Aaaaaagh - Trashed me Cantilever

...ah, I dunno; I got both Jack'n'chill 12 inchers off of Ebay, and "The jack that house built" was scratched and filthy. A quick going over with the Disco Antistat and, unbelievably, the scratches are nigh on inaudible I still reckon that this track has the most innovative use of sampling - ever.... AND this from two guys from PLYMOUTH (god, I hate that sh*thole - got stuck there for 15 years, but it was better than Cornwall!)

 

Dom,

Its hard to make exact comparisons as I've just moved house, only had the V15 in place for a week in the new place if not less and had only just about resolved the bass issues I was having in the new place when I trashed it ... and of course I've never had a chance to do a direct comparison Denon to 540

That said - here goes. in the old place the V15 easily bettered the Ortofon 530 (can't speak for the 540) in the bass department and killed it dead on the end of side and knackered records front. It wasn't bad, but these are areas the V15 excelled in.

From the brief period I had the V15 in the new place and reasonably sorted before I killed it I'd say the DEnon's not far off the V15 in the bass (and may even be as good), is as good re end of side, nearly as good on knackered records and is actually better on surface noise.

On this basis, and assuming the 540 isn't too different from the 530, I'd suggest the DL-160 is an improvement in all these areas. From memory - the 530 had some end of side issues (but not so bad as the Tracer) and could be a bit harsh in the top end - it really didn't like worn records. I have none of these problems with the Denon.

Of course none of this is very scientific and relies on fallible memory and changing rooms. I have however run the 530, V15, DL-160 and the NAS Tracer through the Shure Obstacle Course test record:

The V15 beat all comers and tracked perfectly right to the torture track at high, medium and low frequencies.

The DL-160 shows very (and I mean very) slight mistracking on the low frequency torture track only.

The 530 showed obvious mistracking on the low freq torture track and slight mistracking on the high freq torture track.

The Tracer showed very obvious mistracking on the low freq torture track and obvious mistracking on the track several (can't remember how many) dbs below that. It also got edgy on the high freq torture track.

The 530 was a good cart and did me a couple of years, but I think I can unequivically say that the V15 and Denon are better. I spent another couple of hours with the Denon last night and am quite happy to say it suits my tastes from a sonic perspective far better than the Ortofon and indeed better than the V15 (but as ever that's just personal taste).

Hope this helps.

Tony

 

A 520 (in my experience) sounds better than a 530!! At least, on my NAD533 upstairs...

A 540 is slightly better at tracking, but the bass is roughly the same. I reckon a 160's a no brainer then!!!!

 

Well it doesn't sound like you are having much fun with the Dyns so worth a whirl. Think you'll like it. Did take a few hours (more like 20) to get on song though. Started out good then went through bright and then stodgy bass phases and then after about 20 or so hours came on song.

 

...sounds like it'd match the Dyns PERFECTLY during that phase then - arf arf!!! EDIT: I take it back - the Dyns were sounding MUCH better last night...

My old Dynavector was the same - went VERY thin from about 10 hours' in to about 20, and then sounded great. Had no more than 100 hours on it when I killed it

 

Any idea what it was that brought them on song?

I must admit, I was surprised at what an initially negative difference sitting my Kefs on blutac rather than spikes in the new room made, but equally surprised at how much better they are (either in this or the previous room) after a little playing around with positioning and some strategically placed cushions. At first the bass disappeared but now its back and much cleaner. I suspect because in the old room they were spiked and too close to the rear wall I had a lot of boom rather than bass.

 

No idea - I didn't touch them AT ALL - they've been in the same place since last week! Bad mains???

Either way, when I start paying for them, I'll try putting the top spikes back on the stands - although to be honest, I think they might go a bit tizzy like that...

 

my mother just phoned me - she trashed her cantilever too !
or rather, the removal men had, the arm was safely in its restraining clip (for want of a better word) that seems to have snapped during the move - hence the arm and stylus (without guard) had been moving around quite freely.

thankfully nothing exotic whatsoever, exact replacement from musonic was £17.50

(plus i think this is the original stylus from when the marantz system was purchased years ago, so probably should have been replaced anyway!)

 

With all this butter-fingeredness maybe this thread should become a sticky

 

I've found that removal of the counterweight (if fitted) completely and also strapping down the tone-arm using something like a plant or bin bag tie ( ie bit of wire wrapped in paper) is always the best way when shipping TT's.

 

Pity the cantilevers weren't

 

Just fitted a brand new VN5x MR stylus assy to my cart and am back in business. My newly upgraded/ DIY modified Rotel RQ970BX phono stage is singing like a bird and i have shelved my plans to try another make and model of cart, ( for now). The Shure xMR sounds simply brilliant.

How much was i sweating when i fitted that new stylus assy though !