Well it arrived and looks like it has had very little use indeed. Cantilever and diamond are super clean under 300x magnification.
I installed it on my Yamaha GT2000 using the Grace HS-6 headshell it came with, giving a total mass including tonearm, headshell and cartridge is a whopping 31g.
Measuring the resonant frequency with the HIFI News record it comes in at around 6Hz which is not ideal but it plays great with no adverse effect.
I set the tracking force to 2.0g which is slightly above the recommended 1.8g. I did this to help with break in.
Very first impressions were that the detail resolution of the upper frequencies were incredible. So much HF information it was overwhelming. However the sound felt a little shut in and the bass wasn’t really apparent.
I adjusted the SRA so the tonearm was just a tiny bit tail down and continued to play albums with lots of heavy bass to aid with break in. After a couple of hours the sound stage was widening and the bass was becoming stronger and deeper.
After a few hours it is sounding very promising albeit a little strident in the higher frequencies.
I think it needs much more break in as the cantilever seems very stiff.
Will update after more of a break in.
I installed it on my Yamaha GT2000 using the Grace HS-6 headshell it came with, giving a total mass including tonearm, headshell and cartridge is a whopping 31g.
Measuring the resonant frequency with the HIFI News record it comes in at around 6Hz which is not ideal but it plays great with no adverse effect.
I set the tracking force to 2.0g which is slightly above the recommended 1.8g. I did this to help with break in.
Very first impressions were that the detail resolution of the upper frequencies were incredible. So much HF information it was overwhelming. However the sound felt a little shut in and the bass wasn’t really apparent.
I adjusted the SRA so the tonearm was just a tiny bit tail down and continued to play albums with lots of heavy bass to aid with break in. After a couple of hours the sound stage was widening and the bass was becoming stronger and deeper.
After a few hours it is sounding very promising albeit a little strident in the higher frequencies.
I think it needs much more break in as the cantilever seems very stiff.
Will update after more of a break in.