Tranfiguration Orpheus description

Kha,

Thank you for your feedback. Much appreciated.

Andrew

On 9/19 I posted, "I still intend to listen (with my Temper W) to the critical passages Doug identified on the Trio and Sonic Fireworks albums. (I've pulled them out, so that's a start ;--)" OK. So it's been a month. I'm finally listening (with my Temper W, not an Orpheus) to Trio and Sonic Fireworks Vol 1., a print-out of Doug's review in hand.

First, let me say that after re-reading Doug's description of the Orpheus' performance (or lack of it), I would not even put that cartridge in the same league as my Temper W. If my W performed that badly, it would be on its way back to the factory or in the trash! I'm quite comfortable that Doug's at least semi-rational, and not THAT biased, so I have to conclude that something, somewhere! was indeed very WRONG! But I have no idea what. . . .

TRIO:

Dolly, Linda, and Emmy Lou -- count 'em: 1, 2, and 3. All clearly separate entities, even in close harmony. All instruments present, accounted for, and quite articulate. TRIO is actually one of my "go to" records also, because it's so amazingly well engineered. If something in a system is not right, it's immediately obvious. Can't comment on the track skipping, my copy is flat.

SONIC FIREWORKS VOL 1

Bass response (22 cycle pipe organ "flutter") was clean and powerful through the Martin Logan Depth subwoofer. Perfectly damped. No bloom or bloat. Definitely not boomy or smeared.

In the Copeland "Fanfare", the cymbal decay reads right through the bass drum punctuations -- complete transparency. The kettle drum tunings were well rendered.

In short, I'm certain now that the Temper W's performance would have left Doug nothing to fault, at least so far as the specific items he mentioned. In addition the amazing soundstage and top to bottom ease of presentation from this (now second rate?) cartridge just seem to get better and better.

But I'd still like to hear a UNI. Anyone in Arizona?
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Neil,

Glad you're getting those good results.

Remember that our findings were strictly comparative, an attempt to describe differences, not a statement about absolute performance capabilities. 99% of the cartridges in the world would do worse than an Orpheus or a UNIverse.

Remember also that Andrew's Orpheus was relatively new and we had little time for fine tuning the setup.

Drop in next time you're passing through CT!

Late on this thread ...

Can anyone tell me of a cartridge whose essential character did NOT reveal itself after 80 hours?

That's 240 record sides, folks.

I have never experienced a cartridge that didn't show its nature after 10 and wasn't stable (meaning substantially broken in) after 25.

I have to wonder if people aren't taking 80-100 hours to learn the cartridge's secrets and master its setup as opposed to it taking this long to break in.

After the RMAF, I'll give this thread a good read, but the above question HAD to be asked.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Thom, I'll raise you 20 and call it 100, but basically I think you're correct. Whether it's 80, 100, or 125 really depends on the cartridge's suspension material, the ambient temperature, and the VTF.

Speaking of VTF, I now recommend breaking in cartridges at about 10% more than their max. rated VTF (up to 100 hours or so) By doing this you won't hurt anything but you gain two things: First, the break-in may take a bit less time (which doesn't really matter a lot -- you're going to play records anyway ;--) but second, and much more important, is that if you want to finally run your cart at max VTF (which a lot of folks are beginning to think sounds/tracks best with MCs) then by overflexing the suspension just a wee bit in the beginning, you can be sure that it will be operating at its rated compliance, even at max VTF.

As for your second statement:

"I have never experienced a cartridge that didn't show its nature after 10 and wasn't stable (meaning substantially broken in) after 25."

I just can't agree with that. In fact, my experience has been the opposite, i.e. I've always been "dissappointed" with my (new) cartridges until right around 50 hours when they begin to change just enough that I realize they're not always going to sound like shreiking banshees!

All this could change (i.e. maybe NO break-in period) if/when better(?) suspension materials come along -- already, Transfiguration advertises that their new suspension material is impervious to changes in temperature and humidity.
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