This is a very quick initial review on the new Verus motor just received for use on my Micro-Seiki RX5000 - detailed analysis to follow.
The motor is easy to set up, needed some changes via dip switches on the board as outlined in the manual to get the right torque for my heavy platter. Stops and starts with no drama, easy to use, there is an option to stop the platter to change records and with my high inertia platter it takes just a couple of revolutions.
Soundwise, very comparable with my Lenco for PRat, seems to create a solid low end typical of idler drives, coupled with the dynamics of the Micro engineering it takes the deck to a new level over the silk belt drive. It is early days, but very favourable impression so far and I believe I have the best of the Lenco with the extra resonance and depth of the Micro. Best combo so far. More to follow
Steve |
Any further listening impressions, Steve?
Inquiring Micro Seiki Techies want to know.
Fred |
Fred,
The motor continues to deliver the goods. I first had the motor sitting on a detached (from the Micro plinth)solid piece of maple 5" thick on brass footers, but when I switched to the motor sitting on the same plinth as the table the bottom end tightened up with greater slam. This is the current preferred set up. I also got a slightly better sound with a Shakti stone on top of the control box and use a Graniteaudio 555 power cord. A bit of audio voodoo with the Shakti, but it seems to add a bit of bite and clarity - but I need to validate this with extended listening. THe control box needs a small weight on the top to reduce ambient noise from a transformer buzz. I need to have some extended quality listening time this weekend and I full publish a full review. I have some nice pics and I will endeavour to put them up here as well. I have had my IO Sig phono stage out for a tune up at Aesthetix and that goes back in to the mix tomorrow to allow for a true comparison.
Stay tuned
Steve |
Did you try a plain old brick or rock or piece of slate as a control for the benefits of the Shakti stone? |
The Verus arrived here yesterday. Setup was straightforward and operation is simple. Spinup and spindown times are quite reasonable. I do need to retrain myself to not give the platter a push to get things going - caught my hand a couple times just before. :-)
Basically just checked that all was in order and operational. The primary issue for me was the size of the motor controller box and where to put it. The motor pod is sitting on the same 3" maple block as the turntable. Lightly holding the motor as it drives the platter I do feel the traversal of the wheel against the platter as not 100% smooth/continuous. I may need to fiddle with motor position a touch.
Listening at the end of a long evening, I'm gonna recheck my impressions tonight. TT is a Teres 320 which has a 37 pound platter. Ergo, my expectations are more oriented toward improvements coming from an improved motor than from increased rotational stability. Will report back.
Do folks have observations on the sonic character of different Verus torque settings?
Tim
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Lew, yeah - and that reduces the noise below threshold, but I sensed the Shakti added something in addition to plain ol damping - but I'm not a big believer in audiovoodoo until I can do a control and the difference is significant, sustainable and definable. Of course different does not always mean better or preferable, and I think these things have to prove over a period time.
The best application of Shakti stones for me has always been on CDP's (cleaning up digital haze) and power amp transformers/poer supplies, but not so much if the amp has a seperate power supply and umbilical.
Steve |
I think I remember that the Shakti stone does have the property of soaking up some of the stray fields radiated by transformers, over and above the fact that mass loading the tranny helps to reduce vibration. I also think I read that any old out of use transformer, if placed atop a functional transformer, will have some of the same positive effects, but I've never tried that, nor have I used Shakti stones. From the hayday of audiovoodoo, promoted often innocently by HP, the Shakti stone hangs around. I don't dispute that it may do some good, I just am interested in the why of it. |
Lew, while browsing one of my father's old EE textbooks from the early 50s, I read that a block of iron placed on top of a transformer improves coupling between the magnetic fields. This is how how a VPI brick is constructed. I don't know about the Skakti stones. |
My Verus motor arrived a week ago and I have yet to set it up. I didn't realize that I would need a strobe disc and light in order to do the set up. Which strobe disc and light should I order? |
The manual has a link for a down loadable strobe disk. Any florescent light will do the trick. Easy if you have a florescent lights in the room. Otherwise a florescent bulb in a regular lamp will also do. |
Or, if you want to get fancy, the best strobe/disc I know of is sold by KAB. Worth the reasonable cost, IMO. |
I own the KAB strobe and it is very nice. It is also more accurate than the fluorescent light bulb. The fluorescent light bulb turns on and off approximately 60 or 50 times per second depending on where you live. However, the frequency is never exactly 60Hz or 50Hz, though it is usually close. The KAB strobe, since it runs on batteries and not mains, is more accurate. |
I'm the friend Willster mentioned with the bearing wear problem. Not that I would call it a problem myself. All that happened is I noticed the delrin coating on the thrust plate wears through fairly quickly. I thought this might have something to do with the fact that, while my table when new was amazingly dead silent, it didn't seem quite the same a few months later. Mind you, there was still zero audible noise of any kind you could positively associate with the turntable. I'm talking more of a feeling that had been lost or faded away over time. If that was all there was to it then it wouldn't be anything to write home about. But there is a bit more to the story.
The bearing went to a local machinist, who basically said nice work, and offered a few ideas for improvement. The one I decided to try was to replace the brass/delrin thrust plate with silicon carbide, and the stainless ball bearing with silicon nitride.
After many hours of use only the tiniest speck of contact wear can be seen on the new thrust plate. A tiny percentage of the area of wear the stock brass part showed. Amazingly dead silence had returned. This is where Willster got his bearing wear idea.
There is of course a tradeoff in terms of sound. As luck would have it, Chris happened to be in Seattle one day, we were able to hook up, and he spent some hours listening to my system. At some point we talked about the bearing mod. He was surprised, because he did try these materials but felt they added hardness - the surprise being he said there was no trace of hardness in my system. The changes heard in my system (and this is by me, Chris did not have the time to A/B this) were towards a more lively, dynamic presentation.
Anyway, if anyone go the idea that Willsters friend (me) was in any way dissatisfied with Chris or Teres, consider this: the only reason I came across this just now is doing a little research before ordering the new Verus motor. Frankly, having met with Chris on a few occasions, heard platter shootouts and owned some of his stuff, I know from first hand experience it is all good value for money - enough so that I emailed him ordering the Verus BEFORE looking around for more info.
Hope this helps clear things up a little. |
Chuck911 said "The changes heard in my system (and this is by me, Chris did not have the time to A/B this) were towards a more lively, dynamic presentation."
Just a thought, but perhaps what Chris perceived as "added hardness" in another system translates directly to what you heard.
After all, you are using a relatively low powered tubed integrated amp (or were at the time of the aforementioned assessment) in a large room with the speakers way out in the room. Dynamics have never been your systems forte (at least not to these ears) so perhaps Chris's "added hardness" translates to your "lively, dynamic". i.e. a happy synergy. |
