Sirius and Walker

Should I speak my mind, and get my butt handed to me? I find direct-drives(I've only heard cheaper ones.)to have a relentless quality to them. Does anyone else hear this? Do the more expensive, or well-sorted ones, eliminate this quality?

01-11-12: Mmakshak:
"I find direct-drives to have a relentless quality to them. Does anyone else hear this? Do the more expensive, or well-sorted ones, eliminate this quality?"

The answers are yes and yes. I have to assume this "relentless" quality is a negative thing in your experience.

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Maybe the tonearm wire insulation on the Sirius hardened up over time? I find it hard to believe it was like that when new.

Hello Raul, yes, it appears that your observation is correct.

Hi Daniel, yes, we did really try. Daniel and myself were going to either rewire the tonearm on the Rockport or utilize the template that we had manufactured for a replacement FR-64s silver tonearm. The later was simply called blasphemy by Syntax, and former would have not been acceptable to the new custodian; a fine chap that has a small collection of Rockports and has a propensity for Stonebody cartridges.

Mmakshak, IMHO, the directdrive unit with the Rockport is top of the class! When you refer to cheaper ones...are you thinking of the recapped/ newplinth SP-Mk3 and/or this other new one? They were both being offered for around $12.5k a few months ago.

Cheers!

Dear Unoear,

I took a careful look at the photos of your tone arm, and here are a couple of suggestions:

1. I see that the wire are nearly completely covered by the black shrink wrap (or it may actually be a host, I am not sure as I don’t have my 6000 arm right in front of me), and only a couple inches of the bare wire was showing. In my 6000 arm the shrink wrap only covers the wire an inch or so where it exits the guider at the back and before it enters the armtube holder, so there was mainly bare wire hanging all the way. I think it you could strip out the shrink wrap (or it can be pulled back if it is a host), there will be much less resistance.

Curiously, I have seen a photo of Mike’s Rockport, which seems to show a lot of bare wires hanging:
http://pic8.audiogon.com/i/c/f/1297789006.jpg

2. In your photo, the black airhost was leaning on one side. If you can arrange it to hang like an n, then there will be much less resistance. There is actually a small nozzle where the airhost enter the armtube holder, and the airhost can be pulled free. So, you can do a little twisting on the airhost at the nozzle to make it hang like an n. The same applies to the wire, but it needs more coaxing!

This is how it looks like in my system:
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f20/daiwok/Hi%20Fi/IMG_1823.jpg

Hope these help.

Cheers!