It's been a while since I looked at this thread... Slaw, you are a posting maniac! Thanks everyone for keeping it alive with your enthusiasm. Especially now, I feel so fortunate to have purchased a Rock 7 when I did. Even with Max's manufacturing tolerances being a little loose at times –– as in, the platter not being as true as possible (witnessed by looking at its vertical side surface while spinning, there is a small but noticeable wobble)... and yes, the leveling issues... and whatever else –– I'm over it all –– I just don't spend any more time and energy on that stuff (even though I enjoy the process) because my front end sounds so freakin' good it brings tears to my eyes. A music-loving friend, who knows acoustics and happens to be the architect who designed the Paris Opera House, also cried when listening to this system… saying: "you’ve ruined me, I can’t ever listen to my stereo again!” He then got up and hugged one of my speakers!
So that said, as one who is done tweaking for a while, I’m going to try and list every upgrade I made to the Rock 7 and note the impact it made on the sound of my system:
Upgrades:
~ Replaced stock motor with the TA Merlin-3 motor and DC-ish power supply –– snapped the timing into focus... everything before this upgrade now sounds blurry, which is hard to believe until you hear it.
~ 6-foot XLR motor extension cable –– moving the power supply away from the TT and electronics eliminated a low hum and blackened the background even more.
~ Took off the little nubs and put a thin cutout of Sorbathane under the round plate with the three depressions that goes beneath the motor, which further increased speed stability.
~ Replaced the stock belt with Mark Baker’s Origin Live belt… I was speechless and couldn’t believe I didn’t know about this upgrade beforehand. Made everything sound better… really.
~ Installed Phoenix Engineering’s RoadRunner Tachometer for a reality check on speed stability… it's really good to 3 decimal points (33.333) and fun to watch!
~ Replaced the already upgraded Excalibur 3 arm with the Helius Omega… wow, silky smooth and even more presence and inner detail.
~ Upgraded the awesome Ortofon Cadenza Bronze (which I re-installed on an Alphason 100s-MCS arm on my rare Alphason Sonata TT) to the Kiseki Purpleheart NS, which is even more awesome and a huge bargain at $3400 since it sounds like a $10K cartridge. The combo with the Helius arm and R7 is amazing and can definitely handle cartridges more expensive than itself and show what the best carts can really do and why they cost so much.
~ Got a custom-made acrylic cover –– you don’t want dust in your silicone.
There. Done. This of course, is only at the TT level... upgrades abound at every step down the signal path to the speakers, room, my ears… and finally, my very emotional response to beautiful music. Which, of course, makes it all worthwhile.
Cheers,
Alón