The Palladian-A step beyond
What I do find illuminating is how a cartridge handles the ‘worst’ of recorded music. Yes. Exactly. Thanks Sampsa.... Michael Fremer in one of his latest component reviews actually mentions the same George Harrison track 'Wah-Wah' as a test for 'ability'.... So credit where it's due for our 'main man'....👏 |
Halcro, thank you for your review which I very much enjoyed reading. I would not change one word of it. I have now enjoyed many hours listening with my Palladian in my Axiom arm. I also have an FR7f 6 digit and an Aiwon. The Aiwon is to me a wonderful refinement of the FR7f. The Palladian has significantly improved on the Aiwon such that it has taken my system to a new level. The cartridges were aligned with the UNI-Protractor, the best alignment tool I have used, and its unique UNI-DIN tangential curve template. To me, a sign of system greatness is when I hear a piece of music which has previously made no sense to me, all of a sudden make sense. I am sorry I cannot describe this better. This has only happened to me twice. The first time was several years ago hearing a Jeff Beck track on a CD sourced system with Kinoshita’s large mono power amps driving Kinoshita Monitor RMs in a special purpose room designed by Tom Hidley to studio spec. Tom told me that on his studio grading scale he would give the room a solid 7 out of 10. The track went for me from a mass of jumbled sound to an integrated, meaningful and powerful piece. It was like all of a sudden I heard what Jeff Beck wanted to convey. The second time was recently with the Palladian in my system on playing the “Gone with the Wind” Dan Hicks track on the Bob Wasserman “Duets” album. His voice went from an irritating noise to an artful use of voice that became fascinating. I cannot give higher praise. I have been in this wonderful hobby of ours for decades and endured endless wars: tube v transistor, this v that. I am still saddened when people in hobbies attack each other. I speculate that this is some tribal throwback to our base genetic survival strategies. I would recommend that you forget the words about this or that design feature and this or that personality, and decide with your ears. We all have different preferences but I cannot imagine an honest enthusiast hearing a well set up Palladian in a good system (by good I mean sounding good – IMHO there is so much over-priced underperforming gear) and not respect this cartridge. To close, I have to thank Audiogon for introducing me to Dietrich, the man behind Acoustical Systems who previously posted as Dertonarm, and his excellent products. I have also to thank Syntax for answering endless emails from me way back when I was considering buying my Micro Seiki turntable, and numerous others like Halcro for contributing their honest opinions for my consideration. I love our hobby which brings the wonder of music into our homes with high fidelity, and the Internet for enabling this. |
Thank you for your kind words bluewolf and also for your interesting thoughts and history. I admire your system greatly and my gosh.....the Omnigon 😜...‼️ The stuff of my dreams....🙏 I too appreciate the enormous changes the Internet has made in allowing Audio Forums like this to prosper. And to meet folks like Dertonarm and Thuchan here on A'Gon, has literally changed my Audio life. Their presence is missed...😪 Without them.....I would never have entered the world of the FR-64s, FR-66s and FR-7f. And I think in some way.....the impression Dertonarm made on many of us here, has enabled him to fast-track his analogue audio company. And the whole audio world is richer for that.....👏 |
sampsa55 I never understood why someone might prefer a "revealing" component? Is the objective to find flaws in recordings & other gear or to enjoy music? My experience with improving the resolution/transparency of my setup has been that far from making poorer recordings less enjoyable the removal of noise allows one to enjoy the intent of the performance and listen through the limitations of the recording. For example discovering how much subtlety and detail there is in mono recordings, or hearing all of the little adjustments being put in by a rhythm guitarist for example Resolution and transparency (as opposed to tipped up 'detail') are always and in all cases preferable in my experience Anyway I'm told it should be 2-3 weeks to my Palladian and I may have the US Distributor round to install it, will keep us all posted |
Dear @halcro : Knowing your siytem and sound priorities is no surprise you like those vintage MC cartrridges and the Palladian too. You tested through one of the non damped FR tonearm and trhough a SUT along a resonant carbon fiber headshell and I know this is what you like it for several years now. I can’t speak about the Palladian because I never heard it but because your comments I could think goes in the same " school " where you learned/study. I think that the Palladian has to be a good cartridge, issue could be if it’s over vintage or today LOMC top performers in a way diferent set up ( especially: tonearm, headshell, no SUT, no tubes. ) as the one you, Eckart, Rutherford, bluewolf, etc, have. I respect your opinion but ( at least I. ) always is important the context/stage/scenario that surrounded any one opinions. Example: @bluewolf ( with all my respect to . ) shares its Palladian opinion and looking to his system I can understand the why’s about. Btw, I found out an audio system with very similar electronics and speakers as bluewolf where the owner of it posted this. I have to say that I own that CD and my opinion is the other way around ( I'm not saying a superlative one. ) but each one of us have our music/sound priorities and these is what makes the differences in our way of thinking/opinions : https://www.amazon.com/review/R2NGWBF2BHSFHX Good for you @halcro and @bluewolf . I'm sure that sooner or latter I will have the opportunity to hear it somewhere. Newcomers always welcomed. Regards and enjoy the music, R. Btw, makes no sense to me ( knowing the HDM 10 and your SUT. ) not use the Palladian directly in the Halcro phonolinepreamp?????? |
