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To those with multiple tables/arms/cartridges

How do you 'play' your system?
For 30 years I had only one turntable, one arm and one cartridge......and it never entered my mind that there was an alternative?
After upgrading my turntable nearly 5 years ago to a Raven AC-3 which allowed easy mounting of up to four tonearms......I decided to add two arms.
RAVEN
A few years later I became interested in Direct Drive turntables and purchased a vintage 30 year old Victor/JVC TT-81 followed shortly after by the top-of-the-line TT-101 and I designed and had cast 3 solid bronze armpods which I had lacquered in gloss black.
TT-101
By this time I had over 30 cartridges (both LOMCs and MMs) all mounted in their own headshells for easy interchange.
STORAGE

Every day I listen to vinyl for 3-4 hours and might play with one cartridge on one arm on one table for this whole day or even two or three days.
I then might decide to change to a different arm and cartridge on a the same table or perhaps the other.....and listen to the last side I had just heard on the previous play.
I am invariably thrilled and excited by the small differences in presentation I am able to hear....and I perhaps listen to this combination for the next few days before again lusting after a particular arm or cartridge change?

Is this the way most of you with multiple cartridges/arms listen?......or are there other intentions involved?
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Dear Nikola,
I too was scared about the 'complexity' and 'matching' issues that I had read about regarding SUTs.......but Thuchan advised me to just "try" :-)

You know I also have 3 LOMCs (actually 4...I have 2 UNIverses)......the Dyna XV-1s, the ZYX and the FR-7f/Lc and each one is different to the other......however they ALL matched perfectly with the Kondo KSL SF-Z and Halcro MM Phonostage.

If you have a chance for a home trial of one.......I'd strongly advise it.
However....the fact that Herr Scheafer is not 'strong' on MMs leads me to think that his MM Phonostage is possibly not good enough......and that may well be the reason you are not hearing the best sounds from yours?
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Sounds like you're 'cooking with gas' Lew :-)
Continue to enjoy.....
lewm
13,118 posts
 
Dear Henry, Funny you should use that phrase, "cooking with gas". There was an audio show in my area this weekend, the "Capital Audio Fest". I attended all day on Saturday. There I saw a device heretofore unknown to me, the Stein "Harmonizer". The Harmonizer is a little black box, maybe 4 to 6 inches on a side, that is mounted on a long slender pole about 4 feet off the ground. Supposedly, the Harmonizer improves the room sound by moving air molecules (aka,"gas"). The idea being that keeping the air molecules in motion makes the work of the speaker easier, static vs dynamic friction is invoked. The astute audiophile is advised to buy as many as three pair of these to "treat" the room. One pair = ~$2000!!! These things are made in Germany. Nandric and Thuchan, do you know anything about this product?

IF the thesis made any sense, which I am not sure it does, why not use a couple of whisper fans strategically placed, or a couple of small point source heaters. Both will do the job of moving air molecules. Further, I can see no way in which the Harmonizer can move air molecules; there are no apertures in the black box through which air might pass in order to be motivated. I must be missing something. The fact that Stein also sells "Magic Stones" does not reduce my level of incredulity.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Lewm,
I thought I had passed the voodoo units but when I tried the small acoustic system resonators some years ago I got really puzzled about their impacts.
I heard about the Stein products when I attended the RMAF. My friend in Atlanta took them with him, had some problems when he tried entering the plane on the return trip from Denver. He loves them. So it should be something all about it. Maybe we need giving it a try.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Dear Nandric,

too old to rock'n roll, to young to... ? sometimes one needs to jump. in your case you may get a good SUT from someone. Just give it a try. Don?t believe the Schaefers of this world. They have good intentions within their own world. I do understand and accept this. It may not block us from other experiments. Don't say No, No, No. Philosophically there are always many ways but running in circles is no achievement. Got motivated? Good. :-)
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