I must apologize for my previous post regarding the size of the surge tanks used. I have a 1 gallon ( 4.4 Liter ) tank supplied with the tonearm. My recent addition was in fact a 25 liter ( not 5 liter as previously reported ) tank. The improvement in SQ was not subtle. Over the weekend I added an additional 20 liter tank in series. The improvement continued.
I have been listening to a Wayne Shorter record, Adam's Apple, as a reference throughout this couple of weeks. It was recorded in 1966-67, the third album after Speak No Evil, and it contains the classic Shorter composition, Footprint. With each additional surge tank, the soundstage became more vivid, Herbie Hancock's piano playing was more enveloped, more 3-dimensional. Jazz at the pawnshop, an album I have owned for decades finally came alive. The live venue in the background with broken glasses and shouting waiters, was recreated with increase micro-dynamics.
After two days of listening, I decided to add fillers in the surge tanks. While I did buy cotton balls, I actually used crumbled paper balls instead. I felt the crumbled paper balls are more irregular, thus better at disrupting air fluctuation and smoothing out the air flow. What the added fillers did was to 'smoothed' out the sounstage even more , giving a more relaxed music presentation. On Shorter's Adam's Apple, Shorter's sax was always a bit forward. But with the addition of the filler balls, the sax blended more into the soundstage and the music emerged more from a single fabric. That's what I heard anyway.
I am going to leave it as is more now and enjoy the increased level of music playback. But I continued to be amazed by this humble tonearm, and this seemingly minor tweak yielding such enormous sonic benefit!
I have been listening to a Wayne Shorter record, Adam's Apple, as a reference throughout this couple of weeks. It was recorded in 1966-67, the third album after Speak No Evil, and it contains the classic Shorter composition, Footprint. With each additional surge tank, the soundstage became more vivid, Herbie Hancock's piano playing was more enveloped, more 3-dimensional. Jazz at the pawnshop, an album I have owned for decades finally came alive. The live venue in the background with broken glasses and shouting waiters, was recreated with increase micro-dynamics.
After two days of listening, I decided to add fillers in the surge tanks. While I did buy cotton balls, I actually used crumbled paper balls instead. I felt the crumbled paper balls are more irregular, thus better at disrupting air fluctuation and smoothing out the air flow. What the added fillers did was to 'smoothed' out the sounstage even more , giving a more relaxed music presentation. On Shorter's Adam's Apple, Shorter's sax was always a bit forward. But with the addition of the filler balls, the sax blended more into the soundstage and the music emerged more from a single fabric. That's what I heard anyway.
I am going to leave it as is more now and enjoy the increased level of music playback. But I continued to be amazed by this humble tonearm, and this seemingly minor tweak yielding such enormous sonic benefit!