Actually, i might as well update the list, there have been changes.

The jbe series 3 now has an sme 309 and the dv20 on it.

The roksan is on top of a wardrobe

All the lencos bar one thats a bit crap and is being saved for a rainy day when im bored have gone

The jvc ql-y5f is still in place

The jvc ql-y3f has had more work done and is the source for my headphone system

The technics mentioned above was gathering dust so i decided to faff with it because i was bored

There is a revox parallel tracker on top of a wardrobe

I bought an oracle delphi mk1 and restored it, that has my own unipivot arm on it

I have my eye in some other stuff id like to try too....

Nah it wont sag now, it has has the plate clamped straight and then steel pins bashed in (literally) to correct it. Does sound nice though

Meanwhile I have my trusty Ortofon MC25FL but the tip looks worryingly possible not present. So I ordered a £15 Chinese usb microscope but the driver is on a disc and my laptop doesnt have a port. I tried searching on line but Im especially Microsoft illiterate. So I acnt get anything about it to work. So Ive forgotten that and ordered next a @100x microscope that doesnt have to mate with a Microsoft computer . How anyone tolerates microsoft I have no idea they are the clumsiest idiotic platform that could ever have been built on. They should have thrown it away years ago and started a fresh. Probably when ai takes over properly it will start by putting Microsoft in room 101.

Until I can see a stylus Im scuppered.

Although the £50 unknown but new mm cartridge in sme headshell with litz wire came alive last night on a Ralph Mactell LP. Wow what a good tone ? Only 50 pence in charity shop so I splashed out another 50pence for Gracy Fields. Havent tried that lp yet because Im listening downstairs on the celestians to the Radio 3 concert from that place in London which my stroke wont allow me to remember the name of its almost filtered up but not quite. I wouldnt care but I delievered there tons of times as a despatch rider. What a stroke does is rob brain cells. Veryvery naughty. Anyway I like the concert. Top bananna and no sibilance scratches or warps.

Barbican.

Anyway so for now my hope is that the MC25 FL turns out not to have lost its tip and its probably suited to the Hitachi arm. I have to say I like the dd transport just as much as the 301. So the 301 is resting.

Cartridge again, in mothballs I have a hifonic low output mc cart but one coil must be broken. Doesnt need a retip though. But who to trust with a rewire? Possibly not worth the cost. Great shame so very low output but oh boy so delicate so so minute detail, impossible to describe, but digital media would miss 80% of it.

Keep it going, Paul. Exercising your brain is the best way to overcome stroke damage.

Reference the 301 vs direct drive experience. About 10 to 20 of us gathered for a weekend about middle of the country maybe 2008 or so. I took my 301 dinavector DVXX1L before its first retip. Some brought 401’s. I dont know what cart the other people brought or what arms the 401’s had. The dd’s probably had the gymble bearing arms. I had the Mayware, which worked very well on the 301, this was pre- Slatedeck, and I cant recall the pre slate plinth. Wood of some sort.

We played the Wall to death over two days. All the direct drives sounded just as good as my 301. This is only my opinion. The 401’s all fell short of the 301.

This experience backs up my confidence presently of the Hitachi Direct drive, with it’s own arm. Also is why the 301 was a bridge too far to set up again. I had lent it to a friend to build plinths so he had a 301 pattern. Did you know by the way there are two 301’s and I dont mean the difference between grease and oil, and the change didnt occur at that time. There are two castings. The earlier casting is fuller. I know this because when Darren had a slatedeck made for me when my casting sat in it there were gaps, I could see daylight. Thats how it was discovered. So Darren found another 301 with the same casting as mine and sent me that slatedeck. It filled the gaps; excluded the daylight.

Anthony who was using my 301 as a manakin, sent it back in one of his plinths for my trouble. No disrespect but I would want it back in my second slatedeck. So there is quite a lot of faffing around to restore where I have come from. But Anth is a great friend and it was a pleased to help him out.

My 301 was found at a Radio Rally. I asked; “What do you want for that old deck”? I cant remember the number, but less than £200, maybe £150. Payed up put it in the car straight away before he changed his mind. Very glad.

I totally agree Martin with that statement. With the exception of the michel gyrodeck I owned in a marble plinth. It did stuff in the top end which the 301 missed, but the 301 in the bass the gyrodeck missed. I sold the Gyrodeck but am now picturing Bazil Faulty smacking his own bottom. Why did I let that go! Sometimes we have done stupid things.

Now something very new. Stack Audio released a turn table record puck called the Serene on Friday very light so not a realy a weight neither is it a clamp, it is vibration absorbing instead as are the Auvas are that I use in various forms.

Because my turntable is so different with 6 gold plated platter weights & alloy posts all topped with solid graphite impregnated PTFE pads for the records to sit on I was particularly sceptical as to their suitability after my flawed & failed attempt at using Auvas under the turntable. However the success of Auvas in my system tempted me to express an interest. I emailed Josh explaining my turntable differences also asking if there were an special things to do.

His reply " It is a simple place and play installation. When first received, maybe pull the silver spindle attachment out a little and let it rest again to give the particles an awakening ‘pang’. This is our first very small batch so we are excited to hear feedback when used in various applications, your TT sounds epic already so will be interested to hear the outcome."

The Serene arrived today, I played the Carpenters album The Singles 1969-1973 to warm the cartridge suspension etc.

Then I put the Serene on once again with a Stack Audio product caused m to check record speed with my laser tachometer it was 33.3 rpm so even more relaxed,cleaner though bass seemed unaffected until tracK 3 Top of the World near the end where from the chorus comes a deep bass voice on the word "down" it was much more apparent than before.

On Transformer Lou Reed again track 3 Perfect day Lou Reeds voice was just sublime.

I am still trying to process what I am hearing that is different sure it's cleaner, my Nimbus recording of Sgt Pepper is playing as I type, there is more space & air now.

My take so far is every LP with the Serene sounds cleaner, more space an odd thing to note, fade outs go on longer on a lot of tracks that I had not heard before. So thought provoking more to com I think.