Scout's Honour

Gosh thanks Mike. Now if I can just make the cabinets slightly lighter and the music slightly louder I may be able to achieve what the Wright Brothers' machine couldn't.

 

I just wanted to say that I think Mana mike one of the nicest turntable wall shelves around - and for people with bouncy floors and nice turntables, this is a great idea whether people want to take it to different ''levels'' or not is another thing entirely - but off the top of my head I cant think of a nicer wall shelf.

Also - I just wanted to say that SCIDB was RIGHT on a previous post .... and I was... well I think the word ''wrong'' would sum it up!! - or 1/2 right to be kind to me...

The discussion was on ''source first'' for vinyl, and how to split a budget. He said source first. I said cartridge/phono stage matching, then get a turntable to maximise the sound.

Im still right about the importance of cartridge/phono stage matching I think - but Dean was absolutely bang on right about deck first, then arm, then cart.

Luckily - I now have a new TT and arm thats demonstrating god's own delight of music in glorious technicolour!!

I am a lucky git. Thanks Dean for all the advice.


Cheers
Chris

 

Hi

Very kind of you Chris. I must admit I got into hifi during the Flat earth days of the late 70's / early 80's. But thinking about what each item does, it did seem the way forward.

Glad you are enjoying it. Strength through vinyl is the way forward.

No thanks needed, I'm here to help.

SCIDB

 

I have to say bottle, I currently subscribe to the cartridge and fono stage philosophy. I am always sceptical with the ' spend all your money on the source' attitude. I do think it is more complex than that, but do give a bit of leeway with vinyl as they are precision mechanical devices (NOT!! measuring devices!)

 

What did you go for Chris?

-- Ian

 

Arh, I was debating whether to say, didnt want to get accused of 'willy waving' !

Mind you, its nice to know what people have gone for, and why, isnt it? - Pete if you're reading this I'd love to know more about what you thought of the Quad 99 CDP that you bought.

Anyway, I got a Nottingham Analogue Mentor with Wave power supply, and the arm you'll know Ian - its the Kuzma Stogi S. I got one of those stroboscopic discs too, as the power supply can be finely tuned for pitch.

 

Excellent, I had a feeling it would be a Nottingham. Good arm too. You must post some pics.

-- Ian

 

Cheers Ian.

Unfortunately no digital camera (makes selling on E-bay a pain in the arse)... I'll get some of the whole system when its done in about 2 months and put them in ''my system''.

Theres a couple of other changes happening too


Cheers
Chris

NB What phono stage did you end up with after you gave up on the ATC inbuilt one? I forget now.

 

Google doesn't have any pictures of the Mentor, so get yerself a digital camera...

I went for the Trichord Dino in the end. Very good. I have plans to spend a bit of the xmas bonus on a new TT in a couple of months myself...


-- Ian

 

dino better than the ATC? in an atc pre? interesting pray tell more...

must say, I have just replaced the dino with an innovations valve pre...less thwack in the drums I think, but the dino is darker and slightly more tiring, s200 is better vocals....I like em both, but slightly faour the valves

 

Hi Ian

There is only one picture on the entire internet that I could ever find! Its of a really early example, and looks very different to mine (below).

The TT was the table down from the Anna-Log about 3-5 years ago.

 

A long and boring story (do a search and you'll find a thread about it). The ATC phono was basically unuseable because of RFI problems. Used to use an EAR 834P, sold it to buy the ATC phono board and reduce the number of boxes, had to revert to an external phono stage, the Dino was the same price as the ATC board so it was a straightforward swap. Very happy with it, crisper than the EAR and quite a bit more detail, not as transparent as the ATC but will certainly do for me.

Chris, that photo's really frustrating... too bleedin' small!

-- Ian

 

Merlin,

Make sure you do get a demo. of the Dynavector P75 stage a great match for the DV cartridges. Also you could seriously consider a Dynavector 17D2 cartridge to match which will allow you to use the phono enhancer mode (the DV 20 has too high an output impedance) and this combination is superb for £1000 total.

Cheers

Jason

 

Sorry mate, try visiting the audioclub of athens home page for the original, thats where I lifted it from!

Mike - if you're reading this I'd highly reccomend hearing a Dino/Lehmann or other decent ss phono stage before plumping for a valve one... you never know which you might prefer. They certainly both have their strengths..

Chris

 

Chris,

Managed to get the Pro-ject Tube box on loan over the Xmas period

Out of the box, you notice a design flaw - it's got a blue LED bright enough to stop a kangaroo in it's tracks at 50 paces! Still a little bluetac and it's usable.

So currently in the house, I have the Linsley Hood, the Pro-ject, and the Nad PP2. The Nad is out, far too rolled off at the frequency extremes. The Hood is very exciting, times like a good 'un, loads of detail, but can be a little too exciting for these ears. The Pro-ject seems a little too valvey, bass is somewhat distended and not overly extended, but I really need to give it some time to run in. It's very pleasing tonally, but maybe losing too much detail and leading edge in the process.

I do intend to try out the Dynavector 75, also the MicroGroove. But I may well end up stretching the budget and going for something like the Art Audio or Joule Electra. I have the feeling I would like valves, but suspect I will need to spend more than £400 to get the resolution I want.

I tried the Scout on a Sink but found it lost the rythmic qualities it excels at, so at the moment, we are getting there, but slowly....

 

Merlin
would be interesting to see what you think of my Cornet (DIY) valve stage.............

 

I'd be interested in hearing it too and in comparing with my, slightly modded, EAR 834P. Does it do MC or would I need an Xformer for my Rohmann?

Seems pretty inexpensive as well. True?

 

Hi Steve

Would be interesting to pitch it against your Ear, ive no great experience of phono stages so all i can say is that i like it but dont know how it compares.
It would need a stepup Tx for a low output cart im afraid, probably not to hard to impliment if the Tx's are at hand.
Price wise, it is very cheap comparatively especially when built with the standard parts suggested by JH. The most costly individual part being the transformer at ~£50.
I have lost track of what i spent on it now, a few different types of caps tried, some tube rolling, internal rewire (not finished) and also now have a nice sheet of copper to make a new case and awaiting delivery of some tant resistors. Will try different power supply caps aswell at some point. Obviously if i had bought all the stuff i finaly settled on at the begining it would of saved some expense.

Will you have a TT set up at the Bristol show?
I could bring it down to the show with me.

 

I will borrow something nice for the Bristol Show and it should be new, high end (expensive?) and commercially available (not a kit). It probably won't be the best time to experiment.

For my own system it's a different matter. A kit would be fine (read inexpensive) so I'd be listening to yours with that in mind. How about I come to your place sometime? I've got a MC tranny we can use (Tim de P. Xformer). What I'm looking for is the laid back and neutral qualities of the EAR with more detail. It maybe too much to ask.

 

Your welcome to pop round for a listen, and laff at my tiny room
I would like to see how my Cornet falls in with your experience of phono stages, i could be pleasantly surprised, or on the hunt for more caps!
I hope that once i have recovered from the xmas wallet bashing i can complete my TT aswell, would certainly be better than what is in service at the moment.