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Post by ant on Nov 29, 2016 17:54:52 GMT
Oh and it does mm and mc too which is handy as I broke my brand new 3 week old audio technica at-f7 while being particularly inept the other night so have resurrected a shure m97 xe with a new stylus. Then found i still had my red bodied ortofon mc10 so i can bugger about with them both Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 29, 2016 17:45:43 GMT
Just bought one of these on a whim and for the money it's rather nice. I usually use either a musical fidelity xlps or my nuvistor phono stage that i have been buggering around with for a couple of years. To be honest i have been using the mf lately while developing the lenco as its more reliable and is a known quantity where the nuvistor build is still a work in progress after a number of years. When it's working it's sublime, when it's having an off day it's a pain in the arse.
The micromega is a smoothie, seems nice and flat all the way up and down, clean, and imaging is very good straight out of the box. Obviously it aint going to be better than something costing a grand, or the nuvistor, but for a relatively humble outlay of beer tokens, its very acceptable. Not much info on it out there but I think if you are in the market for an affordable phono stage it's worth a punt Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 28, 2016 19:10:22 GMT
Tbh im glad in one respect that rosberg won the title this year as it will mean Hamilton comes out fighting next year. After wrapping it up last year with 4 races to go, I think he came out this year with his head up his arse. I don't think he expected the sea change in rosbergs attitude and was playing catch-up mentally straight out of the gate. Rosberg has become extremely adept at coming second, and yes the mechanical issues Hamilton faced this year have been a big factor in rosbergs winning season, but i admire the fact that in many ways it has been rosbergs absolute focus that has won it for him. Lewis just didn't have that focus enough of the time to turn it around. Rosberg knew for a fact that mixing it with Lewis wouldn't go his way so was mature enough to collect the points this time around and play a more cagey game. Roll on next season, i think it will be a doozy. And someone please give max verstappen a faster car and a little more sense!
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Post by ant on Nov 28, 2016 9:45:24 GMT
Ive used a ruddy great slab of slate for the last 10 years to site all the (too many apparently) decks ive had. Not on any sort of isolation feet, just the slab directly onto the shelf/ whatever the deck has been sat on. There are many many ways to site a deck, wall shelves being my personal choice, though mainly to keep them away from the little fingers of the kids. Not such a problem these days.
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Post by ant on Nov 27, 2016 18:47:38 GMT
Stick something better than the om cart on it and you'll get much better bass.
Firstly though some tweaking can help. Vta can play a part, if the cart looks like it is nose down, it will mean that the vta is too high. I don't know if it is adjustable on this deck, but ideally the arm tube wants to be parallel to the record. If it looks like it is sloping downwards to the front it's too high and you can get a lack of bass performance, sloping up towards the front, you can get a lack of treble and muddy bass.
A very simple way to change this if it is non adjustable and nose down, is to put a record you don't care about on the platter, then place the one you want to play on the top. Effectively use the first record as a shim, this will alter the vertical tracking angle. If it's nose up, is more difficult as the arm pillar needs raising up. If it works, get hold of a thicker platter mat.
Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 26, 2016 21:12:07 GMT
That would eliminate one possible culprit if it is coming out full blast and the pre is not doing anything to the volume when the knob is rotated
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Post by ant on Nov 26, 2016 20:59:36 GMT
Ah, thought it might be the 640p. It should be connected as follows, though you probably know this and have it connected this way anyway Tt - phono stage - pre - power Im not sure where you have got the high gain from to be honest
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Post by ant on Nov 26, 2016 20:13:40 GMT
It should be pretty much the same as the other components. Have you got the turntable plugged into the moving coil input rather than moving magnet on the phono stage? Can't tell the model number from the photo, but alot have mm and mc inputs, the mc input gain is alot higher than the mm and your cart is a moving magnet Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 25, 2016 13:49:05 GMT
Turned up a matching record weight from a block of oak for it
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Post by ant on Nov 24, 2016 16:39:28 GMT
I think it probably does sound as it looks. If anyone is near the Doncaster area feel free to pop in for a listen to it, thats what it was built for, any feedback is welcome
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Post by ant on Nov 24, 2016 16:34:15 GMT
For a ton you can't go wrong. First deck I bought was a debut 2, i dont think it's worth 235, there are plenty of decks around at that money, but for 100 notes would be very hard pressed to get anything better. It will always be worth 100 quid plus and I would suggest it would be a very good starter deck with very easy set up and replaceable stylii when ( not if) you break the stylus. Everyone busts a stylus. If you like what you hear you can upgrade when you like Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 24, 2016 13:21:12 GMT
Having now had a chance to listen to a reasonable spectrum of music Im quite happy with the way it sounds now. A very solid quality to it. To be honest i dont really like to try to describe stuff I've made, it would probably come across as marketing bullshit. But I'm happy with it Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 23, 2016 12:40:07 GMT
Sounds nice
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Post by ant on Nov 22, 2016 22:12:29 GMT
Got it finished finally T'was a right mission to get it to the finishing line. Only other thing that needs doing is the top plate earth wire as I have run out of green wire..... Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 21, 2016 21:09:55 GMT
I watched it t'other day and was quite happy to see that it had the feel of top gear circa 2012. Take it as an entertainment program with really cool cars rather than a car program and it works. I used to look forward to watching it on a Sunday night. Im quite looking forward to watching the grand tour on Thursday. I signed up to Amazon prime on a free 30 day trial just to watch it, how many others will do the same? We regularly use Netflix, we have a subscription for that allows 3 screens so we can watch it at the same time as the kids, and she who must be obeyed's dad watches it at his house too. Looking at the selections amazon have, and the option to rent new films too, I'm seriously considering keeping the subscription once the free trial ends.
The grand tour is one hell of a hook for subscriptions
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Post by ant on Nov 20, 2016 18:37:27 GMT
Just an additional thought, different brands of 34 are a safe bet either way, they will all have electrical characteristics within a certain range, and some will be manufactured to better tolerances than others. A 34 is a 34 is a 34. in other words, replacing like for like will not harm the amp. One will sound better or worse to your ears than another. Valves are pretty forgiving, a 5% tolerance in ht voltage or current isn't going to bother it too much. 10% plus depending on the bias point for the amp could be pushing it. Id just say stick to the type if you intend to tube roll, and if you spot something that proports to be an alternative to it, check the dataset first, or get someone to look at it who can interpret the data correctly before trying Also don't be too sniffy about the ex Soviet stuff, most of it is military grade stuff so can be pretty good even though it's still pretty cheap Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 20, 2016 17:46:06 GMT
Another thing to consider is the voltage drop with these. I usually use gz 34s in place of ones like the 5u4g type as they drop somewhere in the region of 30v.other will drop more and an ss rectifier significantly less. If for example a bit of kit will be run somewhere around 300v ish this is a 10% drop that the designer will have designed around. Modifying an old amp with an ss bridge could push the operating voltage higher than intended, or swapping in a different type a lower v. Consider that the valves if cathode biased (any other bias type will still be affected) will have their operating current set by a resistor and capacitor between the cathode of the valve and 0v, a difference in the ht voltage will result in a higher or lower quiescent current, which is the amount of current the amp idles at. This will change the bias point so the valve could be working outside the design centre for the circuit. If it's a pentode this will also affect the screen voltage which is a fine balancing act at the best of times. Now 99% of amps designed in the UK for a gz34 will be probably based on mullard data, so a mullard is a good bet but will be dear. I have found that jj ones can have problems with arcing and sovtek ones are reasonably tough. Exotic ones I wouldn't waste cash on. Bear in mind that it is nowhere near the signal path and is isolated from the ht at the anodes of the valves by the set of caps usually after it. so in my opinion, one rectifier sounding different to another is due to electrical changes in the current and and voltage supplied to the amp. Be aware also that replacing with an ss rectifier can put stresses on the power supply caps as they will get instant voltage that doesn't build up over a couple of seconds, but is just there instantly. Old amps with old caps might not take kindly to this Cheers ant
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Post by ant on Nov 15, 2016 17:17:56 GMT
Kraftwerk computer world. The missus hates it, which makes it even better :-0
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Post by ant on Nov 12, 2016 17:22:14 GMT
Level 42's debut album. Absolute brilliance
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Post by ant on Nov 11, 2016 17:09:04 GMT
Iron maidens debut album Such a glorious racket
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