Post your turntable setup...can't get enough of those spinners!

This Scheu turntable looks fantastic with some a light and a colored record on it.

 

Good god, im beyond jealous. I heard the marten's the other day with a Nagra VPA, just divine. I'm sure you'll be enjoying this for years to come. I honestly cant even bear thinking about how much it cost to pick to many stuff up at the same time lol!

 

Wait. Let me get this straight. Your wife. Got you. A VPI.

What kind of sorcery is this? You are one lucky guy.

 

Josh, please convey this message to your wife:

 

G'day all,

Here's a shot of my fairly modest setup:



I'd lay money on my being the only person in the southern hemisphere with this turntable. It's a Swedish deck, a Simply Black Magic, which I bought from the guy who builds them at Veteran hifi in Stockholm. I don't really have any idea what it's comparable to, maybe something like a VPI Scout. But it's a pretty little thing!

The rest of the deck is Clearaudio: Unify tonearm, Maestro cart, Basic+ phono stage. All feeding a QED A230 amp which is basically bits of rust held together with transformers, into a pair of Mordaunt Short MS10s shoved under a sideboard...

...which despite its ultra lo-fi nature puts out a perky, lively mid-forward sound that has _something_ to it which my much more refined Gungnir Multibit+Mjo2+Neumann KH310 setup can't quite capture!

 

Thoughts from this wonderful musical evening I am having tonight....

It really has come full circle for me in a way. What I was reaffirmed today with tonights listening session is that price really has no correlation with the capability and enjoyment of a system AFTER a certain level. Seems like in the earlier stages of audio, there is a linear relationship between how much you spend and the performance capabilities you acquire.

Then once that linear relationship hits a ceiling, it becomes more about what magic one can weave out of a system. This thought comes to mind tonight in light of an old Supex 900 Super Moving Coil phono cartridge I installed (sells for about $500 tops), installed on an African ebony wood headshell made in Japan. This is a vintage cartridge made by the Sugano San, the founder of Koetsu cartridges. The cartridge has been out of production for over 25 years almost (I'd avoid looking for one as suspension components could be questionable in this day and age).

This meager cartridge has gripped me so tightly, I have no desire to spin my newly acquired Dynavector XV-1T ($10k cartridge) on the Triplanar VII tonearm that sings with the angels. I am giving you prices here to make a point. People tend to get impressed with costs etc. Please don't. Strive for synergy and musical contentment/satisfaction with a system you put together.

From what I have observed on SBAF, this site tends to put people on the Fastrak of the cost/performance highway. I suspect the readership will get to that ceiling sooner rather than later. That is a good thing and I hope everyone here gets even more happiness and satisfaction from their rigs than even my own elated self tonight!

So here it is...."The Spoiled Child", aptly named by the turntable designer. It is an absolute "One Off" piece made by the designer, so he named it in back in 2007 when it was created.

 

@shaizada thank you for sharing! @drfindley shared with me quite a musical experience this evening as well, courtesy of an EAR Disk Master chain. Never before have I heard studio recordings turn in to live performances in front of me. This so called G-factor I now know to have a pristine cleanliness and realism about it which I wouldn't want to try to describe. It must only be heard. And I think even the most analytical of SBAFers would let go of any reflexive urge to formulate impressions and just let themselves simply get lost in the music.

 

@bazelio , so glad to heard that setup! Not much, if anything I'd change with that one! I'd strongly urge the Norcal folks to try and hear it...if for nothing else, but to establish a common reference point to see why I make the comments that I do. I think it would help to communicate a given direction better for someone on their own journey. Might want less of something and more of another thing etc. It can be achieved but a reference point should be established.

With that said, I was going to wait another year or so before I moved into my idler wheel turntable journey. Well, I just went ahead and moved that planning forward!
I bought a Steve Dobbins Garrard 301 (cream colored, oil bearing version) with the upgraded copper platter. I haven't decided what tonearm and cartridge I want for it, but it should all happen relatively soon. The turntable ships tomorrow!

Here she is:

 

Picked up the used VPI outer ring weight today, and some vinyl of course. Just listening to some 90's stuff... No Doubt/Tragic Kingdom sounds good. Lots of instruments popping out, and the guitar sounds great.

Not really audiophile music, I see they also remastered all of Sublime's stuff and gave it the vinyl treatment. I was thinking of picking up 40 oz to Freedom, but the remaster is probably baaaad.

Edit: dammit, apparently the remasters are worthy. Should have picked it up! http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/sublime-reissues-july-1st.545892/page-2

If anyone is interested in thoughts/impressions using the ring weight, I'll spend some time with it and post. Not a cheap accessory by any means, but I had heard good things about it.

 

Decided to go with one of Dave's tables from Vinyl Nirvana as he's very local to me. Great guy and the table feels and sounds amazing (based on my limited analog experience).




Current Set up: Thorens TD-160 Super Reproduction-> 2M Bronze-> Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ -> Sys-> Emotiva XPA-2 -> HE-6/Custom HT speakers

 

Love these vintage sleeves... This is from the inside of a Herbie Mann and Joao Gilberto LP.

 

That's a cool insert. The things you find in vintage. I once bought a promo copy and inside found the press release it came with, and the artist's dedication on one of them. Makes up for all the shiny records t ever bought that play badly.

 

The difference with the weight is actually startling. I've had a couple of listening sessions where everything that I put on the table sounds the best I've heard it, and I was wondering if it was the weight, or just some other magic. It turns out that just having the record as flat as possible really opens things up... dynamics and resolution are both noticeably improved. I had a lot of slightly warped records, and I'm glad to hear them open up sonically with the weight. A well recommended upgrade; thanks Friends.

I'm thinking a nice Lyra cart would be the next upgrade... I just love their sound.

 

There is a lot going on with the HRX center weight and periphery ring combination. Increased moment of inertia, flat and hard coupled vinyl to the platter, change in resonance character of the whole platter, vinyl, weight, ring system, elimination of any warpage etc.

If you want another interesting "sound" to play with, get the Steel / Delrin VPI Clamp. This one screws on to the record with a washer that goes under the record on the spindle. This helps the screw down clamp to kind of bow the record down onto the platter. This clamp has a different sonic presentation and actually helps enrich brighter sounding records. Sonically, I find it fattens things up a bit and sometimes takes care of warps that the center weight and periphery ring don't do. ALSO, sometimes the records are not cut perfectly round and the periphery ring doesn't work. In those cases, the screw on clamp works beautifully as well!

 

Have you considered the Stabi XL? Should allow for multiple tonearms and have the sound you know and love. Also, what about a Redpoint Model XX? @shaizada should know if the TechDas Air Force III is a worthy contender. I'm not sure I'd trust the VPI to be meeting your needs, something about them moving past the Classics doesn't seem to go well.