New Townshend Rock 7 owner

Congratulations, Slaw! Your new TT will astound you.

I've had my Rock 7 for several years and I absolutely love it. I have yet to hear a better sounding front end... really, this is a special little known TT that when matched with my Helius Omega arm and a Kiseki Purpleheart cartridge, blows away much more pricey competition. The Merlin motor upgrade is expensive, but worth the money, offering an immediate and obvious improvement in sound quality, timing, slam and ease. 

bdp24,
The question of the "un-damped acrylic platter" of the Rock 7... In my conversations with Max, he says it is made of the same material that vinyl records are made from, hence allowing all mechanical vibrations produced at the groove level to dissipate easily throughout the platter and not bounce back at the stylus and creating distortion. A simple, yet ingenious design that really works.

I'd like to offer up another very noticeable upgrade which is probably the least expensive tweak available: replace the standard belt with a custom belt made by Mark Baker at OrginLive.com in the UK. At first thought, I found it hard to believe that a different belt would make any difference at all, but I was very wrong. It was not subtle at all. The belt tightened up the bass even more, focused the instruments in space (especially on jazz and classical) and increased the "jump factor" significantly.

Hey Slaw,

I use the original trough fluid that Max supplied, which seems to work really well for me.

As for leveling issues, I bubble-level to the platter and the arm board surface. I use the smallest, lightest bubble level because on a suspended TT like this, even the weight of the level itself can slightly affect the reading, especially if you don't have a bubble level that sits dead-center over the spindle and have to level to another spot on the platter...

The Purple Heart/ Rock 7/ Helius Omega combo is magic. I had already been floored by the Kiseki when I installed it on to my TA Excalibur 3, but not very long after that, I took a deep breath and upgraded the tonearm to the Omega. The Helius took the sound to yet another level.

Every step of the upgrade has been significantly beneficial to the sound of my system, which is all I really care about. Most audiophiles that audition my system are blown away by the ease, naturalness, and dynamics that this immersive "you are there" musical experience creates.

My analog front-end set-up is roughly $12K now, and when comparing it with other source set-ups in its price range, there is not a contender I could find. Even set-ups at five times the price have a hard time beating this ingenious cartridge-damped technology. Just throwing money at a system won't make it musical... everything needs to play together well in a synergistic way. I consider this front-end to be one of the best values in high-end audio today. it feels good to be done upgrading for now and just enjoying my music.

Just my $0.02

Hi All,

It's been a while since I looked at this thread... Slaw, you are a posting maniac! Thanks everyone for keeping it alive with your enthusiasm. Especially now, I feel so fortunate to have purchased a Rock 7 when I did. Even with Max's manufacturing tolerances being a little loose at times –– as in, the platter not being as true as possible (witnessed by looking at its vertical side surface while spinning, there is a small but noticeable wobble)... and yes, the leveling issues... and whatever else –– I'm over it all –– I just don't spend any more time and energy on that stuff (even though I enjoy the process) because my front end sounds so freakin' good it brings tears to my eyes. A music-loving friend, who knows acoustics and happens to be the architect who designed the Paris Opera House, also cried when listening to this system… saying: "you’ve ruined me, I can’t ever listen to my stereo again!” He then got up and hugged one of my speakers!

So that said, as one who is done tweaking for a while, I’m going to try and list every upgrade I made to the Rock 7 and note the impact it made on the sound of my system:

Upgrades:
~ Replaced stock motor with the TA Merlin-3 motor and DC-ish power supply –– snapped the timing into focus... everything before this upgrade now sounds blurry, which is hard to believe until you hear it.
~ 6-foot XLR motor extension cable –– moving the power supply away from the TT and electronics eliminated a low hum and blackened the background even more.
~ Took off the little nubs and put a thin cutout of Sorbathane under the round plate with the three depressions that goes beneath the motor, which further increased speed stability.
~ Replaced the stock belt with Mark Baker’s Origin Live belt… I was speechless and couldn’t believe I didn’t know about this upgrade beforehand. Made everything sound better… really.
~ Installed Phoenix Engineering’s RoadRunner Tachometer for a reality check on speed stability… it's really good to 3 decimal points (33.333) and fun to watch!
~ Replaced the already upgraded Excalibur 3 arm with the Helius Omega… wow, silky smooth and even more presence and inner detail.
~ Upgraded the awesome Ortofon Cadenza Bronze (which I re-installed on an Alphason 100s-MCS arm on my rare Alphason Sonata TT) to the Kiseki Purpleheart NS, which is even more awesome and a huge bargain at $3400 since it sounds like a $10K cartridge. The combo with the Helius arm and R7 is amazing and can definitely handle cartridges more expensive than itself and show what the best carts can really do and why they cost so much.
~ Got a custom-made acrylic cover –– you don’t want dust in your silicone.

There. Done. This of course, is only at the TT level... upgrades abound at every step down the signal path to the speakers, room, my ears… and finally, my very emotional response to beautiful music. Which, of course, makes it all worthwhile.

Cheers,
Alón

Slaw,

Please don't misunderstand... I was commending you, not criticizing!  "Posting maniac" was supposed to be a compliment and a nod to your excitement, – sorry I didn't deliver that too well in my response…

In answer to your questions:

Yes, the Origin Live belt is flat, like the one that comes with the Merlin upgrade. I remember the stock motor belt was round, right?

The Phoenix Tachometer is fun and accurate. it does not adjust the speed, just monitors it. Seeing platter speed to three decimal points is exciting to me, because I can get it to stay on 33.333 RPM for a few seconds and then moves up to 33.338 or down to 33.327 which shows great speed stability. Then, I put the stylus in the groove and I can see “Stylus Drag” in action, dropping the speed down a few clicks. What’s cool about that is that Stylus Drag changes depending on what music you’re playing! Big orchestral movements slow the platter down the most and soft, one-instrument etudes much less. Once, just for fun, I experimented with finely adjusting speed back to 33.333 or a close as I could get for each track on an album side (which is the epitome of crazy) and I’m happy to say that thankfully, I could not hear the difference. Now I just adjust speed if need be at the very beginning of a side and just listen to the music.

I din’t pay nearly that much for my beautiful acrylic dust cover! Mine was custom-made to my specs for around $200. Now if only I could remember who made it…

Regarding the platter, yes you’re right, it doesn’t directly affect the speed… I just have a thing for manufacturing tolerances. Visible wobble is bad. Not being able to tell from a few feet away that the platter is spinning, is good.

Keep enjoying enjoying our little analog secret!

Alón

Are you saying you agree with the posts and you're a very happy Rock 7 owner, but you're selling it because you found something just as good?

Please clarify, do you like the Kuzma better?