vinyl distortion or (mis)tracking problem?

buy a OKKI NOKI, best £299 you'll ever spend

 

Thanks for the recommendation If I don't like what I'm hearing I might do that instead - the name alone is worth £299 sounds like it'd be one of the family like my motorcycle (Boris) and my partner's car (Bertie)!

(edit) - just googled okki nokki and realised it's a record cleaning machine! doh!

As a total aside, after having 'chosen' carefully and 'bought randomly', I've decided I could become a believer in the random serendipity approach to hi-fi system building. Nothing radical about believing that in music, random selection is a requirement of developing and expanding; but that's another thread!

 

EIL really are the worst, no 200gm of Transformer has ever come out. Only MOFI and Classics press on 200gm, I think they mean the Speakers Corner reissue on 180gm.

I don't believe a single word or EIL ads, and their pricing is obscene

 

I feel all shot down in flames now :laser:
is this not 200g either?
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=417466

cos I bought that one Not really as dynamic as the older pressing I have - from the 80s or early 90s, not too sure.

 

My new copy of transformer is issued by Sony (I think) and it seems to weigh 200g (could be wrong though).

 

You know, I had the idea that vinyl weight was calculated like paper weight - the weight of a square metre - so putting my record on the kitchen scales probably won't solve the Shakespearian mystery of 200g or not 200g

 

The Quadraphenia is a Classic. Did your Transformer have that sticker on the front. I think there's a Speakers Corner of Transformer that should be very good. I've got the Simply Vinyl press, and it's not that bad at all.

 

Actually, I did do just that, put it on the kitchen scales and guess what.....it weighs 200g.

I also 'phoned a friend' and he said IT IS a Sony issue and IT IS 200g and IT IS the only 200g reissue - if any of this is wrong it's got nothing to do with me (all 'you fool' type comments to be addressed to Si please).

No sticker on mine....erm, what sticker? Oh, you mean the 200g sticker that's on the Who record No, doesn't have that but it's not issued by the same people.

 

he he he, I just held the old Quadrophenia and the new 200g in my hands - what a difference in weight! I got the 180g Tommy by Simply Vinyl too, now that is fantastic

 

that is by Classic Records so it is 200gm - £42.99!! or from Vivante for £39.99

It is the best Quadraphenia pressing so far , should have much better dynamics than any other version.
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=128546&page=6&highlight=quadrophenia

 

yet the Tommy is a digital master, exactly the same as the CD as were most Simply Vinyl pressings, for Tommy get the Classics reissue.

 

Thanks for those two leads kt66! really good sources of recordings and information - excellent

I looked up vivante and there on the first page are Aja, the Led Z BBC sessions, Disraeli Gears... maan, I can't wait for my numbers to come up!

 

Thanks - I probably will when funds allow...

 

Cartridges - update

OK, so I went over to Artisan Audio in Stoke Poges and he set up and spent a further three hours with me to find the best of my short list.

System was his demonstration system - a long way from my humble set-up and included to 6' plus horn speakers and one of the vinyl sources was a 5k turntable... the idea was rather than try to approximate my eccentric pile of precious goodies, he would give each cartridge its best showing.

Choice was between their re-badged Benz Micro Glider H called Tutti and Dynavector 17D3

First up was the Benz and I was impressed. This retails from Artisan for £295 and after listening to a particularly demanding Aida on the Benz and the DV, the Benz was winning the race pretty easily. In particular, a section with baritone, tenor, cello and double bass intertwining with one another worked beautifully, and a flute sounded much more like a flute with air being blown across the mouthpiece, and when the horns tipped in, they were clear, distinct, but moved with the flute. Yes, I liked this.

The phono stage in use was Artisans own which I believe retails at around £1,000 whereas I use a humble Dynavector P-75.

In comparison with the Benz, the DV cartridge was much less lifelike and brought none of the recording room acoustic into the presentation and lost much of the tiny but critical harmonics that create a multi-dimensional musical instrument that sound more like the real thing. However, in a challenging, highly modulated passage, the DV kept right on tracking whereas the Benz began to let go.

But... an advantage of the P-75 is that, with the cartridges that can do it, it can be put into current amplification mode:
http://www.dynavector.com/pdf/P75_hifiplus_review_issue_30.pdf

I'd taken my phono along for that very reason and the dealer set it up and played the DV through that. Ah, lots of the things that the Benz was doing right, the DV was now doing too...

I was really rooting for the Benz because my first impressions were good and it was half the price of the DV

But

I was worried that the very nice phono stage in use at the dealer's premises was fooling me - I've heard that phono as a prototype in my system at home and what it managed to get out of my little Goldring 1042 was quite special. So to compare, he put the Benz through the on board phono in his pre - still way better that my P-75 I'd wager, but a useful point of reference.

In exactly the same way that the DV started doing a lot of what the Benz was doing when in current amplification mode, the Benz was now sounding more like the DV before that change. Hurumph...

Move on, try the same process with Quadrophenia spinning.

Not night and day clear, but the DV was beginning to edge out in front. Roger Daltry sounded more like him than I remember before, details, agility all good, timbre very satisfying. The only doubt was a soggy, sometimes boomy, bass.

On the Benz, bass was dryer, more cohesive, but piano lost its weight, Daltry became a bloke singing that I happen to know is Daltry but didn't have his distinctive voice quality.

I'm still unsure about the impact of his phono stage. OK, says the dealer, lets be sure and set your phono up to take the Benz. Done. Listened to the whole section again.


This time, no contest. Through my phono - the P-75 - the Benz became a very poor substitute for everything that had gone before...

So the DV17D3 is now set up on my arm downstairs and although my system can't match his, a surprising amount of what I heard in his sitting room came home with me.

He even loaned me a cartridge balance so that I could set it up without using the weight dial on my RB300.

The DV was £595 and the Benz would have been £295. Shame because a better phono stage in my system would have/could have... But then, the DV to DV link does give some synergy that compensates in this instance. Next time I have to do this though, it'll probably be seriously expensive because as far as I can tell, that little P-75 ain't gonna be good enough for anything other than another DV cartridge that can do the current amplification trick.

Sounds good though!

:MILD:

Thanks for all your input guys