Dipping toe in water

Hum, after todays showing, I feel this won't be the case guys I'm afraid

 

Dunno yet. I can keep it for a while before deciding. So far so good. Much better in the midrange than my recollection of the stock RB300 I used to have. And a piece of piss to set up.

-- Ian

 

To be fair Tony, they may just have dropped a clanger on the model concerned. But I have to say, the Proac 1sc seems to have gone up even further in some people's estimation

 

Is that with the Rohmann? If so, that's a pretty hefty cartridge. No problems fitting it using the technoweight I presume...
A shame about the Hadcock, though.

 

9 grams, the arm has a choice of a lighter and and heavier weight, the heavy weight will handle anything up to 13 grams apparently.

So, what Harbeths did you get to hear WM? Spill the beans, you know you want to...

-- Ian

 

Ian,

how about a nice Morch or another Hadcock ? Are you likely to try another unipivot before deciding?

 

Don't want to spend too much money, and I already have a spare Rega armboard which the Technoarm slots straight into. A Morch would be nice, but very rare secondhand, and more than I want to spend new. Likewise recent Hadcocks (and it would have to be recent, the older ones are, by all accounts, prone to falling to bits).

-- Ian

 

Perhaps there is something to the Technoarm "hype" after all. That's good to hear, and perhaps not surprising as Michell do know what they are doing (except for international sales strategy that is).
Bizarrely for something made in Scandinavia, Morch arms seem to crop up fairly regularly on Audiogon. Not heinously expensive, either.
But why do I get the feeling we shall soon have our first RS Labs tonearm user on the forum

 

As it happens, I know of a secondhand one at a decent price. But there's no way it'd work on my deck, it needs a solid plinth to sit on really. I have heard of someone using it on an Orbe, but they must be completely insane.

-- Ian

 

AK I'm currently in the process of getting my Shure sorted, it arrived last week with a bent cantilever. They're considerably out of your stated budget but a real quality cartridge, be warned though, the day after I ordered mine Shure announced they were ceasing production so long term ie 5 years or more supply of replacement styli could get difficult although I expect someone will take up the mantle and develop their own replacement........
If you've got £300 and have an RB250 you might be better off doing some Origin Live tweakery, that arm is supposed to respond brilliantly to it, and then choose a cartridge like the MC15. The Shure is fabulous though. When I heard it it really boogies

 

You can buy the latest Shure V15 (new) for around £155.00 on Audiogon.

Ken

 

Noticed from another website that they were ceasing production, and with exchange rates they were selling the V15(link that chris posted) for £171, said plenty stylii available, might get the Shure at that price and get new stylii next year and keep in a safe place, other than that may be going the mc15, Ken I will look a on AG, I take it it's pretty painless buying carts from the US, what's the import duty like, any idea?

Ps Margaret, thought that £550 was a huge amount to drop on a TT she'd hardly be impressed if I suddenly whipped off the arm and took it for a rewire, so that may have to wait, not sure wether it's a stock 250 or a Michell modded one with tecno weight, shall have to wait and see, have to say bought this thing blind on looks reputation, and reviews, I reckon I'm gonna like it, anyone any ideas of seconhand record shops in Glasgow apart from FOP.?

 

is it goldring carts that hum when they get close to the motor?
although you may not have this problem with the michell.

 

AK,

I don't know what the import situation is into UK, for me in Oz I don't pay duties on any thing under $400.00

Rob,

Never heard of a problem with Goldring's humming, I know that there is supposed to be a problem with a number of Grado's.

Ken

 

grado's , thats the one.
usually on rega tables isent it?

 

sideshow.... woudl it not have been more cost effective to get your old 250 rewired and put the michell technoweight onto it as the technoarm is nothing more than the above mods on an basic RB250.

UNless of course you got a good price on the technoarm.

 

My understanding was that the Technoarm is a fairly radical reworking of the Rega, that actually does something as opposed to the usual rewiring nonsense and includes some Eddy Merckx style drilling...

 

as i was aware it was nothing more tha a full re-wire... the new counterweight system ad a moderately improved bearings... but these are all things available from origin live at far less cost than a brand new technoarm.

I'll certainly be getting mine fully modified... might even get it blasted to a chrome finish (OL mentioned something about this)

 

Liberally grabbed from the Michell website:
The TecnoArm(a) is a fundamental mechanical rebuild of the well-known RB250 tonearm, to which is added monolithic wiring of the highest quality. The arm tube is bead-blasted and perforated, which disperses structural resonances and yields a lower effective mass. The arm wand is internally damped to reduce resonance further, and the headshell is machined flat, to allow true azimuth relative to the bearing craddle. After modification the bearings are re-adjusted for highest possible performance, according to original Rega procedures.

* One-piece perforated arm casting with internal foam damping
* Proprietary silver litz cable in a continuous run from cartridge to amplifier
* PTFE dielectric, metal braided shielding, separate ground wire
* Silver-plated cartridge clips and phono plugs
* Two counterweights, matching cartridges of 4-7g and 7-13g
* Vertical tracking force adjuster in steps of 0.1g
* Vertical tracking angle adjuster
* Finger locknut for easy arm removal or VTA adjustment
* Three year warranty

That seems pretty comprehensive to me. As far as the Technoweight goes, I preferred my own lightly modified and slightly radioactive Rega counterweight to the Michell version. YMMV. I much prefer the Interspace arm to either.

 

I haven't got a 250 to mod, if I did I might have investigated that route.

The Technoarm is indeed a 250, beadblasted, rewired, with a new end stub and underslung counterweight (a very nice piece of design in itself, very well done and with an extremely easy to set up and accurate tracking force adjustment), a remachined headshell, drilled through on the underside to reduce mass, foam damped internally, and it comes supplied with a VTA adjuster for Michell armboards. At the RRP of £399 that's good VFM I reckon. And even better if you don't pay RRP...

I like Michell's engineering, they know what they're doing and they understand how to manufacture to tight tolerances. The results sound great, having listened late into the night last night I'm impressed. It's a bit different from the Hadcock, but it's not worse in any significant respect, and in others (low frequencies mainly) it's clearly superior, which isn't bad given that the Hadcock retails for nearly twice the price. I suspect I'd have to spend quite a lot of money to get something better. I like unipivots because, as I've said before, they seem to have a certain midrange ease and grace, but this Technoarm is no slouch in that department either. I'd like to hear it up against an RB1000, I suspect it may give the top Rega arm a run for its money.

-- Ian