ZYX Airy 3x/SB vs. Dynavector XV-1 or 1s

In the system where the Airy 3 was too bright we found an impedance of 75 ohms better than 100. Try something like that if you can.

Listen to SirSpeedy re: the Graham damping fluid. We were adjusting and hearing changes with amounts far smaller than a drop. Dip a toothpick in and scrape some of that onto the pivot. Be very careful not to drip any of it against the sides of the well. It will take forever to settle back down.

Unless you're in a very warm climate, 1.90g may be insufficient downforce. My UNIverse is currently happy at about 2.05g. Very small changes will be audible here too.

A nose-up orientation is not optimal for any ZYX I've heard. They like to be level (referring to the cartridge body, not the arm tube). OTOH I wouldn't expect this to cause brightness. Nose-down does that.

Keep on tweakin'!

Doug, Speedy and others have covered the salient points.

Let me add, that you will not side step your problem by switching to the XV-1s.

I love the Dynavectors, with the XV-1s (along with my trusty Denon 103R) being the only other cartridge I'd consider other than a ZYX at this point (I'm not saying there aren't others ... just that I haven't heard them).

If anything, the Dyna will be harder to tame on your 2.2. I lived with this combo for about 7 weeks last year.

Keep with the ZYX and work through your loading and damping issues.

One other point that has reared its ugly face in bold relief over the last 6 months ... how many highly regarded phono stages are fatally flawed. Names witheld to protect the guilty, many of these products receive continual great reviews and have wide acceptance and high price tags.

You'd be amazed to discover that what you had previously considered to be either a flawed setup, tracing distortion, or a bad cartridge is in fact a phono stage with excessive slewing distortion. I kid you not ... Get together with your local audio buddies and swap phono stages.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Nrchy,I'va asked before,but no response,so I'll ask again.How did everything go,with your Cosmos,and analog rig?Also,did you go for the additional umbilical?

Be REAL WORDY,as I'm currently bored,and need some audio stimulation!!See some of my previous posts,for examples of overt wordiness!!

Weeeellll Siiiiiiiirrrrrssssspeeeeeedyyyyyyyy. Things are still going with the Cosmos and analog rig. I can't really say anything right now, but once everything is in place I will have exciting news to relay. I have not persued the umbilical cord at this point but it is not out of the question.

To add to Thom's fine point,while on the Phonostage subject,if we are speaking of tubed stages,there is alot to be gained in trying some really good NOS tube types.This,too,can affect bright/dark voicing which is SO easy to blame on other components.

I have a pal who spent really big bucks on 3 big name phono tubes.After repeated listenings to his set-up,my audio pals kept stating that it seemed as though listening to this SOTA set-up was like going to the dentist,and getting the drill.GNAWING!!

It would have been SO easy to blame the cartridge,speaker/amp interface,or cable choices,as this owner has a hard time admitting anything he spends big dollars on is NOT great.Yet,one night we decided to do some tube swapping,as he has a nice inventory of good tubes.Well the megabuckers were the culprit,and were sold fast!On Audiogon,btw.Hope non of you bought them!Now we no longer feel the need to have our molars checked,when listening.

BTW--We have just experimented in this exact set-up(which has very "high -line" equip.,btw)with the Walker SST contact enhancer(which has gotten great press),and have found that it adds a brightness to this set-up.This could be specific to this system,yet if my friend was NOT willing to do EVERY connection(tube pins too),and then wipe everything off(total job,12 hours),we could have easily blamed some other component,like a cartridge mismatch,for example.This is simply a good example of how many parameters can affect performance,with it being SO difficult to determine the culprit,unless one is privy to a really good/experienced audio group.My friend SID calls this symptom,correctly,"BOON-DOCK-ITIS"!!Or the inability to diagnose a problem due to living in the boon-docks(not close to other "philes!).Like me!

Moral of story--Go back to mid-fi,or take up a nice hobby,like tropical fish,unless you want to drive yourself crazy!!BTW-I have a nice 55 gallon tank for sale!

Best regards!