My new toy

Ain't she perty? Sounding schweet.

-- Ian

 

Oh I like carts.

But what is it, and common proper review, pretty ain't cutting it

Theres apparently a new rega MC cart out as well.

 

Ian, blue is kinda funky dude, but big question, how does it sound mate? WM

 

Yeah we want to know!

What have the Rohmanns ever done for us

 

Hi Ian,

Well done. I used to use a Rohmann before I had Ortofon Jubilee. I'm quite a fan of the Orofon range of cartridges. The Rohmann will give you good allround ability. But one area where it will beat most cartridges is in it's tracking ability.

I found the cartridge very natural sounding which lead to very good long listening sessions. It is an older design to the Kontrapunt range (these are poor persons Jubilees),but it is a very good cartridge.

Enjoy

SCIDB

 

I love cartridges, it one area of the sourse first thing that I truely get. The differences between carts is amazinf and I have owned a few cheap and not so cheap ones.

The best one to date I have owned was a DV xx-1. That thing was like silk utterly good stuff. Infact all the DVs I have heard have sounded supurb.

I also like the klyde, but its not so detailed as some. A nice easy going cartridge to my ears.

I have a Clearaudio VictoryH on at the moment. This again is a really good cartridge, although not quite the xx1 standard.

 

Very nice picture gary.

Oh, too early to say much really. The blue's very nice, solid aluminium as well, with a cool metallic sheen. And bought from Germany for half the UK RRP. Comes in a cute wooden box, with a stylus gauge included, nice touch.

Oh, what does it *sound* like? First thing I noticed to be honest was how residual background noise has basically completely disappeared, even on records that were pressed 40 years ago and more. Digitalians note. More bass extension than the Dynavector 20X I was using before, which is just about right in my relatively lean setup (some people complain that Ortofon's can be bloomy, but not in my system). Hugely more resolving, as well. Everything's sounding muy bueno groovy. Tracks at a hefty 2.5gms or so, which I think helps a lot.

I had a feeling putting a much better cart in, even if it meant selling the CDP, would be a good move, and it seems to be so.

Only installation niggle (as you can see from the picture) is that my selection of mounting screws doesn't include any with narrow enough heads to screw them in from the underside and bolt them properly, from the top (there isn't enough room between the cart walls and the mounting screws to do it the other way around). Still, it's a tight fit, so OK as is I think.

So, on the whole, spiffing.

-- Ian

 

Hi Ian

Glad you like it. Just one question, wouldn't you be better off using shorter bolts anyway? Much of their length seems redundant, and it will only increase the mass at the cartridge end.

I guess you've factored them in for the old natural resonance calc?

Cheers

 

Sod's law timpy, the shorter bolts I have (including those that came with the cart) are too short to go through the thickish Hadcock headshell and hold the cart properly.

Resonance calc (with bolts) is 11 ish, which seems just about fine.

-- Ian

 

nice one ian


you must be well chuffed.


NB
Why not take the bolts off and take the ends off with a hacksaw?


or twat them with an old chisel that you dont mind blunting!.. watch out they will ping 40 feet!


!!

hehe
Chris

 

Chris, great minds think alike, except I used a Dremel (much easier). Me bolts are now stunted.

Just need to get the arm set up again now...

-- Ian

 

I just press play, a lot easier , a good desicion mate, it's great when you arn't too sure about some thing that pretty fundemental to your system sounds, and then it just gels, and then you get that smug glow that says yes, one of the best feelings you can get along with not buying a 825 rover

 

Chris, I assume you don't mean whilst still attached to the arm.....

Cheers

 

Sideshow.

Judging by your photo the cartridge excepts the thread without the need for a bolt?

Its true of the clear audio and indeed one of its failings.

With a traditional screw bolt arrangment the torque comes independent of the cartridge body. But with the clear audio the tension is dictated by how much you tighten the the bolt thread into the body of the cart.

Its not such a problem except that tightning on the arm head makes the whole cart body move. In conclusion then I think a cart that requires both bolt and nut is the best design.

Thanks for the heads up on the picture, its thanks to a really expensive digi camera which i think was worth the money!

 

Yep, in fact the mounting screws supplied with the cart are boltless. Ideally I'd like to find some narrower-headed screws so I can bolt it in from the top, but it's a tight enough fit as is, so I probably won't look too hard...

-- Ian

 

Nearly bought a Rohmann myself. They're very nice carts indeed, IMHO, for the price - good all rounders. Absolutley stunning value at the price Ian paid for his.

I've tried the even pricer (top fo the range?) 7500 from Ortofon, but this one really didn't grab me. The tonal balance and natural timbres were very nice, but rhythmically it seemed to me as if it was dragging its heels along the ground, at least compared to the VDH Frog that I ended up with. Oh, but the minature leatherette attache case that the 7500 came package in was very eye catching, but still didn't sell the thing to me though!

So why did I end up with a more expensive cart? Well, the original intention was to get a brand new Koetsu Rosewood, but unfortunately at the time, production of Koetsu cartridges had just ceased with the death of Mr. S in Japan. So the search was on for something similar, and something which had the vanishingly low background/surface noise of the Koetsu. Well, the Rohmann was good, but the VDH even better.

Yep, I know that Koetsus have been back in production for a while now, but I don't really have the money or inclination these days, but I am at least happy with what I've got. :MILD: Only the distant possibility of a phono-stage upgrade is on the cards... once I get this blasted digital-frontend sounding half decent!!


BTW Garyi, what digi cam is it you have?

 

I have the olympus E10. Its a straight through SLR 4 mega pixel camera. It has soooo many settings that I have no idea on but the macro facility is really something special, and I have an additional macro lens.

It also has a remote control so you can take pictures without the camera moving, leading to some pretty cool close ups!

The e10 was superceded by the E20, fir 5mega pixels, but in context only gave you a further inch of picture size so didn't seem worth the extra 300 quid.

 

yes, that is a nice picture Gary.

My g/f is into photography and she just replaced her 25 year old pentax SLR with a 5m pixel digital camera and she is delighted with the picture quality and the convenience of digital cameras. They really are good now.

 

Good man I also have an E10 and love it. My first digital camera after years of 35mm SLRs and I would never go back. A superb camera.

I also have the macro lens and the TCON-300B telephoto extension (gives 420mm focal length (35mm equiv.)). I didn't really "need" the telephoto extension and at $900 RRP it was out of the question but when, during my hols last year, I saw one in a camera shop on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi (Vietnam) and they were only asking $250 for it, it was too much of a bargain to turn down. I didn't ask too many questions about it's provenance

The E20 IMO was for many people who upgraded to it, a retrograde step. Sure, it has 5mp instead of 4mp, but that's its only advantage. The CF card write times went through the roof (much slower than the E10) and this made it unusable for many people.

I'll be sticking with mine for at least another couple of years until I can justify a "proper" digital SLR with interchangable lenses. The Olympus E1 looks very interesting - the first true digital SLR (rather than the 35mm retrofits from Canon and Nikon) but that price...ouch!

Michael.

 

Mike, I have the suspision you are a closet teckno geek sir far too many toys, you'll be wanting a job at T3 next Oh I forgot, your no quite old enough, and the second child-hood hasn't kicked in yet , one minute it's palm tops the next a Hard Tailed Hog, a very slippery slope mate be careful :MILD: