ZYX "House" Sound

@kevemaher  : Btw and due that maybe you made some up-date/up-grade changes in your Paragon  and made measurements on your system: do you know or measure which the RIAA inverse eq. deviation in that unit?

The main reason exist phono stages is because that RIAA and very low noise gain the units need it.

Today a normal RIAA eq. deviation is around: +,- 0.1 db . Which yours?

Down there starts neutrality.

R.

I have a ZYX Ultimate Omega and love it. I think it is more dynamic and a touch less bright than my Koetsu Vermillion. I am also using a step up transformer.

My main cart for the last few years has been a Dynavector XV-1s.  I ran it through an EMIA CU 20:1 SUT but now use the Jensen AT347 SUT built into my phono pre.   I also own and use a ZYX Airy3x.  Both are less warm than your existing carts but I would not consider them to be analytical as that's not the sound I like.  For me, the ZYX is extremely distortion free and background noise level is very low while the Dyna has a bit more air at the top.  I could easily live with the ZYX full time as it's resolving yet non-fatiguing to listen to in long sessions.  If I got another cart, the ZYX Ultimate 4d with the carbon cantilever would be at the top of the list. 

Dear @kevemaher : " What arm and table did the people who purchased a Koetsu in the 80s use? "

You choosed part of the Golden years of TT/tonearms and even cartridges ..

In those years MS was really good with its BD TT’s and great tonearms as the MAX-237/282 that with the J shape arm wand maybe culd be the best ever tonearm. Your DD 40 was an entry level TT/tonearm where Pioneer, JVC, Sony, Yamaha, Denon and many others had way superior entry level models. In those times almost no one cared about the DD40 because it was in an inferior league and that was the reality in those Golden years.

That you are satisfied with does not means could be the best for the today top cartridges can shows at its best and this is the issue that you will have to decide when you listen to your new cartridge along the phono stage/SUT.

Of course only an opinion.

Btw, in the next link you can look to any of those manufacturers I mentioned including MS where you just can’t see the DD40 but several other models:

The Vintage Knob - Online vintage audio museum.

Pioneer vaults or JVC could tell you where you are " seated " as the other manufacturers.

Btw, do you measure or know the frequency response range on your SUT?

R.

@rauliruegas  Thanks for your comments.

It turns out that I am the original owner of one of the DD-40 tables I own. I bought it around 1978 from a high end stereo shop. I was also eying the DDX-1000, but it was too expensive for me then. I was outfitted with a Grace F9L cartridge. So at the time, according to the stereo store (Century Stereo in San Jose, California, USA), the DDX-1000 was their top of the line TT. I bought the DD-40 knowing that it was one notch below the top of the line, but definitely not entry level.

I also have a modern table, an Acoustic Signature WOW XXL. The table works fine, although there is no means to adjust the rotation speed. The arm on that table, the AS TA-2000, is a disaster. It is very difficult to use day in day out. There's a poor arm rest that makes moving the arm out of the rest an adventure (very tight), a finger lift incorporated on the cartridge mounting plate which can move because of the difficulty with the arm rest (goodbye alignment), very low effective mass, clunky arm lift that does not fit correctly into its mounting hole, It looks great. It maybe performs well but is a #$#%* to use. I've rewired it because the cable that came with it was unshielded for part of its length. I installed a 5 pin connector at the base. I will probably put it up for sale.

I have no respect for most current tables and arms. They're ridiculously overpriced, are not designed to function well but do look good, and do not work as well as some vintage tables and arms, such as the DD-40 and MA-505. All sizzle and no steak.

I'm not sure that Vintage Knob with all its great info and pretty pictures is a great authority on quality. There's plenty of equipment that's left out. I don't think it was designed as a review medium. Seems to me that Vintage Knob is there for one to look at the pretty products of the past. 

I measure frequency response with an A/D running at 48/96. I measure from 10 Hz to 50KHz using a software based Real Time Analyzer on my PC. The Koetsu with the SUT and Musical Surroundings Phenomena II used in MM mode.on the DD-40 with the MA-505L arm measures "flat" out to just past 20KHz. Response below 50Hz drops a bit, about 3-5 dB, I estimate.

It is difficult to measure the FR down to +/- 1dB. The signal change due to 1dB is about 10%, very difficult to hear. The noise in the system creates  readings that vary with time by a few dB, It is possible to average a large number of readings. I haven't done that yet. The FR curves provided by some cartridge manufacturers show very smooth response. Either they are averaging, filtering, or making it up.

Hum and noise is about 60dB below the reference signal. Without the tube amp, the other cartridges in my system are even further down, about 80 dB or so. These measurements show a very quiet system. In fact, I can only hear the hum and hiss when I am within 15 cm or so from the speaker driver (even with the tube phono pre).

Rumble will show up as an elevated low frequency response using an unmodulated groove. I've measured all four of my tables (DD-40s, WOW XXL, and a Denon DP-57L). The spectra are almost identical. This probably means that the sources for the rumble are not the tables, but something else in my system or room.

I've mentioned in another post in this thread that I've tested the arm bearings using the WallySkater, which uses the pendulum effect to detect bearing play and stickyness. The MA-505 and 505L measure better that my other modern arm, the Audiomods 6. Don't know about the TA-2000. It is buried somewhere in a box.

I've measured distortion at 1KHz with a test record and the RTA. For all cartridges it is about 1% (about 40 dB down from reference). Some cartridges measure a bit better, about 45 dB down. These similar measurements means that there's a fair amount of distortion on the test record itself.

In summary, I have directly measured all my table/arm configurations for FR, rumble, rotation smoothness, rotation accuracy, and tonearm stiction and looseness. All the tables perform well (even the WOW XXL with the Audiomods 6 arm).

I have measured my system for time and frequency response and distortion using REW. Note: the phono circuits are not used during this measurement.

Please suggest other measurements that might show me where my tables and arms are lacking in performance. I will have a go at measuring those.