Phoenix Engineering Falcon and Eagle

I think it depends upon what one thinks is necessary.  Before the Roadrunner few people monitored TT speed carefully over periods of time.  If nothing else, belts wear out or stretch.  Then there is a bit of disagreement as to whether absolute speed accuracy is important.  But I think there is consensus on the effects of table warm-up, for example.  I recall HW writing not to do serious listening until the table has been going for 30 minutes or so for the reason that, unmonitored, the turntable will not reach its long-term speed setting for a while.  Then there's stylus drag; don't know how great an issue..

FWIW I don't think the variostat will address inconsistencies in the power line frequency.

For me the best thing about this "monitoring and correction" is that is just one more thing I never have to think about.  As the man said, "Just set it and forget it."  So I can obsess about everything else.

After I got the Eagle and RR, I tested my setup, (1) without the Eagle and RR, (2) with only the Eagle AC regeneration, and (3) with the Eagle/RR feedback correction.

What I found was that the stock motor (VPI Scout II) was inherently stable to 33.3RPM, just not to the 0.00 precision because of fluctuations in the power coming from the wall. Adding the Eagle and its power regeneration led to a steady 33.33RPM with a narrower fluctuation in the 0.000 range, sometimes hitting 33.333RPM. So that proves the stock motor runs properly when fed proper 60Hz power from the wall and when the motor is located properly from the table. Connecting the Eagle/RR with feedback made the fluctuation much more tighter in the 0.000 range, hitting 33.333RPM for longer periods of time.  Audible?  Depends on who you ask but I noticed a difference (not night and day, but identifiable) .  YMMV.

bpoletti,

If they are "friendly", it may make sense to eliminate their competition. It was just a thought.

brf,

Your post reminds me of what kind of offends me regarding how VPI rolls out new product lines. If one sees the new ADS and sees it as superior to their SDS or any other unit they may own, then purchases it, only to find out, not much later a newer model has come out with a feature that may be one this same buyer would have liked to have in his recently purchased unit.???

All,

I had the good fortune to hear first hand K&K audio's TT power supply w/ level control last weekend. Through his Nottingham tt, I was very impressed. I mention this because there are other options.

I should say for correctness, his unit now, needs to be wired into a tt's motor, so it is not a plug n' play upgrade, at least right now.

bpoletti,

I find it ethically and morally wrong that Phoenix Engineering would leave it’s customers without any explanation? On it’s face, this is not a good thing. They were direct competition for VPI.

Until we here directly from PE's owner, I think there are unresolved questions.