)
Mark Levinson LNP, ML-1 and ML-6A preamps Mark Levinson ML20 power amp
Radford STA25 Mk.III Radford MA15 Mk.III monoblocks
Mark Levinson HQD system (sadly neither feasable, nor realistic) B&W DM3 speakers BBC LS5/8 system (complete with AM8/16 monoblock amplifiers)
That'll do for now!
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 28, 2016 13:02:08 GMT
Barry: You buy that from Nat? Who or what is Nat?
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 27, 2016 18:38:32 GMT
My, there's some ugly looking gear there! No doubt sounds excellent, but the looks are so awful I coudn't live with it (even if I could afford it). Nice to see the fad of lifting cables off the floor seems not to have been pursued.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 27, 2016 9:43:07 GMT
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 26, 2016 23:49:46 GMT
Koss ESP-6(Image pinched from elsewhere.) Big, heavy, hot and uncomfortable! They get little use, as in general I don't like listening with headphones for extended periods of time.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 26, 2016 23:37:54 GMT
Revox C221Made for Revox by Studer, this player is designed for professional broadcast use. It has features which are obviously important to broadcasters but are best disabled for domestic use.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 10, 2016 11:22:17 GMT
I love the use of wood, as well as the smooth 'organic' curves, however I find something about the auditorium unsettling. I looks like you are sitting inside a giant skull: you are made to feel very small and insignificant. This is how I feel inside gothic cathedrals and is of course the Chinese Government's attitude to the state vs. the individual.
Wonder what the acoustics are like?
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 7, 2016 19:10:31 GMT
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 7, 2016 17:59:13 GMT
Pretty hideous! No Now those I admit are horrid!! And probably sound pretty horrible as well. OK, so no enclosure resonances to colour the sound, but what is there to stop bass cancellation?
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 7, 2016 17:23:34 GMT
I'm not quite sure of what my expectations of reasonable customer service should be, but I can report of my experiences with two audio repair services. With both, the standard of service and customer care was examplary: professional, friendly and helpful. The first is that of Quad. Quad may be in Chinese ownership, and their new products manufactured there, but the servicing and repair is still carried out at Huntingdon, by staff who continue to maintain the high standard of integrity and professionalism associated with Peter Walker's original company. They charge a minimum fee of (I think) £50 for servicing but that includes replacement of any component(s) up to a value of (again I think) £10. One possible problem is if you haven't kept the original packing. Quad will only handle gear that is conveyed in Quad approved packaging. If you haven't kept the original packaging, Quad will sell you some (and it's not cheap), but I assume this is for insurance purposes - no doubt Quad got fed up receiving gear that had been poorly packed and suffered damage. The service department at Quad are also very helpful when it comes to answering technical queries. The second is that of MArk Dolbear of the High End Workshop in High Wycombe Bucks. He services and repairs most 'high end' gear, such as Krell, Audio Research, Madrigal etc. His level of professionalism and integrity is astonishing, as I have reported elsewhere: theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?10304-Mark-Levinson-and-Me-–-A-tale-of-trial-and-tribulation-in-three-parts&highlight=Mark+Levinson . The trouble he went to in order to repair a Mark Levinson ML10A preamplifier was epic. Sadly, and maybe because of the lack of help he received from Madrigal, he now no longer handles Mark Levinson gear. Even so, I would unhesitatingly recommend him for any other high-end gear.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Jun 7, 2016 16:40:22 GMT
Ever one to be a bit different, if were talking about which source do you use most of the time? - well that would be a near equal split between FM Radio and CD. But as the question is which is the prefered source, I would have to vote CD.
To my ears vinyl playback and CD are equally good (or bad as you see fit). CD wins out for convenience and low running costs (I could just about get a decent cartridge for the price I paid for my CD player (a Studer-Revox C221 broadcast standard machine) and we haven't consideed the cost of the arm, TT and phonostage.)
Vinyl has its charms, 'hands-on' interaction: the ceremony of cleaning it and the stylus, getting up to turn it over; lovely album art work; easy to read sleeve notes, and the avoidence of the horrid little booklet that comes with CDs. Oh and the smell of old vinyl!
If I were to list my sources in order of use, it would be:
1 FM Radio 2 CD replay 3 Vinyl replay 4 Playback of 1/4" tape (on a Nagra IV-S reel-to-reel machine) 5 Playback of 1/8" tape cassettes (on a Nakamichi BX-2 machine).
As ChrisB has mentioned, the preferred source is the one on which your chosen taste of music is avaliable. That for me is CD, as I'm not prepared to pay > £25 for a new vinyl copy and yet still put up with less than perfect pressings. I do look in charity shops and at boot sales for good used vinyl, but much of it is rubbish and in very poor condition (and yet the sellers often have the nerve to ask a least £3 for such tatty copies!).
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on May 1, 2016 22:01:44 GMT
John Surman – ‘Coruscating’Cream – ‘The Very Best of Cream’Charlotte Dipanda – ‘Dube L’am’ Wolfgang Muthspiel and Brian Blade – ‘Friendly Travellers’ Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber – ‘The Skiffle Sesions, Live in Belfast’ Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – ‘Raising Sand’ Seth Lakeman – ‘Freedom Fields’ Ali Farka Toure – ‘Niafunké’ Africa Express Presents – ‘Terry Riley’s In C Mali’ Terry Riley – ‘Persian Surgery Dervishes’
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Apr 13, 2016 13:23:02 GMT
Let's have a better look at that RCA amplifier please!
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Apr 10, 2016 21:27:21 GMT
Hello stranger! I actually knew that the Zeta would work well, Barry, I was referring to Mr Custard's (the OP) arm. Oh, I see! Deccas ought to work well in the Mission 774 arm, as well as the Zeta and oft-mentioned Hadcock and Decca arms.
There is a lot of mythology about Deccas, and what is and isn't an acceptable arm to use them in. Having a pitifully low compliance (especially vertical), it's true Deccas do put a lot of unused energy into the arm which either has to be absorbed or dissipated. It is often said that the best arms for Deccas are unipivot designs, but that is not true. Neither the Decca Professional, nor the Decca ffss were unipivot designs. I have successfully used Deccas in SME arms and an Infinity 'Black Widow' arm.
As an experiment, I might try one of my Blues in my Breuer arm.
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Barry
Rank: Trio
Posts: 195
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Post by Barry on Apr 10, 2016 20:09:47 GMT
With that sort of lolly to spend, I'd be seriously considering doing something else entirely from what you are thinking of. I would be wondering whether my tonearm is suitable to take a Decca Maroon. Not much help if you must have a moving coil though. I'm assuming you are referring to your Zeta arms (plural - greedy bugger! ). Rest assured, the Decca cartridge will work very well in the Zeta arms; Decca cartridges were used during the development of the Zeta arm. The Zeta arm was designed and made by GB Engineering, manufacturer of the GB mounting block for Decca cartridges (Mk. V and VI.)
The Decca 'Maroon' (aka the Decca 'Plum' in the US) was a version of the Mk. V (the 'Blue') which enjoyed a more careful build standard and attention to workmanship from the outset, unlike the Decca 'Grey', which were hand selected samples of the Decca 'Blue' picked out for export (and hence also known as the Decca 'Export'). Like the Blue and Grey, the Maroon was fitted with a spherical tipped stylus
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