Hi all, hope you're enjoying the summer! Just reporting in on my Ortofon 2M Black phono cartrdige: it sounds GREAT!! It has the detail of a good (but not great) MC, but with the PALPABILITY, PRaT and gestalt traditionally (in the Audio Undergorund) the strength MMs.
Aw GAWD it feels good to be back in MM Land, at least for now (while my Clearaudio Concerto - the only MC I've heard which actually rivals the best MMs for PRaT and gestalt - goes for repairs as it was defective). The Ortofon is a fitting successor to the Shure V15Vx MR in the sense especially of PRaT, or Pace, Rhythm and Timing, an area where the Shure was unsurpassed in my opinion, and an area where too many audiophiles still have no idea which way is up. I believe many hear it, but since it isn't something as easily identifiable as raw detail - like tinkling bells in the background and so forth - they dismiss it as pleasing but not important (NOT!). Of course, prolonged exposure to idler wheel drives eventually leads to a state of NEED of PRaT and gestalt (all the musicians following the same beat at the same time to sound like a "tight" and communicative band/single element). Anyway, the Ortofon FIRST does these extremely important musical things right, THEN presents great detail, dynamics, deep tight bass and imnaging and so forth. Excellent. I'm running mine on the SME IV for now, as it turns out that so far the SME IV (and by extension the SME V) ALWAYS sounds great with MMs (PRaT, gestalt, dynamics), while being VERY hit and miss with MCs.
It turns out the incredible dynamics of a Lenco is too much for the Spendor BC-1's, which bottom out with a sharp CLACK! quite often, so I'm thinking of augmenting them with a Vandersteen subwoofer to preserve the excellent sense of transparency and PRAT the BC-1s do so well, and be able to beef up the sound without bottoming out the drivers.
And speaking of Lencos - of COURSE - the Lenco magic way with music - incredible gestalt, PRaT, flow, dynamics macro and micro, bass - is slowly percolating through my area and conquering folk willy-nilly, convincing them of the importance of MUSICALITY (as opposed to information, at which the Lenco is nevertheless superb/State of the Art)...and I have nothing to do with it (not much anyway apart from setting them up), as simple repeated exposure to Lencos allows them to work their musical magic and conquer by musical charms while I sit out in the country oblivious with a beer in my hand watching the lovely lasses ride by on their horses.
A fellow who had just bought an Ayre CX-7e CD player - considered one of the most musical CD players ever built by many - says he can no longer listen to it since setting up a Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lenco in his system, set up with a JMW 12/Van den Hul MC-10 combo. And another who had received the less-performant but still excellent Direct Coupled Technics SP-25 DD wrote the following, showing just how effective Direct Coupling, AND vinyl, is, also and especially in the area of musicality: "Hats off!! It was an absolute pleasure to listen to the turntable in my system. Everything from Beatles to Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony made music as never before. Even with a humble Cambridge Audio 640P phono amp and the table sitting on the floor the turntable beat the proverbial pants off my Stereophile Class A transport and DAC. I think the CDs are going to gather dust for some time. The turntable is giving me better sound than the Roksan Xerxes/Rega RB300/Dynavector DV10X and Dynavector P75 phono stage. Add to this the sheer ease of use and I would count this as one of my best..." Just goes to show the magial properties of Direct Coupling, and potential of both Idler and DD done right, and of course, the infinitely Mightier Musical Magic of Vinyl!! Vive la Vinyl!!
And I'm still working on my Mighty Vintage Garage system, centred at one end on the Lenco, and the other with the Leak Stereo Twenty/Klipsch Cornwall combo, still searching for just the right preamp. Right now with ANY preamp the POWER and ruler-flatness of the end result is awesome to behold, these Cornwalls REALLY are tonally neutral (not too bright, everything in its place, bass deep and awesome but not overwhelming), but neutral without being boring, they ROCK!! I'm thinking I'll have to score another ARC SP-8 soon, THE most musical phono preamp/preamp I've ever heard (the Kundalini Effect!!). Have fun all, more big news very soon with the Reinderspeter Lenco set up and playing in the garage system!!