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Turntable advice / opinion on setup / sound.

Hello all you analog experts. I am seeking some advice, opinions and direction to try, based on my tastes and setup. 

I’m not loving my current TT sound but there are variables that could cause this. For reference, my favorite TT I ever owned was the ClearAudio Champion Level 2 (wish I never sold it) because it was warm and had a huge stage. 

  1. I listen to every style of music, smooth jazz to hard metal. 
  2. I have to turn the volume way up to get the get the level I like which at times has hiss and a tiny bit of hum. Compared to digital sources which have none of these issues. 
  3. I find this setup to lack huge stage and warmth. 

My current system is:

  1. Rega Planar 8 w/ Alpheta 2 MC cart.  
  2. Cambridge Audio -> Alva Duo Phono Pre amp
  3. Mark Levinson -> No 585 Amp. 
  4. Martin Logan 15a Renaissance -> 8FT apart/ 3ft off the front wall and 3 FT from each side wall. I sit 9FT away from the speakers.  

The turntables I am considering are:

1) Musical Fidelity -> M8XTT

What cart would you use?

2) Michell Audio -> Gyro SE Turntable

3) Clear Audio Champion Level 2

Thank you all in advance for any guidance and opinions you can offer. 

necrosuit
elliottbnewcombjr
7,711 posts
 

@richardbrand 

OK he's not my new best friend, but not smug either. It was nice to see how relaxed the hour was rather than pre-pared and quicker.

I liked his 'Vinyl is like the Wild West' comment.

Thanks for the link

elliottbnewcombjr
7,711 posts
 

room, 24’ x 36’ in Chelsea, OMG, our east side studio is 13w x 18l (+ adjacent 6' x 18' row:  entry/kitchenette/bath alongside that.

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,374 posts
 

@tablejockey 

Yes - though I am not convinced by his explanation of the reflex clamp compared with a shaped puck!

The hour counter is a good idea, but I often leave my Garrard 301 to warm up without playing anything.  How about an hour counter that detects when there is a cartridge output signal?

And thanks for the link

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,852 posts
 

Guy’s a new yorker. You must have not encountered smug. He’s fine. He actually has a really nice video with Steve Guttenberg on how to reduce chassis vibration on cambridge cdt. He knows what he’s talking about it. 

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
1,374 posts
 

@lewm 

Underhung tonearms cannot benefit from headshell offset and so are straight

I looked up Stereophile's review of the Viv Float underhung tonearm so at least I now know the difference between overhung and underhung! 

(In the review, Stereophile uses the term Lateral Tracking Angle for what I called Horizontal Tracking Angle.  Lateral is a bit too biological for me whereas everybody can grasp Horizontal and Vertical)

Seems to me the arguments for under-hung are quite, well, under-done!

Try this.  Imagine a reference line between the tonearm pivot and the stylus. The primary friction force is along the reference line.  But any time the groove at the stylus point is not completely aligned with the reference line, there will also be a sideways component, the skating force.  This is regardless of the shape of the arm and any offset of the cartridge.  It is also regardless of the amount of under- or over-hang.  It is simply because the friction force always has a sideways component, except when the groove and reference line are in perfect alignment.

I would love you to invest in a Holbo - which I would call well-hung angry because there is virtually zero skating force.  If the zenith and azimuth are set properly there should be zero tracking errors, either lateral or vertical.  The reference line is the straight tonearm, there is no headshell offset.  The entire system costs roughly as much as the Viv Float, I think?

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